Lately from what i'm seeing on the news, reading online, etc... i'm starting to get the feeling that my HS diploma and my Associate In Arts Degree from college are as good as Toilet paper. I'm barely lucky to see even 5 maybe 10 job postings in my area and yet every single one wants a person with atleast 2 to 3 years of experience. Sadly I was spoon fed the usual cavalcade of material saying "A HS diploma will get you a job" and "College Graduates earn more than people with HS Diplomas" yet I see nothing. I've sent out resumes, applied for jobs, been interviewed and yet it feels like all of what I was taught was worthless. The only thing that seems to matter is experience in this world with me missing the boat on that one.

Anyone else get this feeling lately where what you learned is worthless and the only thing that matters is "Experience" when it comes to a job?

I'll be honest, only a few degrees matter these days, and those are the ones that give your the training necessary to do a job, such as chemistry and such.

Even then, you can be trained. As far as I'm concerned, I went to college for everything but the degree.

The thing is, they dont wont to take the time to train a new hire.

It's a very tough time to be looking for a job no matter what your credentials. It might be a good idea to take something...anything...just to tide you over.

I remember going through the same thing when I applied for my first "proper" job years ago: I had the qualifications, but everyone wanted experience. I recall seeing numerous complaints in the press from employers bemoaning the lack of experienced staff, but none were prepared to train them so mostly settled for trying to poach staff from each other.

It took a lot of persistence to break through that wall of idiocy, but it paid off in the end. It was six months of frustration, though.

The bad news is that degrees are not worth nearly as much as in the past. That's because there's a huge populace of college and university graduates and only so many skilled positions to go around. Oversaturation of skilled workers is part of the problem you're experiencing.

The good news is that most degrees, while they do specialize in certain areas, need not pigeonhole your career options. There's often a slew of related fields that your degree can also apply toward. Also, experience in that related field will sometimes count toward fields it relates to, such as the one you originally studied. And your degree won't be marginalized if you do spend the time in a totally unrelated field.

The other bad news... Well, there's just fewer jobs available right now, period. That's just how a recession/depression/economic kerfuffle works. That'll change soon, as more and more boomers retire. The younger generation will have ample opportunities for rapid advancement then. Sure, there might still be an entry-level crunch, but getting the foot in the door will probably be easier then, too.

Honestly, the High school diploma is very important. at this down economy, it is more of the fact that people who are hiring want to try and re-hire some of the people who were laid off. that seems to be the main reason why they want 2-3 years experience. In a normal economic climate, there would not be the problem of having a diploma and finding a halfway-decent job. of course, you will not make a buttload of money right out of high school, But out of the roughly 1,000 freshmen at school, about a total of 600-800 of them will drop out or fail. 5% will go onto college (actual fact). A fraction of them will go on and be very successful with a college degree. the others will either drop out, or get their college degree, but end up not being able to get a job and working at publix for a living. It is the economy, not the fact that diplomas are worthless. you can get into the military with no problem with a diploma. If you were a drop-out, they will not even look at you.

Very true

I'd recommend going for your B.A. if you can. Still don't be discouraged keep trying for positions, many different positions, even if they don't quite match what you want to do. Having a college degree can help you get your foot in the door in a lot of companies even if it isn't what you want to do. You might even decide you like that position more and try to move up in that company or you can just use the job to tide you over until you get the position you want.

I myself have been having a difficult time finding a job that matches my degree but I've been offered a supervisor position at a local store just because I have a B.A. I've also been offered another position as a supervisor at another company just because I have a B.A. (of course I've also worked for this particular company before and they know my work but they know I have a B.A. now so they're ready to bump me up a notch).

Well. I don't know about "worthless", and while times have changed, but you try looking for a job without HS and see what you can get.

I don't know what your particular field is, nor where you are... in the US, not only are we slowly coming out of a recession, a lot of entry-level jobs in the manufacturing and computing industry have been, and are being shipped out overseas to India, Singapore, China, etc, which makes it even tougher for young people to get jobs.

My understanding is you can apply for something if you are 2-3 years below what they want. They are just posting what they would ideally want. The same happened to me, where all the jobs i saw wanted experience. Then the retain season rolled in and I got a job at a retail store. Not super, but its a job.

This topic is depressing and reminded me that I've got at least several years of boring, dead end retail work to look forward to. That's assuming if anybody even hires me.

I graduated HS in 1996 and I knew then that it was worthless.

An Associate's Degree in anything but a trade skill, nursing/medical/dental assisting or technical field is pretty much worthless. You really need to pursue a Bachelor's if its in something like Business, English, History, etc... That may be too black and white of a statement, since depending on the person one can always hustle a job if they can sell themselves well enough to the right person.

Unfortunately we really aren't coming out of anything right now. Our economic situation is as shaky as it has ever been and there are still a lot of things that could go wrong (and probably will). Take California for example that just passed a budget on "potential revenue". If this potential revenue fails we'll have http://articles.sfgate.com/2011-06-29/news/29715600_1_budget-gap-state-budget-budget-bill (as if it hasn't already happened) to education and human services

Some manufacturing jobs are coming home but http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2011/06/29/return-of-american-manufacturing/.


Even if you don't think you're qualified apply anyway. I've gotten a couple of interviews with companies that wanted experience I didn't have. Unfortunately I didn't get the job but they were interested.



Except now if you want any sort of decent job you NEED a high school diploma. Either that or you have to be really lucky and really impress someone to get any sort of job and even then they still may not hire you because of a lack of credentials.

I don't really feel like my degrees helped much. Took me a year to get my job, same problem, everyone wanted 1-3 years experience. Unfortunetly, the biggest help for getting a job are connections. Which is exactly how I eventually got my job, because I replaced a buddy of mine who was leaving and he put in a good word for me.

Well, we are coming out of it.. slowly? Sure. Could something go horribly wrong and we go back to where we were 2 years ago? Absolutely. As for California, well

I am glad to see that at least there are rumblings of manufacturing jobs coming back to the US. Hopefully is going to catch on... unfortunately, I don't see that catching on in the computing field... I have seen so many people lose their jobs, and so many high-paying positions disappear from the US, and land in India. The excuse is "follow the Sun", but it really is, it is cheaper to pay someone in India and not give them any benefits than paying someone here.

The problem is that a lot of sectors are not seeing jobs coming back. Unemployment still sits merrily at 9%, and that doesn't count people who are "underemployed" (IE, people who want full-time work but can only find part-time) and those who have just given up looking. Wages haven't kept up with the cost of living, so a lot of those who actually have jobs can't afford to buy anything either, which keeps other sectors of the economy down and lowers consumer confidence.

Things aren't as bad as they were in 2008, sure--by a long shot. But we're still a long, long way from "business as usual," for a lot of reasons.

*/goes back to freelancing and applying for full-time jobs*
*//in retrospect, maybe a BA in English wasn't the most awesome choice*
*///no, I don't want fries with that.*

this

Gotta keep the money coming in, the work record looking good.


as far as what you actually went to school for.. and you may be trying this already.. find people to network with. People with the same job type as yours. or anywhere in the industry you plan on working in, really.
When i exited the military, they sent us to a class about what to expect on the outside/how to apply what we learned towards a job. I cannot remember the actual statistic, but there was quite a large percentage of people finding jobs doing so through networking themselves. A good reference can go a long way. a reference from someone in your field thats established at a place you interview at, even futher.

of course its gonna be rough for a lot of people with the job market we have.. even more by degrees that a large amount of people hold.
If all else fails, trade schools are good. Service jobs are really hard to find. but skilled laborers are doing a bit better.

still shoecked to see so many that get degrees in a field that isnt practical for getting a job.
I know some jobs like people to have BA's to show they can learn and/or have skills to manage/work with others.
But it is pretty key in taking yourself to school for something that is practical. it doesnt always pay more, but its more steady from what I see.

Good luck to you!

Well, my diploma hasn't brought me much so far (vocational college, was compared to a BTEC in the UK for anyone familiar with the system) so I moved back to the UK to get a BA degree in the same field. People around me are telling me that a degree is important, even if you don't get a job in the field of study, as employers also look for the academic skills gained from studying.
Currently I don't even know if I want a full time job in my chosen field as I lost the full passion for it, but I'm just a hopeless case anyway. XD As advised by some I am still completing the degree course while also taking other courses to gain skills in other areas. After that.. we shall see.

Not sure what the system is like in the USA (if you are there), but the BA seems pretty important here. But as others have said, at the moment it seems like you grab what you can get. I can't even find anything sustainable in my career field, even with a degree and even if I wanted to go that route.

P.S. I study dance - so in two years, that's a degree, no job and a broken body on top. :celebration:

I was just out trying to get a job today, in fact. I applied to the Apple Store, which is a much more complicated process when it comes to applying than most small retail jobs a college-aged person like myself would expect. So, I applied months ago, then applied again, submitted a full resume and everything, finally heard back from them, got to wake up at 5:30 this morning to go to a two hour introductory session, and I didn't even get to make it to the interview. They emailed me back saying that there are better people they've already chosen for the position I applied for. Which is weird because I applied for every position, and apparently they managed to fill all of them in less than a few hours before even giving interviews.

Finding a job right now is fantastic. Everybody wants one, you're lucky to find an opening, and when you do they don't really care how poor and jobless you are, because you need this thing called experience. It makes me feel like I'm playing World of Warcraft again, where it was impossible to get into raiding because you'd need to be in a raiding guild, but raiding guilds don't recruit you unless you've had raiding experience. The bloody system just svcks, and it makes me wish that my diploma and the degree I'm working towards actually meant something. It's terrible, but that's how it works.

The most important thing to have is connections. You can completely ignore experience if you know someone in the business you wish to join. Which is probably how other people get jobs instead of you at the places you apply for.

Good Luck :goodjob:

They aren't worthless. The problem is, there aren't many jobs nowadays. The economy is slowly but surely recovering, but it won't totally recover overnight.

It's not idiocy, it's businesses not wishing to take gambles during a recession. It costs time and money to train someone who just may get up and quit after being trained, and therefore valuable time and money just became poorly invested. If someone has experience and the educational qualifications, the risk is much less, but the amount of experienced labor seems to be short, and therefore businesses are trying to keep people in and promote from within.

It took me months after college to find a job, even with a BS in chemistry with some economics courses. I did eventually get one, and boy, do I try to put in as much effort as I can into working, even if I am only working as a temp. Currently, I'm the only temp, out of the batch of temps the company hired, that's staying longer than everyone else and didn't get canned early. Hell, I'll have my supervisors and bosses compliment me for my work ethic, which will go a long way when I'm released from my contract and begin searching for my idea job.



To the topic at hand, yeah, there's isn't THAT many majors that tie directly to a job, unless you count being a professor of that major. And those that do directly tie to a job tend to deal with math (practical and/or theoretical) and/or science.

That may be true in Florida, who has the lowest per capita spending for students in the US, and a ridiculously high dropout rate. I could see that applying to other states with poorly funded public education, acess to illegal or transient workforce, but not the majority of the US. Most people get into massive debt obtaining a postsecondary education.
It makes sense to do your research on how your planned career will pan out before you shell out thousands to achieve that dream.

Don't worry. Just persevere and you'll land something. I found work as a dropout, but I totally svcked at my job so was fired. You just need to get lucky and have applied around the time an idiot like me gets fired.

If it's possible in your field, start your own project which you work on in your free time and post it online on a blog or a website.

This was pretty much the advice some guy at Lionhead Studios gave when asked in a Q&A session about what kind of degrees and stuff a person would have to get to end up as a designer.
He said the talent and enthousiasm this showed was more important to them than any degree.

So if it's possible, work on something in your free time that you can show off.