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Educated, but too young?

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Posted about 1 month ago

 

Hello,



   I am posting seeking advice. I have a Bachelor's of Science degree in Psychology from an accredited university, and a Masters' of Arts in Human Services with a concentration in Business Management.



In terms of work experience, for one year I have worked part time as a Residential Support Worker for a local for-profit agency that provides care to persons with disabilities. In addition, I am the Vice President of Cohen Camden, a family owned women's jewelry and accessories company. In terms of experience, I have marketing, buying, budget, inventory, customer relations, and management due to my experience with Cohen Camden. Also, I have grown up with a disabled sister, so I have a lifetime of experience in working with people with disabilities in addition to my work experience as a residential support worker.



I have applied to a great plethora and variety of jobs in the past months. I had one interview, in which the job was promising, but I feel the company thought I was too young. While I have no qualms with that, because I am young and I don't have as much experience as some, I feel my education and determination should qualify me as a potential job candidate.



Point being, what advice might you offer me on my job search, as I move forward? If it helps, I would ideally like to be the director or coordinator for a non-profit or for-profit agency, but I am opened to almost any job, if I am qualified.

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Rated: 0 | Posted about 1 month ago

 


Your situation sounds very much like my daughters. She completed her Bachelors Degree in Economics at age 21 and got her MBA at age 23. After completing what she thought was enough school, she found that she really could not find that the type of job she wanted or thought she deserved. She was sending out tons of resumes and getting very few responses. After a year of working at unsatisfying jobs and finally deciding that she may want to consider another field, she decided to go back to school and get another degree, this time in accounting.


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Because she only needed to take a few classes each semester, she decided to join the “national society of accounts” or something like that. As part of this, she became very active and took on the position of VP of activities. The biggest part of this position was to find guest speakers for the meetings and to get a good level of participation at their “meet the firms” recruiting event that took place twice a year.


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To make a long story as short as I can, once she established a network of both students and local industry leaders, she never had to look for a job again. She gets at least 2-3 call a month from people wanting to offer her a job and she has not sent out a resume since this started about 4 years ago.


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My point to all this is that many people young and old feel that they should spend the majority of their job search time finding open positions and applying for them. This is the biggest waste of a job hunters time. What you need to do is network, network and then network some more. If you do your networking properly, you will find that you are considered for jobs that have never been advertised, your qualifications for jobs are never an issue, as you are already considered a known quantity by the hiring manager and best of all, you never have to deal with HR.


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I hope this helps you and you are still fresh enough out of school to go back and try to start your networking and stop using the apply for a job approach.


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Rated: 0 | Posted about 1 month ago

 

My first suggestion is that you review (perhaps also ask for someone else’s input) your application paperwork to makes sure that it makes a powerful statement that not only highlights but also weaves together your educational, life and workforce experiences.  And as has already been pointed out, NETWORK- NETWORK- NETWORK. Non-profit organizations are particularly known for their network strengths (think fund raising, etc.).

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Rated: 0 | Posted about 1 month ago

 

It isn't that you're too young per se, it is that you don't have much credible experience.  VP of the family jewelry business is nice, but that's your family business and even if you're doing as much work as anyone else would be doing, it is hard for an employer to take that entirely seriously.  They all know that you wouldn't be in that job, at that level, based on any actual experience you have, nor is it based on what you studied in college.  In short, no one else would hire you into that job in the first place, so it is hard for them to make the leap that you're putting as much in or getting as much out of that position as you might think.


And one year, part-time with disabled people isn't going to help you break into the business world either.  I myself did that work for 10 years (residential, recreational and educational) so I know what it involves, but most people don't know and frankly don't care.  They see it (if they think about it at all) as glorified baby sitting.  Actually, many people see child care as more prestigious. 


While you do have good education credentials, you don't really have the experience to back them up yet.  It may have been a bit too soon to get a Masters degree.  That won't really pay off for you until you've got 5-10 years of experience in your field to put with it.  Getting a second Masters degree at this time would probably be a HUGE mistake.  It is going to make your resume scream "professional student" and isn't going to help your experience issue one bit.  You'll finish school two years from now with the same lack of experience and more debt.


So the challenge for you is to package what you've done in a way that allows an employer to look at you and see someone who is hard working, credible, reliable, responsible, wiling to learn and eager to move up and grow with them.  You need to look at jobs that are reasonable.  If you want to go into the business sector, then you need to look at entry-level management jobs in the types of companies and departments you want to be in.  You're not going to get into a VP (or even AVP job) straight off the bat.  You're going to have to start with jobs like Admin Assistant, Customer Service Rep, Assistant Account Rep, etc.  That you do have some work experience is going to help (definitely puts you ahead of someone with none) but don't think that you're going to be greatly rewarded for part-time and family business.


I also find it interesting that you haven't said what exactly you want to do.  "I'm willing to do anything" is great but an employer is looking for you to have a little bit of focus.  "I'm willing to do anything that will get me to X" is what we want to hear.  If you need help figuring out what you should be doing, see the career center at your alma mater.  They can do testing to see where your skills, interests and abilities lie and suggest a number of career paths and related fields you may not have considered.  When you say Director of a non-profit or for profit, you don't say what kind or why.  The career center can help you with this.  They can help you focus your resume, practice interviews with you and supply you with job postings and internship opportunities.


The other option is to continue to work and grow in your family business.  If that's working for you and your family, you don't HAVE to go work for someone else.


 

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Rated: 0 | Posted about 1 month ago

 

A huge problem for me when I graduated was that everyone said that I was overqualified and under-experienced.  I couldn't get the admin jobs because I was overqualified, but the higher jobs weren't being offered because I had no experience!  I had to learn how to sell myself without sounding desperate, which took time and practice.  It can be really frustrating, and that's a fact.  In the meantime, volunteer work and networking are of immeasurable value.  I got offered a position once that had just been created because of some volunteer work that I had been doing that was similar to what the board had in mind when they created the job.  As soon as the job description was available, I was emailed the application.  With the field that you're in, that could be a good start.  Networking is also valuable.  It never hurts to get some cards printed up so that you can pass them out.  Figure on getting a one percent return on them, but still, it only takes one card in the right hand to get you where you need to be.  Best wishes!

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Rated: 0 | Posted about 1 month ago

 

I found I had the same problem when I graduated but with less education than you.  I graudated with a psychology degree from an accredited university and wanted to go into the HR field.  Every place I applied to was less interested in the education and more interested in the experience and I found it nearly impossible to get my foot in the door.  In the end I went through a temp. agency and took a job as an HR Assistant.  The temp. job turned permanent and now I have the experience I need so I would not suggest any more education but rather accept a lower job and work your way up.