I don’t know if I really count. Yes, I finished nuring school and worked as an RN in the place I really wanted, but I’d worked there as a nursing assistant then student for years.
During my first week, I was pulled out of orientation to be in charge on my unit.
I already had the respect of my peers.
I graduated from college during a recession, so while my job was a step above McDonalds, it wasn’t two steps up from McDonalds. I was on the visitor services staff of a large public aquarium. That was twenty years this month, and many jobs ago!
I’ll let you know when I get my ‘dream job’.
The best way if you’re having trouble is to find a company you want to work for. Then try to get a job, ANY JOB, at that company. Then hopefully when times get better a position will open up.
If you’re already employed by that company you have a better chance.
Not my dream job, but a great job in my chosen field. Of course, by the time I finished college, I didn’t really know what my “dream job” was any more.
Nope! I got a job as a receptionist in an animal hospital in August of the year I graduated with my English/Creative Writing degree. I needed to pay rent and that’s what would pay me and it seemed like a good place to work.
I ended up staying there for 2 years and working my way up to being a Vet Tech and assisting in surgeries.
I kept applying for editor jobs and finally one place gave me a chance, based primarily on the fact that by staying in one place for a good amount of time and getting promoted several times that I was a valuable team member and willing to commit. The whole time I was working at the hospital I was frustrated that I wasn’t using my degree, but I was putting in the hard work that eventually got me a break in the publishing business, so it was worth it.
He’ll probably have to look outside his field for his first job, but that’s not the end of the world. Sometimes it’s a circuitous route to where to want to go.
I have to say–yeah, or pretty damn close to it. I was an intern for the company at my last year in college, and then went to work full time. Salary has always been decent, and the stock option benefits have been excellent. It would have been hard to ask for more. Of course no job is a joy every single day, but overall, 11 years later, I’m still quite happy. I write software.
I’ve had a bunch of near-minimum-wage jobs but never had to work fast food or retail. And somehow, every job I’ve ever had has turned into computer support of some kind.
None of the options fit for me. First off, I didn’t get a job right out of college, I went to law school. Second, I didn’t get my dream job right away–I worked in a different division of my dream job straight out of law school, did that for 2.5 years, and then transferred to my dream job. Third, my dream job has sucky pay. 
Right out of my undergrad, I took my Social Science degree and worked in a window factory for a summer.
Right out of my Master’s in public policy, I got a job as a policy analyst in the government.
So, no and yes.
When I graduated, I went to grad school for one year, then found a job in my field in Austin. I moved back to Houston a year later and took a job that nearly doubled my salary. My profession has had me living in various countries around the Pacific Rim (Singapore, Jakarta, et al). I’ve been lucky, I guess.
And now I have a second career running parallel with my first and I love them both.
I’ve been VERY lucky!
Absolutely not! I worked any number of paper-hat jobs to make ends meet after college. Then I completely re-evaluated my career path and worked all kinds of jobs that were dreamy in one aspect but not dreamy in another (awesome work for almost no pay, etc.) Went to grad school, put a LOT of effort into my career, and now it’s shaping up pretty well.
It hasn’t been a straight path, but it’s been a fun and interesting one.
I answered based on this. When I graduated, I found a job fairly quickly in the publishing industry. It was not a great job (although the pay was decent for an entry-level copyediting and data entry position) but it served as a springboard to my next job, which was actually pretty great, and that served as a springboard into my current freelancing business, which pays reasonably well and which I find satisfying.
I did my McDonald’s/waitressing/tech support paying-the-rent style jobs when I was still a student.
I’m not sure how to answer this. After undergrad I got a job very much in line with my ultimate career goals, but which I recognized was a mere stepping stone to grad school. After grad school I was unemployed for over six months, then I got a job I hated because my boss was a raving hellbeast. I majored in social work and it was a case management position when my dream and professional training was program development and evaluation. I didn’t mind the actual work part of the job, but I didn’t feel it was helping me reach any professional goals. I ended up quitting because I was having violent thoughts pretty much every time my boss showed her stupid face.
I left that after only two months and began applying to department stores out of desperation. In less than a month I did, in fact, get hired for my dream job. I’m a development and outreach coordinator at a nonprofit that serves predominantly immigrants, located in my favorite city (Philadelphia), and even when I’m stuck in traffic during my 90 minute (each way) commute I can’t help but think, ''Wow, I love my job."
So the short answer is, ‘‘I didn’t even get any job straight out of college, but within 8 months I had my dream job.’’
Of course, when I think about the amount of luck required for me to get hired for this particular position in this particular location, it freaks me out. I may have to leave the state next summer and I’m terrified I’ll never find anything like this again.
Pretty close to that (except they don’t call you “engineer” right away). It was 1985 and it seems like all the majors were hiring then (Boeing, Lockheed, General Dynamics, Martin, Honeywell, McD, etc.) I didn’t think the offers were all that great, but I’d done seasonal work in the offshore oil biz during college, so I had a different perspective. I became a contract engineer as soon as I could, and in the next decade ended up working for all the above. Finally settled on one of 'em since the Missus was getting tired of moving.
BS Microbiology 1975, grad school in Mbio and switched to MSEE 1979.
Paper hat until 1977. $888/month as a Lab Research Associate in Bio.
Since you asked about engineering, was hired away from grad school in 1980 to work on these “computer things”. If you could spell programming they would hire you back then.
My dream job is to be a writer. The day I graduated college, I told myself, “Okay, now, you’re a writer.”
Took me a few years to figure out how to support myself as a writer.
No, I did not. A straightforward answer to a straightforward question.
I got something in my chosen field straight out of college - but it was a nightmare. For way too long in my life I nursed a keen hatred for almost everyone in it. Eventually I learned that hate is unhealthy for me, but it took me a long time to let it go.
But it *was *in my chosen field.
The money in my field is not bad. Prestige? Well, I dunno, do people consider software development to be a prestigious field?
I’m wondering if we have any sleep researchers on the Board. That would be a dream job.