High school degree - check
Bachelor's degree - check - Quinnipiac University - Interactive Digital Design
Employment - ______ (no check)
Someone please send me back in time and slap me at the age of 18 for wanting to get a design degree at a school not known for design. What was I thinking? Oh that in 4+ years I'd still want to be making web sites and designing things. Well, sure, I want to be designing things, but what is the question. Okay, well, I do have an idea, but getting into the field of Motion Graphics isn't easy...at least as a college grad. So I now have expanded my horizons to doing any sort of design I feel that I am capable of.
Problem #1 - I didn't take an internship during college because I was too poor and took a job that paid instead. It was sort of related...but not really what employers are looking for. When my kid gets to college, they are going to take the non-paying internship and struggle.
Problem #2 - I don't have "experience." I can't get a job without experience.
Problem #3 - I don't have a job to get experience from. It is a vicious cycle. Not to mention getting into the design field isn't easy. Each year colleges graduate thousands of design students with only a fraction of job openings. Plus the economy right now isn't at its best for it.
Problem #4 - I suck at selling myself, yet, I can do almost anything if I am taught or trained. Eventually I'll find someone who wants to take that risk. (My little bit of optimism)
Problem #5 - Location, location, location. No opportunities in my current location and I can't afford to live in places where there are opportunities.
I was located in CT where I graduated from college, where there were more opportunities than where I am located now (Central/Northern New Hampshire in the boonies... 30minutes to the nearest supermarket/Walmart). I even got offered a job in CT, that I had to reluctantly turn down because each month would put me further into debt. I wouldn't even have broken even once student loans started coming. The sad part is, my mother would have still been paying for my car insurance and cell phone bill. How on earth is anyone supposed to make it now unless you're well-to-do? Now that I'm located in NH and living at home, I get the great perks of no rent (or minimal), free food (or low cost), and free utilities. Of course living at home in the boonies has now squashed the number of my opportunities to a very small handful.
Had I done something like business or a health science, I would actually have a job. Of course I have relatives telling me, "You have a college degree! It means you can be trained!" Of course, maybe its me, but every single job I'm applying for, the rest of the candidates have college degrees. Whoop-dee-frickin-do! A college degree doesn't mean a whole lot, at least not in the area I was looking for jobs. Everyone has a degree! Its my certificate that says I know how to learn and can be trained. Those that are hiring though, seem to want people who already have experience. And for each entry level job (in the design field) there are 100 people applying for it. Which half of them probably went to some fancy art school.
Oh and another thing that bothers me.... I don't "know" anyone. The connections I have with adults and other students, don't do me any good in locating a job. I have just about exhausted all of those possibilities. Ok, I'm done, and no, I'm not looking for sympathy, I'm looking for a job.
Bachelor's degree - check - Quinnipiac University - Interactive Digital Design
Employment - ______ (no check)
Someone please send me back in time and slap me at the age of 18 for wanting to get a design degree at a school not known for design. What was I thinking? Oh that in 4+ years I'd still want to be making web sites and designing things. Well, sure, I want to be designing things, but what is the question. Okay, well, I do have an idea, but getting into the field of Motion Graphics isn't easy...at least as a college grad. So I now have expanded my horizons to doing any sort of design I feel that I am capable of.
Problem #1 - I didn't take an internship during college because I was too poor and took a job that paid instead. It was sort of related...but not really what employers are looking for. When my kid gets to college, they are going to take the non-paying internship and struggle.
Problem #2 - I don't have "experience." I can't get a job without experience.
Problem #3 - I don't have a job to get experience from. It is a vicious cycle. Not to mention getting into the design field isn't easy. Each year colleges graduate thousands of design students with only a fraction of job openings. Plus the economy right now isn't at its best for it.
Problem #4 - I suck at selling myself, yet, I can do almost anything if I am taught or trained. Eventually I'll find someone who wants to take that risk. (My little bit of optimism)
Problem #5 - Location, location, location. No opportunities in my current location and I can't afford to live in places where there are opportunities.
I was located in CT where I graduated from college, where there were more opportunities than where I am located now (Central/Northern New Hampshire in the boonies... 30minutes to the nearest supermarket/Walmart). I even got offered a job in CT, that I had to reluctantly turn down because each month would put me further into debt. I wouldn't even have broken even once student loans started coming. The sad part is, my mother would have still been paying for my car insurance and cell phone bill. How on earth is anyone supposed to make it now unless you're well-to-do? Now that I'm located in NH and living at home, I get the great perks of no rent (or minimal), free food (or low cost), and free utilities. Of course living at home in the boonies has now squashed the number of my opportunities to a very small handful.
Had I done something like business or a health science, I would actually have a job. Of course I have relatives telling me, "You have a college degree! It means you can be trained!" Of course, maybe its me, but every single job I'm applying for, the rest of the candidates have college degrees. Whoop-dee-frickin-do! A college degree doesn't mean a whole lot, at least not in the area I was looking for jobs. Everyone has a degree! Its my certificate that says I know how to learn and can be trained. Those that are hiring though, seem to want people who already have experience. And for each entry level job (in the design field) there are 100 people applying for it. Which half of them probably went to some fancy art school.
Oh and another thing that bothers me.... I don't "know" anyone. The connections I have with adults and other students, don't do me any good in locating a job. I have just about exhausted all of those possibilities. Ok, I'm done, and no, I'm not looking for sympathy, I'm looking for a job.
