I am graduating college in December with a degree in MIS. I am not a great student, I expect to graduate with a GPA of around 3.0 or just a little less. As far as knowing what I’m supposed to have learned or getting what I should have out of my classes, I feel I’m about in the middle of my class. I don’t think I excel in anything I’ve studied. There are a handfull of classes I have taken that I really didn’t get much out of or didn’t really feel comfortable with, but in general I learned about as much as the average student from my classes.
I never did an internship and have no job experience related to my major. My previous work experience is pretty much part time and summer jobs typical of students. Some of these jobs include working in retail, working at a liquor store, and landscaping. Pretty much all of my prior jobs have had little or no responsiblity.
I would definitely be willing to go outside the MIS field in starting my career, and I’m open to doing a lot of different things. All things being equal I would like to get a job directly related to MIS, but like I said, its not that important.
As far as hours or salary, I don’t really care. I would be willing to work first or second shift or on a rotating schedule. Weekends would be fine too. I wouldn’t want to work a lot of hours, maybe up to 50 a week. Working less than 40 a week would be fine with me (of couse I wouldn’t make as much money). I don’t expect to make a lot of money right away, just what I’m worth. I plan on living the college lifestyle for a bit after I graduate, and that is pretty cheap.
Any input on the type of job I might be able to get, or how I should go about it? What kind of areas should I be looking in for entry-level positions? How much of a factor will it be that I never did an internshp and have no real job experience right now? Any other advice from those who have been here before?
I know this post is kind of vague and all, I will expand on anything necessary. Any input would be appreciated, thanks.
Look for an entry-level gig. I have a Master’s in Literature, and my first job after deciding to leave academia was as a statistical research analyst. They were looking for someone who could think analytically and who knew how to write.
Doing that I picked up some copyediting skills: enough to get me a job as an entry-level copyeditor at a publishing company (of course, the seven years of literary study helped a bit with the language skills too). This publishing company also wanted someone to manage Web sites, so I greatly exaggerated my skill level in HTML programming, figuring I could learn it on the fly, which I did.
My acquired Web skills got me my current job as an “on-line content producer” (i.e., Web grunt) at the newspaper.
Short version: Comb the help-wanted ads for anything you might be remotely qualified for, and apply for it. Send out LOTS of resumes, even if you think you probably won’t get the jobs.
And when writing a cover letter to go with the resumes, remember: A resume/letter’s function is NOT to get you the job. Their purpose is to get you the interview. I.e., pad and exaggerate a little, and in the letter make yourself sound like a badass.
Oh, and don’t put your GPA on the resume; employers don’t care.
Well, I was going to post this to a new thread, but since this one only got the one response (thanks jackelope), maybe I’ll just combine them since they are kind of related.
I wonder if there are full-time type jobs with only part-time hours out there. Basically what I mean would be a job that would make use of my college degree and pay more or be more interesting or give me more relevent job experience then the typical part time jobs I have now, but wouldn’t require me to work 40 hours a week. I know most career jobs are your typical full-time salary jobs, but I wonder if that is all there is out there. I wouldn’t mind working for an hourly wages instead of a salary, and then have the flexibilty to work less hours if I wanted to, are there jobs like that out there?
Yes, this would be a lazy stragegy, but like I said in the OP, I plan on living like a college kid for at least a bit after I get done with school. I don’t need to start making serious money right out the door.
Well, I was going to post this to a new thread, but since this one only got the one response (thanks jackelope), maybe I’ll just combine them since they are kind of related.
I wonder if there are full-time type jobs with only part-time hours out there. Basically what I mean would be a job that would make use of my college degree and pay more or be more interesting or give me more relevent job experience then the typical part time jobs I have now, but wouldn’t require me to work 40 hours a week. I know most career jobs are your typical full-time salary jobs, but I wonder if that is all there is out there. I wouldn’t mind working for an hourly wages instead of a salary, and then have the flexibilty to work less hours if I wanted to, are there jobs like that out there?
Yes, this would be a lazy stragegy, but like I said in the OP, I plan on living like a college kid for at least a bit after I get done with school. I don’t need to start making serious money right out the door.