We've gotten a few emails from you college kiddos making your final jaunt across that stage for the very coveted and damn expensive diplomas. You're excited. You're scared. You're maybe a little hungover. You've asked us for advice on getting jobs in the feminist/blogging/writing worlds, and so I thought I would offer a few little things that I've learned the hard way in case they can be helpful:
1. Don't just apply to law school because it feels like something that you can tell your aunts and uncles at your graduation parties or makes you feel safe in this economy. Do it if you really want to be a lawyer.
2. You've heard it before from us. You'll hear it again from us. Negotiate. Even in this economy. Even with women bosses, who can sometimes be the worst about giving you the "oh, we're a poor organization, we couldn't possibly, we thought you were down" rigmarole. The worst they can say is no. And you shouldn't have to live off of Ramen noodles.
3. Take your work seriously, but have a sense of humor about yourself.
It's really important to be confident--you're a badass and you know it--but also to be humble and have a good laugh at yourself in the workplace.
4. Seek feedback. If you act like you'll break if people give you pointers, then you'll never improve or being more self-aware.
5. There's nothing wrong with combining creative or "intellectual" work with a job that pays the bills. I still think about waitressing sometimes because (a) I loved waitressing and (b) I loved the feeling of going home with cold, hard cash in my hand. Writing and activist work can sometimes feel like one long exercise in delayed gratification. Sometimes it's awesome to do something straight-forward, physical, and food-related.
6. Be patient. I know you hate that one, as did I, but it's just necessary. My first job out of college was nightmarish (think racism, plastic surgery, chain smoking in a tiny office, and control freak all packed into one tiny body of a boss), but I got through it.
7. Health insurance is important. I wish it weren't, but it is. Check out Healthy New York-type programs for low income people in your area. That's what I did for the first few years. Now I'm on Freelancer's Union health insurance.
8. Seek out mentors. Thank them often. Teach them about the world wide web and they'll love you.
9. House parties are way cheaper than going out to bars.
10. Just because you want to "do good" doesn't mean you should work at a nonprofit. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of jobs in the nonprofit sector that are awesome, but I think this is a default for so many young feminists who want to have meaningful work that ends up feeling really disappointing. What's more important than the 501c3 status is the quality of the relationships you can have at that office and the access to interesting work. And if you're drawn to the nonprofit sector, don't miss out on The Revolution Will Not Be Funded. I'm reading it right now and it's sploding my brain.
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If I might say something about number 10: be aware of the Fund for Public Interest/ Grassroots Campaign. They'll also go under the name Progressive Future.
The MO is to target recent college graduates to work in field offices, and especially during the summer months, to fundraise for progressive organizations. If you want experience and direct impact, go work somewhere else. With these organizations, you'll be overworked, underpaid, and not get any experience, unless you count standing on the street, begging strangers for money for progressive causes, as experience.
I spent a few weeks with them in the summer of last year, after having been hired to specifically work to elect a Democratic candidate, and I can tell you: it's not worth it.
You're all smart, got degrees, you're worth more than 12-15 hours a day, $1,900 a month, six days a week, for a supposedly progressive organization that doesn't really impact anything progressive at all. You have no decision-making power, and you'll be nothing but a puppet.
Sorry, folks, I don't have information as to where you should work, but I do have information as to where you shouldn't work.
For those interested in their story, check out the book "Outsourcing Activism," or do a google search for "Fund for Public Interest." Also check out this here link: (Did I really type "this here?") http://www.angelfire.com/indie/fundislying/FundIsLying.html
Other than that, good luck!
Marc
Indeed. The Fund for Public Interest Research/Grassroots Campaign burned a lot of my fellow peace studies majoring friends. It is so unfortunate that they put on a front of being so progressive and take advantage of idealistic, eager graduates. I feel like working for them may dissuade people from real activism based jobs in the future and that's a shame.
They're still around, huh? They went by PIRG when I was just getting out of high school - offering the same jobs canvassing for shit wages. I don't know about now, but there was some kind of minimum fundraising quota they wanted you to meet where it sounded like you would end up owing them money if you didn't get enough people to donate.
Sorry, folks, the actual name of the book is this: "Activism, Inc.: How the Outsourcing of Grassroots Campaigns Is Strangling Progressive Politics in America."
It's midnight, and I am tired. My apologies.
oh, I wish more people would listen to number 1. I've had this conversation, Me: 'so what are you going to do now that we've finished grad school?' and Them: ' I don't know. If I can't find a job I think I'll go to law school.'
Ugh. And I know a few folks who think they're too good to work so they're going to Law School to waste 3 years until they can find mates and be supported. Ick.
Let people who want to be lawyers have those law school places. Please?
Oh yeah, I had so many friends do this...then they graduate with even more debt (law school is super crazy expensive) and they end up doing something else anyway.
Only go to law school if you really really want to be a lawyer.
The other sad thing about this is that being a lawyer can be really depressing. My uncle was a lawyer for more than thirty years and he said he never met a sadder bunch of people than lawyers. They are at the intersection of human conflict all the time. A friend of mine who now does bankruptcy works 100 hours a week, has no life and has to because of the crushing student loans she has. She says that at least it’s better than doing divorce work, that made her so depressed.
they give you all the stats first year about how lawyers are more likely to be depressed, to abuse drugs and alcohol, to get divorced than the general population. at my school, they made us go to some kind of substance abuse awareness seminar. afterward was a reception with an open bar. yeah.
i will stand behind #1--don't go to law school if you don't want to be a lawyer. that said, sometimes you can't tell if you want to practice law or not until you have some real idea of what that's like. i'm not against people trying out law school just like they try out every other kind of school, but there's a HUGE dearth of accurate information about law school graduate job statistics out there and this tends to lure people in with economic security. a lot of people, particularly people who are smart and good at jumping through academic hoops, go to law school thinking "well, i can just make it through, get my JD, work for a big law firm and make shit tons of money while i figure out what it is that i really want to do." NOTE TO APPLICANTS: YOU WILL PROBABLY NOT GET ONE OF THOSE JOBS. ALMOST NO ONE DOES. even if you go to a top law school, it's much more likely than not that you won't get one of those jobs. with biglaw out of the equation, starting salaries for new attorneys are really not all that impressive, when compared with the average amount of debt incurred from attending law school in the first place.
not to discourage anyone from going to law school, but get the facts first and don't believe the job stats coming from the schools.
Re #5: I work at a women's health non-profit which isn't exactly on my path (i am more social justice/women and development) and I have decided recently that I will never again give my "brain" (aka the part of my brain that does the deep, creative thinking) to a job that is not on my chosen path. I will gladly do manual labor/physical work like food service, but I will not allow another organization to have that part of my brain that I need for thinking critically about the issues I am committed to any more. Don't let 'em have it! That would be my advice to recent grads if you can swing it without starving (something I am still trying to figure out how to do).
On a related note, I recently ate at a restaurant where a friend is a server, and I got so jealous watching her busily taking orders, making milkshakes and loading the mini-dishwasher behind the counter that I thought I might quit my job the very next day.
It's nothing to be jealous of. Waitressing is HARD work, far harder than any of the office jobs I've had in my experience. I did it for one summer and would gladly stand at a copy machine for 8 hours a day to avoid having to wait tables ever again.
I work a 9-5 as a research assistant AND I wait tables. I think you know which one is harder ( hint: would you like a side of ranch with those wings?).
Although I do enjoy waiting sometimes since I work in a pretty small, local establishment where I know the regulars. However, it is one of the toughest jobs I've ever done.
I guess the grass is always greener. I waited tables in my teens and I loved it. I was just envious of work that for the most part is more ambiguous than straightforward and in which there aren't usually 12,000 possible answers to every question. Everything I do seems so murky sometimes, I was covetous of work that, though demanding, is a little more clear-cut.
I'm graduating college tomorrow. Thank you for this!
Congratulations!
I just graduated with a BS in psyc and I have no clue what to do with it or how to put it to good use for the feminist cause. My only quasi-real plan is to shoot for grad school within the next year or two.
Honestly, I think if you're a feminist, and you do something you love, you're contributing to the feminist cause. You could do research in obsessive-compulsive disorder, which doesn't seem like it needs anymore research (it does, btw), and if approach with a feminist outlook, you'll be contributing something that wasn't there in the first place.
I'm not sure what you did with psychology. Are you more into research or social work?
BTW, I had a professor tell me not to go to grad school if you were doing it "just because you didn't have anything else to do." It's hard work, and you have to really want that degree (or at least you should).
word. i'm one (long) year away from masters' degrees in architecture and building science. (i've already done three and a half years, and i'm tired.) i'll be a feminist architect, damn straight.
it takes all kinds to make a world, and a positive difference can and should be made everywhere.
my advice from when i graduated with my BFA: cast a wider net than you might think you want to. the job i ended up loving the most that i had was in advertising production, even though my degree was in design. if the crappy economy hadn't forced me to look for different opportunities, i don't think i would have aimed for work in that field. but i ended up learning SO much, and it has served me well in my career change-in progress.
That's true, being a feminist helps the cause, I just want to do more than enlighten those around me.
And what I'd really like to do is something with human sexuality and the psychology behind it and I'd love to continue my education (honestly the idea of a Dr. in front of my name just tickles my goose), just don't know where/how/when. My undergrad career has left me in a bit of a tight spot as far as getting into grad school goes.
Unfortunately without a doctorate, there is nothing in those areas that you can do that a high school dropout can't do. If you want to get paid more than $10 an hour, you'll need to get the Dr. in front of your name.
I agree completely. I think there are endless areas where you can invoke change as a feminist without searching for a strictly "Feminist Job".
I'm graduating in two weeks, receiving both my B.A. and B.Ed. The plan is to be a teacher. Thankless job at times, sure, but it gives me a place where I can work with young people directly, and encourage them to think for themselves and ask questions.
None of the students who had me as a student-teacher this year use the expression, "That's so gay" anymore. They never really thought about how it could affect others around them before. I think that's an achievement.
I was in your shoes 5 years ago with a BA in Psyc. I had a quasi-plan to work, pay my bills and then go to grad school once I had paid off my undergrad loans. I thought that I was giving myself options and room to explore. Instead, I wound up with a mountain of debt and a string of low-paying dead end jobs. The thought of adding grad school loans to what I already owe sounds impossible to me right now.
Learn from my mistake and don't end up where I am. What I've found out over the last few years is that you need to have a solid plan. It doesn't matter so much what it is, just that it includes specific goals and timelines. Otherwise, you just end up taking what is available, going in circles and drifting. It doesn't matter if it turns out to be the wrong plan, because plans can be changed. Delaying choices only makes them harder in the long run.
Good luck and congrats on graduating!
Great list. I'd add:
Don't be afraid to seek out less permanent jobs for the first year or two, or do non-feminism-related jobs in order to fund a feminism-related adventure. It will make you feel broker and more anxious, but it'll also allow you to be flexible and spontaneous. Five-year plans are not always the best.
If I hadn't gone to Brazil and then gone on a long cross-country roadtrip the first couple years after graduating, I'd have about 10,000 more of my waitressing dollars but my feminism (and life) would look quite different.
(It's true, though...health insurance is key. Def look into low-income plans.)
Re: #7 > I didn't know about about the Freelancers Union. That is so helpful to know! I'm about to get my MFA as a theatre director in about 2 weeks... what to do??? I'm definitely open to working a day job and working on shows in the evenings (everyone in my field has done that at some point). But it's nice to know that if my artistic/political work in the theatre (it's all intertwined) starts turning into an actual income, there is a way to get insurance.
Great advice! Definitely 7 and 10. There are plans that have like 5k deductibles. This is better than nothing if you are in a major accident and rack up 100k or more in bills. I wanted to do good and I worked at a nonprofit. I felt burnt out, exploited, and fed up with everything "do good" and it took a long time to get over that.
Basically, my advice to myself when I graduated college: just relax. You have the rest of your life to figure it out (and pay back your loans).
There's so much to be said about self-education. I'm two years out of college and while I do want to return to school in the future, I do not envy my friends in grad school currently. My food service job pays my bills (including loan repayment) and I am reading more now than I ever have. My "mindless" job also allows plenty of time for volunteering with Planned Parenthood and other causes/groups I'm passionate about.
Agreed. I am going back for my Masters, but I took a year off, after college, and it really helped me clean out my head and learn what I really thought. I've read so many new things now that I have more time on my hands and my main job isn't burning out my "thinking" circuits. ;)
Good on you for volunteering with Planned Parenthood. I know a woman who spends her Saturday mornings driving to a PP across town, just to serve as an escort, and to show a presence to firstly comfort the women who need comfort most, and secondly, to sort of prevent the anti-choicers from doing stupid shit.
Last Saturday, an anti-choicer yelled "That Wellesley girl got it coming" to her. (For those unaware, and it's been covered here on feministing by some writers, a reproductive rights activist was killed a few weeks ago)
Sometimes, I wish there were a day dedicated to thanking you guys! You fucking rock! My next Thank You Thursday is dedicated to you! :)
Marc
Erm, I mean "dedicated to you all." Not YOU specifically. Given that I don't know you, it'd be kind of freaky and stalkerish. Sorry if the first comment seemed inappropriate.
WOW. "Pro-life," my ass.
I just graduated with a BA in anthropology and I have no clue what I am going to do.... other than moving to Denver on Saturday.
ohhhh.... anthropology is fabulous and flexible. There are SOOOOO many possibilites. I got my undergrad in Anthropology and International Studies. If I had not gone on to get my MSc in Gender and International Development I might have looked into advertising or archaeology. Good luck!!
I JUST figured out #10, and I've been graduated for 6 years. Good advice.
THANK YOU for #1. As a law student who is in law school for the specific reason of becoming an attorney focusing on reproductive justice, it warms my heart to hear people reiterate that women's issues (or any issue, really) should not be the sole reason you go to law school. You should go to law school to be a LAWYER. Being passionate about what you do is absolutely critical, but the job itself, what you DO about that passion, that determines how much you will enjoy your job. No matter how passionate I am about ensuring every woman has the access to needed life choices, if I dreaded writing a memo or panicked about finishing this brief, I would not enjoy my job. Burnout is high regardless. Make sure you enjoy the WORK ITSELF, not just the subject matter.
Also, people who have a passing interest in women's issues without any dedication or experience in the field? They are called volunteers. There are only a handful of paying jobs for newly graduated lawyers in this field, and they should go to those who have put in the time and dedication to acquiring the skills to have a longterm career as a public interest advocate. I'm tired of hearing students interview for jobs they only have a passing interest in, and then get those jobs over people who have the passion and the skills, but maybe not the grades. Public interest kids often work during law school, to reduce the debt burden after school so they CAN take those lower paying jobs, which means their grades aren't always as high. The legal market is in a downspin right now, and students who would normally be in a 160K a year job at a firm are taking lower paid public interest jobs with no intention to stay there after the market stabilizes. It hurts everyone to have ambivalent attorneys taking the place of passionate workers. Find your focus, and stick to it.
If you want one of the small number of lower paying, but highly rewarding, public interest jobs, whether it is in reproductive justice, community housing, etc, develop your resume accordingly. Employers respond to people with a clear, demonstrated desire to work and STAY working in that field. If you aren't sure of how much you'd like law school or being a lawyer, don't spend the 60K on 1 year of tuition until you know. ESPECIALLY if you are doing it on loans, be positive that you want to be a lawyer, have the skills to get the job you want and deserve, and go for it. We need smart, motivated lawyers to help. Make sure you pick the right avenue to channel your talent; the law isn't the only way to make an impact. Volunteer, work in the field, find out where you fit.
i want to second that!
i'm in architecture school, and it pisses me off no end to see people get in who aren't there to become ARCHITECTS. the acceptance rate into graduate architecture programs is around 10%. PLEASE don't take one of those spots if you aren't prepared to work your ass off, both in school and in the workforce.
Thank you for posting this! It was very helpful. I am graduating in a week with a B.A. in psychology and I am going straight to graduate school for social work (although I'm really jealous of all my friends who have jobs and don't have to live with their parents for two years!).
1. I would add let people -- everyone you know -- know that you're looking for a job. I have been ridiculously blessed with good luck. 6 months before I finished my BA, I was facing a summer w/o income and only three weeks of employment left. I happened to start talking to EVERYONE on my MySpace (this was when it was popular) and made contact with a somewhat distant friend who got me a job as an administrative assistant with her company. After I graduated, I started teaching and kept on for three years. WHen I recently moved for my partner, I was able to get a job in an advanced position as a branch director of a similar company. None of this would be possible w/o that initial blabber-mouthing.
2. Step outside your liberal arts degree, or just to the right of it. We all went for our passion then wind up with those "useless" degrees. Tweak as much as you can. Mine is in literature, but I teach ESL.
3. Feminist: to be or not to be (on you resume). I had a friend who said that she always listed on her resume that she was feminist and wouldn't work at a company that didn't appreciate that. I thought that was awesome -- if you weren't desperate enough to do anything for a job (especially considering that she and I worked in Kentucky at the time). While I adore her, I wasn't quite so financially-abled in my selections during this economy. My resume was not emblazoned with a heroic proclamation of my values. Then at the end of the interview for my current position and after offering me the job, the boss said, "I knew you were feminist from your resume." I actually laughed and responded, "You got that from there?" Feminism: you has it. And it can be a pro.
Okay, I don't pretend to know anything really about this stuff. I operate on luck.
Oh, and in addition to law school, don't go to grad school for the same reason. Go b/c it's what you really want. I saw so many people go to grad school for various wrong reasons (avoiding loans, avoiding adulthood, avoiding job) only to wind up with a crappy GPA, wasted time, and dragging the program down. Pony up.
I would love a waitressing job right now. Or almost any job. No one I talk to has been hired yet either. I just finished my bachelor's. I'm going to teacher's college in the fall. That's nine months long and over 6000 more dollars. My current dream is to someday teach high schoolers courses like women's studies, world issues, child development, etc.
I agree 100% re: not necessarily having to go into not-for-profit work. I'm graduating from law school next year and planning to join a mid-sized defense firm which will come with a comfy salary, and my local Planned Parenthood chapter couldn't be happier that, in addition to my volunteering, they'll also be able to count on my checks each year :-) Regardless of what some might say about "checkbook charity," I've never known a 501c3 to not be ecstatic about getting paid!
regarding number 8: Or they'll think you're a condescending asshole. Equal odds.
A few additional thoughts:
1. If you take an entry level job that involves a significant share of administrative work, be sure to do that work well and without complaint. Your bachelor's degree does not make you too good to copy, file, do data entry, etc. In many fields (especially non-profits), doing that sort of work in your first few years is part of putting in your dues. More senior people who rely on that work will appreciate that it's done right. Doing that work poorly, or constantly complaining about it, will not impress. That said, if you're still doing primarily administrative work after two years, you need to find another job (or go to grad school).
2. Resist the temptation to take positions in "development," which is what a lot of nonprofits call fundraising. Now--lots of people have rewarding careers doing development work for organizations whose missions they believe in. I'm not slamming them. But if you really want to work on women's rights, or environmental issues, or whatever you care about, don't take a development job at an organization that does that work just to be working at an organization that does that work. Development jobs can often be among the easiest entry level jobs to get, and there's a tendency to steer young attractive women into them. But unless fundraising is what you want to be doing--and it's necessary work that many people do enjoy--these jobs can easily become a trap, especially for women.
3. Along those lines: The nature of what you'll actually get to be doing in a job matters more than the organization you'll be doing it for. Doing substantive work at a small organization is better than answering phones at a more prestigious one.
4. Best advice I ever received: It takes you one year to learn how to do a job, a second year to get really good at it, and a third year to make it your own and take it to a new level. If after three years you don't get promoted, time to find a new jobs. This is good advice both in terms of telling you to be patient--it takes two years to get really good at your job--and helping you recognize when you're not appreciated as you should be and need to leave.
I graduated last year, and could have used some of this advice! I would also like to second the critique of non-profits, being that I worked for a non-profit that did not pay men, was not fulfilling just because I thought it might be slightly better than the corporate retail job I landed right out of college. Instead, the non-profit job drained me of my energy for a cause I was only half committed to for no money.
I am much happier now working at a small local boutique 25 hours a week. I am by no means rich, but I am paying the bills and getting to use my free time to pursue yoga teacher training, starting an etsy store and doing community based sexual assault work.
I have learned that a job does not have to be an all consuming part of your life. Activism can be something you do akin to extra curricular activities in college.
School of hard knocks bitter addendum:
#11. It may be hard to break into the company culture at your shiny new job. Don't be put off. Expect that it may be hard to break in. These people don't know you, and they are not that impressed by your degree. Remember, they have a degree, too, and while you are pretty psyched about yours, to them it's old hat.
#12. If you want to effect change at your company, start under the radar. This is true even you were hired specifically to effect change. Most people are resistant to change, so you will have to coax them into it. When you are established and have a good reputation, you can start making more overt suggestions.
I can't echo #6 (Be patient!) enough. Finding a way to balance paying the bills with doing something that you like--or can at least tolerate!--is not at all easy. I've been out of college five years now and I'm not there yet. But with every frustrating step I've learned more about what I am and am not willing to do, and where I can and cannot succeed.
I would also reiterate #3 from sara above, about the nature of your job mattering more than the organization you work for. I'm currently employed at an awesome feminist non-profit women's clinic--an organization I love, with a mission I'm passionate about . . .but I'm doing work I hate for very low pay, and at the end of the day all the feminist love in the world isn't enough to keep me here, if you know what I mean.
So, back to patience, and searching for balance, and trying to maintain that whole positive attitude thing . . . :-) Good luck, everyone!
Regarding #10: I'll definitely check that book out. Does it talk about alternatives to the 501(c)(3) structure for advocacy groups? I'm looking into starting a new group, and I honestly don't know of other structures.
Re #10, the non-profit industrial complex sucks.
Thank you, Courtney.
I wish I had known these things when I began my career. But, and MA in Women's and Gender Studies later and working in a nonprofit where I don't directly use my degree, I am happy.
Though I do wish I had more money in the bank, I too was lucky and loved the food service jobs that got me to where I am.
And most important (for me, anyway) do not compare yourself to your peers. It may seem like everyone is succeeding their asses off while you're left behind, but you don't really always know what's going on in their situations as they may not know yours. Again, sometimes grad school is another way of avoiding real life rather than a guaranteed success story.
THIS. I feel this way all the time. Not necessarily about peers who are in grad school, because I just was, but peers who are in "better" grad programs (law school, med school).
Where was this last year when I graduated? ;)
I agree with #5, yes, yes, yes. I tried getting freelance work translating right after graduation, and it was a nightmare. I have a job that pays the bills that I know isn't forever, but it lets me eat while I try to figure out my life.
Will someone reassure me that I don't have to figure out my life right away? Please?
I have two more suggestions:
1. Unless you want children right now, use BIRTH CONTROL!!! This is really practical because it's tough enough starting a career.
2. Find a way to continue reading. College taught you how to learn--now you need to continue this for yourself. You won't regret it and it will help if you do decide to go to grad school.
8b - Make sure you know more about the world wide web than your mentor does before you try teaching him/her about it. Most mentors won't like being on the receiving end of patronising assumptions about age and Internet skills and experience.
These comments are all so interesting!
I would not necessarily agree with #1, though my experience is a bit limited. I admit that if I did not have a full tuition scholarship and some savings when I started (though don't get me wrong, I worked my ass off the whole time, even 1L year when you're not supposed to) I would not be very happy right now. But I went to law school not wanting to be a lawyer, and I finished with the same frame of mind, and I think it was A Good Thing.
I came to learn about the law because I thought it'd be helpful for a career as an international human rights activist. Coming out on the other side, I'm less sure about what I want to do (I know I want to do some activist work in feminist, LGBT, human rights etc. issues, but I'm wobbling between wanting to do that forever and wanting to get a PhD and be a women's studies professor). However, I do think that a legal education was helpful for me. I'm not saying it's not frustrating. Damn straight it is. Law school is a professional school, and it's designed for lawyers. You have to nod and smile at all the advice "for lawyers." But I made it work for me. I'm going to have an article published, I got my school to pay for me to go to a sexual orientation law conference where I presented a paper, I did a ton of leadership and volunteer stuff, I did meaningful research, I won a number of awards, etc. My resumé looks way more impressive now than it did before. Granted, I don't have a job yet, but I do feel that all that experience was very meaningful, and knowing about the law can help as an activist.
But now I would like some advice. Here I am, a month away from graduating, getting ready to move back to Baltimore. I've still got some savings in my pocket, plus about $6,000 in awards, so I'm decently situated. I really want to get a full time job so that I can invest that money (I'm a big saver). But I'm having a hell of a hard time finding a job. I keep applying for things for which I feel very well qualified. I write a thoughtful cover letter, have a good resumé, etc. But I never get an interview. Do you think the problem is that I'm not living there? Should I write in my cover letter that I'm willing to fly back for an interview? Does any one have stellar advice for getting an interview? Also, let's say I don't get a job. I have enough money to live for a few months. Would you a) dedicate all your time to applications and do nothing else, b) apply to a few jobs a week but spend all your time full-time volunteering for awesome organizations to further boost your experience (one thing I don't have is experience with media or development), or c) apply to a few jobs a week and temp so that there's some income coming in?
Thanks in advance!
Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for this list.
I graduated three weeks ago with a Women & Gender Studies degree. I had this silly idea in my head that I would across the stage and into my dream job, but despite hours of searching and applying daily, I am still working at my retail job.
I especially appreciate #1 and #10- these really hit home.
My current plan is to be open to all possibilities, do what I have to so the bills are paid and I maintain sanity, and make a plan so I can go to grad school for environmental science :)
Best of luck and congrats, Feministing class of 2009 ;)
I graduated from law school two years ago. I was lucky enough to avoid the big law trap from the get-go. I now have a stable job that allows me to have a good life-balance. It's not the job of my dreams, but it's good experience and it's interesting. I think the best advice on deciding whether to go to law or grad school is to make sure that you talk to a lot of people who have a job you think you might want. Have a "plan B" or a way to pay off loans just in case the field of law doesn't work out.
On another note, I spent the year between undergrad and law school participating in AmeriCorps. I loved my year with AmeriCorps (my program was not Teach for America, which I hear good and bad things about). I was super poor, but met a ton of life-long friends and opened my eyes to a multitude of things, mostly involving poverty and non-profits. I know Congress just approved a ton of money for AmeriCorps and if you don't know what you want to do after college or high school I urge you to go to their website and see if any programs appeal to you.