Readers:
Dr. Randall Hansen, a nationally recognized career expert, is the Career Doctor.
Discover more about Dr. Hansen, read about the purpose of this column,
and find previous issues of this column at the home of The Career Doctor.
If you have any college, career, or job-related questions or comments that Dr. Hansen could
provide valuable assistance with, please
feel free to email him at: careerdr@quintcareers.com.
Dr. Hansen writes this column on a biweekly basis.
Kellie writes:
In your opinion, in what ways are low education related to low paying jobs?
If someone is stuck in a low-paying job with no benefits and little chance of
promotion what can she do?
A:
The Career Doctor responds:
Over the last couple of months, I have read a couple of books about low-wage jobs
and underpaid workers, and the information about the reality of low-wage workers is
sobering. For a first-hand account about trying to survive on these minimum-wage jobs,
read Barbara Ehrenreich’s Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America.
And for a detailed review of all the statistics and research on the subject, read Beth
Shulman’s Betrayal of Work: How Low-Wage Jobs Fail 30 Million Americans and Their Families.
It’s a bit staggering to consider -- that one in four workers in the U.S. labor in a low-wage job.
Low-wage jobs are ones that pay under $9 an hour and produce an annual income -- if they
are full-time -- of about $18,800, the poverty level for a family of four in 2004. And the reality
is that many of these jobs are not full-time because employers can cut costs by offering
little or no benefits to part-time employees.
Here’s just a small sample of low-wage jobs: retail clerks and cashiers, fast food workers,
wait staff, child-care workers and education assistants, nurses aides, security guards,
hotel maids, janitors, agricultural workers, and many more…
Yes, education could help these low-wage workers, as more than half of them have a high
school diploma at best -- and about a quarter never finished high school. But education and
training are just a small part of the solution. These job-seekers need career coaching to
develop the skills needed to move beyond these dead-end jobs. I recommend going to the
local Career One-Stop Center in your area to meet with a professional counselor. I think
learning the value of transferable skills and networking is essential.
There are a growing number of employers that have programs designed to assist low-wage
workers -- from providing benefits (such as emergency loans, healthcare, etc.) to training
programs -- and you need to identify these employers and attempt to land a job with
one of them.
Kristin writes:
After teaching in public schools full time for five years, I have completed my
MBA and am ready to change fields. Unfortunately, I am finding that the
business world does not value former teachers. It seems that the fact that
I have received an MBA doesn't really catch employers' eyes since I do not
have any work experience in business. Do you have any suggestions as to
what types of companies I should target when searching for a job or how I
might word my cover letter and resume to better attract the attention of
potential employers?
A:
The Career Doctor responds:
I am so sorry to hear of your situation, but unfortunately with the vast number of MBA
programs around the country, yours is not that uncommon a problem. As educators,
we have focused so much on getting our undergrads to gain work experience through
internships that many forget that MBA candidates often need to gain business
experience as well.
I had a client a few years ago who had NO work experience. She was a music major
as an undergrad and went straight into an MBA program. Near graduation she was
losing job opportunities to students who were only earning bachelor’s degrees in
business -- because these undergrads had several internships and could be
hired at a lower salary.
The key for you is that you DO have experience… maybe not in running a company
or managing a brand, but five years of teaching does give you solid experience. And
part of the problem may be that you are downgrading this experience. You also don’t
tell me what you want to do with your MBA, and that lack of focus could be another
of your problems.
So, first decide what you want to do with your MBA. An obvious choice for a former
teacher is to go into human resources into some sort of corporate training position,
but perhaps you are looking for something completely different than teaching. You
first must sit down and determine a career goal. Once you completed this task,
you can start looking for prospective employers.
The combination of your years of teaching and your MBA should really provide you
with some rich skills to put on your resume and cover letter. From teaching, identify
all those transferable skills that you mastered that apply to the corporate world --
things such as time management, communications, leadership, etc. Then examine
all the projects and cases you completed for your MBA and pull out relevant skills
from them -- financial analyses, problem-solving, strategic analysis, communications, etc.
Finally, of course, you are going to need to use your network to get interview
opportunities. Networking works for all job-seekers, but it is especially important
for career-changers.
Nicole writes:
I am twenty-one years old and I am going to enter the workforce in about a year.
I am completely stressing out about my future as well as my major. I received my
AA in communication studies. Communications is what I intended to major in for
my bachelor’s, but instead chose sociology. The reason why I am so concerned
is because many people have told me that there is virtually nothing you can do
with a degree in sociology. I am not sure as of yet what I would like to do but
my interests sway toward marketing, advertising or public relations. My
question for you is if it is possible for me to still have the opportunity to get
into these fields with a sociology degree? I plan on interning at a public
relations firm this year.
A:
The Career Doctor responds:
Please repeat this mantra: “I control my fate. The degree is the most important thing,
not the major. Experience is critical. I control my fate.”
Employers of college graduates want two things: the degree (sometimes with GPA
minimum) and work experience (ideally in your chosen field). And it sounds as though
a year from now you will have both.
You are leaning toward some element of marketing communications -- and you say
you plan on doing a public relations internship this year. Good… but you can do more.
Are you interning this summer? If not, find another one. The more internships the better.
If you are doing the PR one next year, consider one that involves advertising to get a
taste for that. Even though it is late to be looking for a summer internship, there are
still plenty that can be found. I just had a student land a fantastic marketing
internship with a science center, where he will work with the marketing director
to help with advertising, PR, and marketing strategy.
But, let’s also not totally trash a sociology degree. There are lots of job opportunities
for sociology majors (especially ones with work experience), such as: social worker,
research assistant, foster care worker, teacher, consumer advocate, case worker,
data analyst, and many others. The skills you gain from this degree can certainly
also help you in marketing jobs, such as public relations, sales, advertising, and
marketing analyst.
I recommend you meet with a career professional from your school’s career
office and set some career goals and strategies. Talk with some of your sociology
professors -- and perhaps with a communications or marketing professor. Conduct
research online. Talk with your network of contacts. You have a year to make a
plan for exactly what you want to do when you graduate, which is plenty of time
to succeed.
Edward writes:
I applied to three MBA programs, Thunderbird, University of Rochester, and
Columbia University. Although Columbia is my first choice I am not quite
sure whether I should go to Thunderbird or Rochester if I get a negative
answer from Columbia. How do I know which of these programs is the
best for me?
A:
The Career Doctor responds:
Three great schools. You must be an excellent student. I assume that long
before you applied to these three graduate programs that you conducted
research to determine that these are the three best for accomplishing your
career goals. If that assumption is correct, then I can give you a list of criteria,
but more than likely your choice will come down to a gut decision -- which of
the remaining two fit you best?
If you want to be logical about your decision, here are some criteria to
consider -- in alphabetical order:
Accreditation: There are two main types of accreditation: institutional and program-specific.
Admission Standards: You want a graduate program with tough admissions standards.
Career Assistance: One of your main goals for earning an advanced degree most likely revolves around career advancement.
Cost/Financial Aid: If we all had unlimited resources, then cost would not be an issue; for most of us, however, this is usually a top issue.
Culture: You need to identify schools with cultures that fit your style and comfort-level so that you'll have a better chance to excel.
Faculty: A graduate program is only as good as the faculty who teach in it.
Reputation/Ranking: Lots of different organizations rank graduate programs, so while rankings are an important measure of quality, you also need to investigate the source of the rankings.
Size: There are two aspects of size that you should evaluate -- size of the program and size of the entire university.
Surrounding Community: You're going to have to live there for a number of years, so you better be able to at least tolerate the surrounding areas.
