Lovelyish

1.) You need to be confident. Job offerers see that you’re not and you’re automatically out. You need to present yourself well and just breathe.

2.) Don’t be so picky. Small wages are better than nothing for the time being. Yes, it sucks but if you want experience that’s what you must deal with.

For one thing, never quit a job until you have another lined up. Whether you get paid what you deserve or not, atleast you have some income.

Second, try to sign up for agencies that help you get jobs. I’m a multiskilled healthcare practitioner (CNA & MA), so I register with nursing agencies & pretty much whore my resume & business cards around to find jobs. It helps.

Third, be flexible. Sometimes you have to sacrifice your weekends, nights or work long stretches without days off just to get your foot in the door. When you’re more established at a job then you can make decisions about your schedule. Right now alot of the CNA jobs are looking for live in, nights or 12 hour shifts. I take the 12 hours because I need the cash & it’s a decent paycheck.

Just out of college is now entry-level and minimum wage. You are going to have to take a job with low pay if you ever want to climb the ladder. 

“I got interviews and offers but I turned down a couple already because I’d be paid like a cheap labour (probably a little better than flipping burgers) if I worked for them.”
I understand the frustration but, at least you’ve gotten those offers. I would have taken them since they can get you started in the business. You gotta get your foot in the door somehow. Now you’re stuck with a part time job that would probably pay about the same. Remember that a degree does not guarantee a higher position, especially now when most people go to college and get a degree. You have to prove yourself and prove that your experience has actually taught you something. At least try the lower jobs first. If a better offer comes in, you can always quit and move on to the better job.
Be glad you’re getting offers. Too many people aren’t getting any offers at all, even if they deserve them, and they’re flipping burgers to make ends meet until those lower job offers come in. Stop acting like you deserve more when you’re just getting started.

Well I wouldn’t have quit that job if I didn’t have another job lined up. You sound desperate but you’ve turned down a few jobs… but you’re willing to be a barista… I don’t get that.

I don’t get why you quit the job you had lined up. The economical situation is almost at the state before the Great Depression. The state of the economy doesn’t leave much for any dreams right now. You will need to do things you aren’t willing to do, now, until the economy climate improves. 

I echo the commentator above who said “Never quit a job until you’ve got another lined up.” Also you quit the first job too early; unless you were totally unsuited for the job to the point where you couldn’t do any of the work and you’d rather get a root canal than show up in the morning, you should have stayed on longer. Three months is not long enough to really get the gist of any job, I’ve been working at mine for almost six months and it’s taken me almost that long to really get everything figured out and stop making rookie mistakes. And yes, it’s my first post-college job.

Also small wages are a factor of life, especially with new college grads. It’s an employer’s market and unless you’ve got a ton of qualifications, odds are your paychecks are going to be on the low end for the first few YEARS of your career. And at least you’re getting calls; I landed a job in marketing because I cost my employer substantially less than what a laid-off middle-aged former executive with a family would cost them. I make twelve bucks an hour and my monthly net pay after taxes is somewhere in the neighborhood of $1100 which isn’t enough to move out on where I live. I live at home and work a non-glamorous job for bum paychecks, but I don’t bitch because it’s valuable experience in my field and $1100 a month beats the hell out of $0 a month.

Post-grad life is a humbling experience for most people, especially since universities spend a ton of time telling you that you’re a beautiful and unique individual who will doubtlessly enrich the world around you with your knowledge and that you’ll be appropriately rewarded as a result. Then you get out into the real world and find out the hard way that you’re not special, no one cares about your unique talents unless they can be used to make someone money, and that you’re viewed as little more than cheap labor until you can prove otherwise.

And in short, experience > money. Even in today’s economic climate, you can find shitty jobs that just pay bills, but if you can find work in a field that will assist you in finding a better position later on, take it.

You need to stop and think about the fact that you are competing with highly skilled people with more years of experience than you… so before you turn down another offer you really need to think on using that to get your foot in the door, so to speak. you are not going to be offered an amazing amount of money since you are  besically considered a fresh out of college job seeker. Saying no isn’t always the best bet, sometimes those lower paying jobs, I am sure some of those offers that came were at least better than a barista pay, and consider some of those offers as experience that people will probably look at and say look some experience…

financial consulting jobs aren’t easy to come by, personally I wouldn’t have quit after 3 months. I live by the philosophy that I don’t have to love my job – as long as it pays the bills in a legal fashion I will do it.  It makes hobbies all the more worthwhile. Case and point, I don’t have a huge interest in commerce but I’m in a commerce program. 

Honestly, I would say get some retail experience. Are you a marketing major? I was told that if you are a marketing major (which I am) then business are more interested in you than someone without marketing experience. I would say go to mall or something and look for anyone hiring. With a college degree, you can get put ahead of people without one when it comes to retail management or something. And if you make it into management, that would look good on a resume.

I’ll just echo what everyone else is saying:

-Don’t quit a job without another lined up. Anything is better than nothing. Being unemployed by your own doing when the workforce is in such a sorry state of affairs is just plain irresponsible.

-Don’t be picky. Don’t act like any job (even waitressing or working a cash register) is beneath you. In this economy, you can’t afford to have that attitude, because someone without such a huge ego who is willing to start small will soon acquire the job experience that is key to moving up the ladder.

-Work outside your field. Many skills are applicable across a broad spectrum. Gain experience, any kind of experience to bolster your resume and set you apart.

Sorry if any of that is overly blunt.

If I just graduated and needed a job, I would’ve taken anything I could get. You can’t be too picky; if there are few “cons” to the job and the only main “con” is that the pay isn’t great, you can’t just reject it on that basis. There are so many college grads who can’t find a job nowadays, so you were one of the lucky ones to even get any offers. Sure, you may not be happy with it, but it’s all about working your way up. You’ll get to where you want to be eventually, you just have to be patient and openminded.

You can’t afford to turn down jobs in this climate. I have a BA degree from a top ten university in England and I’m living at home working part-time at a grocery store making pizza, because there’s nothing else out there. Just take what you can get – yeah, the pay sucks but being unemployed looks MUCH worse than working minimum wage somewhere.

Also, quitting a job with nothing else lined up is just stupid.

honey, in this economy, any job is worth it. I got one offer, negotiated it, and took it. And I’m ecstatic about this one offer! it’s more than a lot of people I go to school with have gotten.

You are the prime example of why people call us the lazy generations. Stop following your dreams, be practical. DO NOT TURN DOWN JOBS. They provide CONNECTIONS and EXPERIENCE.

@MoonFaeEyryan@xanga - The thing that drove me apeshit was that she said that she’d received offers for jobs she WANTED to do and turned them down because she thought the wages being offered were beneath her. Most people I know who are working in anything RELATED to their majors or professions of interest are just happy they’re working where they are.

If you have a chance to gain valuable industry connections and experience and you turn that down because you don’t like the pay, then you reap what you sow.

The best way to get your foot into the door with marketing is to be an independent contractor/event specialist. You’re going to have to work your butt off to get hired for gigs, but some pay pretty well. At one weekend event, I was once paid $35/hour. Average pay is about $15/hour. 

From there, be punctual, be proactive and get friendly with the company to squeeze your way into a more stable work environment (like an office job). 
If you’re located in NYC, try looking at these companies:Attack! Marketing, EventPro Strategies, Big Orange Productions, Encore Nationwide

For more help, look here:www.eventspeak.com; http://www.eventpeeps.com
Hope it helped!

Understand that you might not get paid too high in entry-level positions.  But a lot of people get raises after working just a couple months.  Think of it as a stepping stone.  And usually Finance entry level jobs pay more than marketing anyway.  Yes, you were picky in the past but what’s done is done.  The editor’s suggestion of getting an internship is a good idea.  Make sure you choose a job that you can see yourself in for at least 5 years.  Choosing a job or turning down a job based solely on initial pay is a huge mistake. My friend made that mistake by choosing the highest paying job, and now he absolutely hates everyday that he goes to work.

And you’re in a HECK of a better position than a lot of people!  I haven’t got any offers yet and many others are having a much harder time.  So don’t take your opportunities for granted.  Another one might not come.

Picky… I was all sympathetic until I read that.

Such a sense of entitlement.

oh jeez. join the club.

yea you gotta kinda accept the low pay. sucks doesn’t it? I’ll be in that position in about 6 months if I decide not to teach abroad. Did you do any internships before you graduated?

We’re on tha same boat.

Same thing. Graduated from college in 07 and I’ve been through like 4 jobs. It’s hard. Being laid off several times, but you just learn from all of it. You learn to keep on rolling. You learn to appreciate that job. You learn to save. You learn to live and you learn what makes you happy.

Just keep putting yourself out there. Be flexible. Take something a little lower on the payroll and work yourself up. Be open to all possibility and remember that thousands of other people are having the same kinds of issues…and be thankful and appreciative of all the offers you get.

You can’t just waltz into the work force in the middle of a recession and expect to be paid $60,000 off the bat. 

Going to graduate in a month, so I definitely know how you feel. I have  a part time job now that I don’t get paid enough for the work that I do, but it is experience for the field that I want to go in. When I was looking for a job, I went to a couple of recruiting agencies and I found one that actually works with you and calls you up when they find you a job. They do take a chunk out of your paycheck, but it is definitely experience that you can put on your resume. Just slowly work your way up, and hang in there! Just don’t be too picky.

I’m going to echo what everyone else here is saying. If you’re goal is to get more work experiences and get your foot in the door, you’re going to start with low pay. That’s how it works right now. And turning down offers because you think the wages are below you is just ridiculous. You’re going to be looking at a long time without the career you want if that’s the attitude you’re going with. 

so you left a perfectly good job in this economy, and now you’re turning down job offers in this economy?

seriously?

network.

Work for food and water and a sofa to sleep on for a while, then nothing can slam a door on your foot. It’s actually been a rather good experience for me.