no, i get you. i just think it shows a commitment to non-counseling and a whole panoply of skills that are easily used in other jobs. it may just be a more circuitous journey than would be ideal.
you can ALSO throw up in the trash can this afternoon if you want, but i know it'll all come out okay in the end.
I got an accounting degree and worked as an accountant :-p
Then a few years later I decided I wanted to be a professor and went back to grad school. I got my job halfway through my phd, which I have to finish to keep the job.
My job as a youth care worker-did a 4 year degree at a university which had four placements. Once of my placements was at a group home, and they hired me 2 days after my last day of practicum. My job as a daycare worker is within the same company and I just switched over for physical safety during pregnancy.
Post by BunnyMacDougal on Jun 3, 2013 14:56:20 GMT -5
When I moved here I emailed my department to see if they had openings for professors. The next semester they contacted me to say they had funding coming in the following semester. They asked if I would be willing to attend and help out with a lab unpaid until then. I don't really know if my doing that played any part in my getting the job. But, when the funding came in I was hired on a one-year contract and get renewed each semester now since then.
Post by thatgirl2478 on Jun 3, 2013 15:09:39 GMT -5
Got a BS in Business Management & Administration with a concentration in Management & Administration ... which is a long way to say I got a basic business degree...
I took a job in phone Customer Service because it paid OK ($27k). I did it well, voluenteered for extra projects which got me off the phone and into the back end of the system. Those projects led me to a Mgr who needed a data analyst. It was easy data work, I had been doing some of it in my extra projects, and my boss was friendly with him so I got the job. I mastered that job quickly and showed an ability to figure out the database interactions in real world applications so they moved me to QA. I mostly wrote & executed test plans, but did some coding as well.
Then I left that job and moved to a pure QA role. I took every opportunity to figure out all of the lines of business QA was involved in and eventually took over as lead QA for my business line (pharmacy). My boss appreciates my work, so she had no problems offering me the opportunity to work from home after I moved 200 miles away. It's been a great experience, but you can't really go to 'QA' school.
Well I went to school for teaching and I'm a teacher. It's not a very exciting story. The school I student taught at had an opening the next year, I interviewed for it and they liked me. I have been there ever since.
I can tell you how my H got his job if you want since he's not in his field. He went to school for history education and could not, for the life of him, find a teaching job anywhere. Immediately following college, he got a job as a department manager at a grocery store which was sucky pay and hours, but what can ya do? We needed two incomes.
One of his co-workers there left and became a custom framer at a store in town that paid REALLY well for what it is (a non-management position) but they only have like 3 framers at a time so there were no openings. They had a full-time opening a year later and this ex-co-worker put a word in for him, and he got the job with no experience in framing. It's not his ideal job and he still looks for other job opportunities but it pays really well for what it is, he gets a yearly bonus, he often gets tips at work and the hours are fairly decent. He was also asked to interview for a management position later this month, so fingers crossed.
My first job wasn't exactly related to my degree, but close. I was a German/Literature double-major (and theater minor!) and I'd taken a few journalism classes and done some online publishing. I got a job as a cub reporter at a decent-sized local newspaper.
After three years of that, I went and got a masters in journalism, specializing in science & environment reporting. It's kind of niche, so after I graduated, I took the first journalism job I could get, at a trade magazine covering the wireless industry -- which I knew pretty much nothing about, but I was used to covering complicated stuff and that helped me get the job anyway.
I worked there about three years, had a kid and became a SAHM, and they called me up last year to offer me a PT job working from home. Now they're online-only, everyone works from home, and we do a lot of multimedia in addition to writing. So the theater minor actually does come in handy.
I have a dual bachelors in sociology and history. I'm an insurance benefits coordinator at a dentists office.
I talk to patients about the diagnosis that our dr has given and reinforce what the doctor said they need and tell them what insurance will pay and what they will not pay.
I started working in electronic legal publishing (collecting/editing state regs, and doing some book publishing on laws in a few states) right away out of college, then our parent company shut down my location after I was there for 4 years. I was unemployed/underemployed for a few years, got a certificate in paralegal studies from a part time program, and now I work for an insurance company doing legal research, state filings, and advising them on compliance issues. I got that job through applying on Craigslist.
I started college to be a high school history teacher switched to business.
AFter college I was working for an accounting firm and wanted out so I took a temp job at a large non-profit organization on a research project. At the end of the contract/end of the project the company offered me 2 different jobs. I took the slightly lesser paying job because I thought it was a better fit and would better lead to a carreer and I am really glad I chose that position. It isn't anything at all that I thought I'd be doing but I made the right choice.
I was involved with my union by being a shop steward for 10 years, plus I was elected to a committee for the local and I volunteered to help out with the yearly picnic and other events sponsored by the union. Unbeknownst to me, the leaders in our local saw that and almost 8 years ago I received a call while I was at my boring soon-to-be-ex job offering me a position, and now here I am.
"Why would you ruin perfectly good peanuts by adding candy corn? That's like saying hey, I have these awesome nachos, guess I better add some dryer lint." - Nonny
I have a degree in Human Development with an emphasis in Children's Services I am a Human Resources Professional, the fact that my field and degree have Human in the title is the only thing they have in common, that and both areas help people.
I worked in retail in college and as a dept. manager I fell into the HR duties at the store level, I liked it a lot and decided to pursue a career in HR being that I couldn't handle the emotional baggage of a career in social services. I started as an HR Assistant and moved to a senior role within 6 years. I love helping people and not being the stereotypical HR person, every day is different from the last which some people find difficult, but I relish the constant change. I also work for a very Employee centric company and purposefully seek that out, because going to work is something I want to enjoy not dread.
Good Luck!
I also have an HD degree but with an emphasis in ECE (early childhood education).
I've always wanted to work with kids and worked hard to get my current job with special needs preschoolers. I applied for a ton of jobs in 3 different school districts. My present job were the only ones to offer me a job. I applied/interviewed for a job for 3 years. It was incredibly frustrating and demoralizing because it seemed to me that others who got the kind of jobs I was looking for had very little experience and/or no education/education in a completely different field.
If it makes any different OP, I thought I'd end up working in childcare forever and instead I ended up working for a school district in a structured preschool.
Post by beautifulfields12 on Jun 3, 2013 21:37:12 GMT -5
I am also in Grants writing/management (high fives ninjabridemom) I graduated a Marine Biology Major. I worked in my field for 5 years. My long-term goal is to become an Executive Director of a Environmental non-profit, which is why I pursued this track. I was involved in the organization I work for while I was working in the MB field. I miss field work sooo hard it hurts.
Post by alicenelson on Jun 3, 2013 21:45:22 GMT -5
Legal assistant. Was new in town...dropped two, maybe three resumés off at law offices around town. The phone was ringing when I arrived home. Interviewed and was hired the next day--17 1/2 years ago. Love my job; adore my boss.
I had a nursing placement with a doctors office (my dream job) and figured there was no way they would hire a nurse with no family medicine experience. Fortunately a nurse retired when I was there, and they hired me since my placement was basically training. It worked out well since nursing jobs like that are hard to come by.
Architectural designer (aka non licensed architect. My degree is in architecture.
I got my current job by posting my résumé on the AIA MN resume bank. I got a phone call from a recruiter about 1.5 weeks later. Interviewed a week after that and was offered the job a few days after that. I am LUCKY that I barely did anything to get this job. I'm thankful every day!
Eta: I got my first job in 2005 after putting my résumé on monster.com. A recruiter called me in that case too. I got my second job because H talked to my now former boss in an elevator. :-) I know I am NOT the norm in that I haven't done a ton of leg work or interviews to get the jobs I've had.
you cannot use the word "architectural" (or architect, or any of its derivatives) in your title if you are not licensed. unless you use "architectural intern" or "intern architect," according to ncarb. (although when laypeople ask, i think "architect" is fine to say even if you're not licensed since otherwise it causes mass confusion. "non-licensed practitioner," "job captain," etc. sound stupid and mean nothing to anyone else.)
to answer OP, every career-track job and most interviews i've gotten were via networking. get the word out (without smelling desperate, which i do way too easily). i've also gotten temp jobs through agencies at companies i found somewhat interesting, worked my ass off at the temp job, and used that to start conversations about opportunities available within.
After undergrad (sociology), I worked as an arson and fraud investigator. I was burnt out and decided to pursue grad degrees (business) and was ultimately recruited into higher education. I worked in higher ed administration for the school that recruited me for 5 years. Last year I was recruited to the University campus I now run. Never guessed I would end up in education and definitely didn't follow that path purposely. I luckily stumbled upon it...right place, right time!
Post by bitsandpieces on Jun 4, 2013 14:22:20 GMT -5
I was a lifeguard in the summers all through high school. In college I began moving up (coordinating aquatics programs, becoming a pool manager). I went to college for theater (stage management)and did an internship right out of college. I love stage managing, but the schedule didn't allow me to pursue other passions. So I switched the city that I worked for and went back into aquatics as a full time pool manager. It can be exhausting and at times the magnitude of being in charge of 15-yr-olds who guard lives if overwhelming, but I honestly love my job. Upside is that I still work in theater occasionally and I still have a schedule that mostly fits my other hobbies.
I got my degree in English with a minor in Theater
I started out as a newspaper reporter and, after two years of looking for a way out, the tow clerk for one of the towns I covered emailed me and said she was retiring, had I ever considered a job in government? lol
So, I deflected to the dark side and became a public servant
Many years ago I took a long shot, very vague, job as a coordinator for a start-up project that could end in a year if it didn't work out. All because I hated my commute and I had a baby at home that I felt like I was away from far too much. (With commute it was 10 hour days).
Well that job grew from one contract worth $1mil to global contracts in the the hundreds of millions. And I went from a happy little desk job to a field engineer for those contracts and love every second of it. (welllll... not EVERY second, but for the most part and I know I got super lucky)
Post by BlackCanary on Jun 4, 2013 14:40:11 GMT -5
I got my job at the comic book store because it turned out that the owner plays D&D with BIL. When I asked him if they were hiring, he kind of gave me a vague "maybe, bring in your resume." Then I went to buy something and he recognized my last name. Told me to bring in my resume and I got the job!
Also, when DH and I came into the store, he first though that we were brother and sister (what?!) and was completely grossed out when I called DH babe. Ha!