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[demishock]

Hello, fellow unemployed strangers on LJ. I punched "job hunting" into the interests filter because I'm on my third month of unemployment and getting really depressed, and misery loves company, so here I am. This is long, and if you read all of it, you deserve a medal. T__T

Comments

[lassarina]

Hey, look, you're describing me. (I mean, I have a goal/passion, it's just not one that pays me.) I graduated with a history degree and wound up in customer service, which was...not a great life option but I eventually dug my way out.

First, try UMass's alumni and career services centers. Most big universities have them. Get their connections to work for you. They should have people who can give you interview coaching (aka how to fake it, which is what I do!). Also, networking through your university is a great way to get your foot in the door; my university jokes about the [mascot] Mafia, but it's true, because I definitely got my current job in large part due to my boss being also a member of the [mascot] Mafia.

Also I'm compelled to point out that most employers don't expect you to *love* what you do, just to be able to pretend when they turn on the stage lights.

[demishock]

Oh hey; I know you. :)

I will look into that. Thank you for the suggestion. I've been kind of bitter toward them since my advisor told me I was all set to graduate when I was actually short 4 credits (all electives; my major and gen-eds were all finished), causing me to have to finish my degree with a CLEP test. But I'll suck it up and see about going crawling back to them. :/

[lassarina]

You do indeed! Hi.

Ooof, that's obnoxious on your university's part re: graduation. I am so sorry. :( good luck with your search!

In the interim you might be able to get freelance editing work through something like MediaBistro or ELance, maybe.

[demishock]

Now I feel guilty for not working on my madain_sari prompts for so long! XD; RL trumps fanfiction, sadly.

Thanks! Yeah, I was not pleased. I'm incredibly thankful for CLEP tests now, because without them I would have had to sit through another semester just to take (and pay for) two classes. I still don't even know how 4 credits happened. The classes were all 3 apiece. It must have had something to do with the transfer credits from my year abroad, but they were SUPPOSED to match them. Whatever; it's over now. @__@ I tell all my friends to be super diligent about credits now, though.

I will definitely look into both of those, since you rec'd them. I've been a little leery of freelancing only because I'm not sure how to tell which ones are scams and which are legit. Last thing I need right now is to get completely suckered.

[wood_elf]

Sounds familiar! Am also 24, degree in languages (Arabic and Mandrain Chinese) and also have the not-fluent problem. Our course wasn't really structured towards spoken fluency, more written translation and literature. Am frequently told I should 'just' become an interpreter. Aside from not being particularly interested in this, the work isn't there unless you are fluent in all registers, have lived in the country, or are bilingual. While I was at uni thought I'd end up working for the council or something, but then... recession. 20% of the council got cut. All those jobs where you used to just need a degree in anything have disappeared. Or maybe never existed at all

[demishock]

Oh wow. I didn't think I'd come across another person with quite such a similar problem as far as the non-fluency in a language degree thing went. The first two years of my program were really language-intensive. Then I did my year abroad, which should have strengthened my skills with it, but it actually didn't, really. I didn't make any lasting friendships over there, except with a few of the other English-speaking students, which kind of defeats the purpose. It was still the best year of my life, but I feel like I squandered my chance. And then senior year, our prof for the language class was a total flake, and we learned nothing. The grad students were so mad about it that they took it up with the dean, but that only resulted in the prof getting a stern talking-to and then being bitter about it and taking it out on us in class

[demishock]

Yeah, "suck it up" is my dad's motto as well. It's not very helpful, and it doesn't seem to lead to happiness, if his end result is any indication. :/ He hates his job and is counting down the years to retirement. Doesn't exactly make me want to follow his lead.

I know Kelly has some online training stuff. Word and Outlook I've got down fine, but I could probably stand to brush up on Excel, Access, and PowerPoint.

Thank you! I wish you luck as well!

[dangerduckie21]

So you like the arts but don't have the talent...have you searched for any administrative assistant type positions in local museums or arts or entertainment organizations? There are plenty of jobs in the arts that don't require any talent at all, just the interest - publicity, funding/grant writing, art dealer, talent management, etc. If you have the interest and drive, even starting as an admin. assistant can give you the connections and skills to work these type of jobs.

[demishock]

...That all sounds very obvious when you say it, but it hadn't occurred to me before now. *facepalm* I'll have to look into those. The area I live in is filled primarily with insurance and aerospace companies, so those are mostly where I've been applying (and which is where my only two jobs in the past have been). But there is a theater and several museums in the capital city which wouldn't be too bad of a commute, so I'll have to look into those. Thank you for the ideas! ♥

[goth_kittykat]

network, i went to my first networking meeting today. while a bunch of it was corny when i came up and spoke and said i need a job i got about 5 different organizations that people told me to check out in my field. granted i knew most of them, but it's nice to get help. it also sends a buzz word around because apparently some of them go to a lot of meetings and will get you connected to other meetings.

what about an art curator? or someone who manages a mesuem section? idk what that's called.

[demishock]

Yeah... I've got to try to work through my social anxiety issues. I have to write myself a script just to talk to someone on the phone, and talking to strangers in person wigs me out. Text-based communications are completely fine for me, though. I wonder if I can get away with networking via email or this LinkedIn thin I keep hearing about...

I'm not sure what it's called, either, but I'm definitely going to go try to find out!

[goth_kittykat]

well i'm on linkedin....what it is(because i am now as in 3 weeks into networking in general) is basically facebook but where you only talk about professional things. what i found out is networking is basically making friends...difference is you focus more on making relationships based on how you can work with each other. one person has something you want(job lead/connection) the other person adds you or talks to you in hopes you have a friend or person you know who can use their services.

because people make all this mystery behind it i didn't know..but that's it. what i've been told by master networking people on linkedin is that it rarely leads to a job but it's great for building your network.