The Big G Word

[Griselda]

I have a liberal arts degree in literature/theatre. All of the options that were availble to me after graduation involved unpaid internships. I spent some time as a volunteer at a local cable station, but when they turned the position I was doing into a paying job, I was not as qualified as most of the other applicants were. I had the option of applying for theatre internships, but all of the ones that I found looked like unpaid work that would have taken up so much time that it would have been difficult to hold a paying job and the internship at the same time.

So, I worked at lots of pizza places and bakeries. It's not terrible work considering that once you get experience somewhere, you can go just about anywhere in the US and at least find a minimum wage job, and when you clock out, chances are you're not going to have any work that you need to take home with you. My experience as a baker has also turned into a hobby of mine, and it's much more fun now that it's on my own time.

Every region of the country has a different economy, but right now the Oregon economy is in terrible shape. I went back to school for a more practical degree (Master's in Education plus a teaching license), and even with that I'm finding that most people have to "pay their dues" by volunteering, networking, and scrambling in a variety of ways to get their feet in the door. I'm also finding that sort of thing difficult to do now that I am supporting a family on my income.

So, my advice to you is to take advantage of the time that you have now, when you're not needing to support other people, and your bills outside of student loans are probably fairly minimal. You may have to take minimum wage jobs for the time being, but while you're doing that, do something that will make you stand out from other applicants in future positions. Employers are getting hundreds of qualified applications for professional positions, so just being pretty good at what you do might not be enough.

If you can distinguish yourself through continuing education, a volunteer experience, an internship, or something else, it can only help you down the road, and you may not have an opportunity to do something like that in the future.

You may not feel like doing any of those things now. I certainly didn't. Lately, I have had to turn down several opportunities that have come along because I am not able to leave my family for an extended period of time, and even if I did, they might support me but not pay the bills back home. These are opportunities that I probably would have had earlier, but I didn't really look for them.

So far I haven't found a single employer who's been impressed by my "beyond naked mage" experience, so I've needed to devote some time to other areas. :P