Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with university and work

Give me a career direction!

Phire — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 11:36:00 -0800

What kind of job can I get with this business degree that would let me have a degree of autonomy over my work, interact with my coworkers, and provide a measure of stability in this unhappy economic climate? I'm going into my third year of undergrad at a Canadian university in Ontario, currently working towards a Bachelor of Commerce with a BA Minor in Sociology. My tentative plans after graduation include getting a CA (Chartered Accountancy), working a few years, and then maybe studying law if I'm still interested at that point. I don't think that I want to stay in Canada indefinitely, mostly because of the climate, and I'm toying with the idea of either working in the States or going to Australia.

For the past two summers I've worked at a federal government job. The department I'm working at is related to my field in name, but not so much in practice. Mostly I've been doing clerical and documentation type work - writing procedures, updating files, translating, etc.

I am a very risk-averse person. I picked a Commerce degree in favour of the traditional liberal arts education that I probably would've enjoyed a lot more because I was concerned about my future job prospects. I'm also not your typical "passionate" person - not to say that I'm wholly emotionless, but I tend to subscribe to the philosophy that you can find enjoyment and misery in any job, no matter what it is, and I figure I don't really love one thing enough to give up stability in order to pursue that one thing wholeheartedly for 30+ years. That's also the main reason I would be getting the CA designation. I haven zero interest in investing and trading, but I don't mind accounting and find the policy kind of interesting. I think I might genuinely enjoy law, but the high cost of tuition makes me want to wait and see for now. I will be taking two business law courses next year to give me a better sense of what the field is actually like.

My rationale for working in the public service involve finding a job that I can leave at the office once I do get off work, leaving me enough disposable income to enjoy my hobbies without too much concern about financial shortcomings. In my spare time, what little there is currently, I read, draw, write, play and listen to music, and get too invested in reading interesting online debates. At school I'm part of a debate team, an auditing committee, an international affairs club, and some volunteer gigs. I have a pretty solid social circle, but we're the nerdy video game type, and don't go out much - I've always also considered myself a fairly introverted person. Being in Commerce and fielding the associated networking events I find that I've gotten much better at staying calm in unfamiliar circumstances and talking to people I wouldn't otherwise have talked to, but I don't thrill at these situations by any means.

However, recently I've realized that as much as I like my alone time, the cubicle-farm environment of your typical office job kind of depresses me. Things are very much isolated in my current work environment, and apart from giving me assignments and receiving my finished products, I don't interact much with other people in my office. I've tried to reach out and chat to a few of the younger workers, but while they're always friendly, there's been no overt reciprocation of friendliness. Everyone is pretty much content keeping to themselves.

I had an interview with an ad agency earlier this summer and I really liked the casual, friendly atmosphere at that office, and I feel (perhaps mistakenly) like that type of atmosphere is mostly prevalent in the private sector. I think I would like a job that allows me control over my final output and the quality thereof, but still lets me interact with other people on the team/in the office. The Canadian government has a system of bridging in summer students, and this is most feasible if they worked at that department summer between third and fourth year. My questions are as follows:

1) Given the above back story, what type of work is out there? I'm sure there are tons of jobs I haven't even thought of, beyond "accountant", "investment banker", and "office drone".

2) Would it be unwise to give up a two-summer history with this department right before my final summer (and thus potentially crucial bridging term) and try to go for a private sector job for next summer, when the private sector is unstable and will in no way guarantee me a position after graduation?

Any input is appreciated. Thanks very much!

Two Master's Degrees... What are my options?

msposner — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 10:57:38 -0800

This spring I will be finished with my second Master's degree. I've been at my current job for almost three years and while I enjoy it immensely, I am wondering about other opportunities that having two graduate degrees might open up for me. Am hoping to obtain answers especially from individuals who have multiple degrees and have gone into somewhat different career paths. My first graduate degree is a M.S. in Secondary School Education. I am qualified to teach in public school (context area: Social Studies). I also am certified to teach at schools for the deaf but that is not something I want to focus on because of how such institutions are being shut down at an alarming rate.

My second graduate degree is going to be a M.S. in Professional/Rehabilitation Counseling, which I'll be obtaining in May of 2009. I'm not going to be pursuing my Certified Rehabilitation Counselor (CRC) certificate because I was recently on their advisory panel and signed a waiver stating that I promise not to take the CRC test for at least five years due to first-hand exposure to potential test questions. This is perfectly fine with me because I'm not planning on having my own independent counseling practice and I have no desire to work for any of the major insurance companies around here.

I currently work at a state agency as a vocational rehabilitation counselor and while I do enjoy this job very, very much, lately it seems as if I'm often hearing from people (respected professionals) that I should be doing something "better" and so forth.

For me, "better", would be to obtain employment as a researcher (researcher scientist?) or a professor at a college/university, which is actually my ultimate goal but I'm also open to acquiring other, relevant experience that might enhance myself as an educator. I'm a voracious reader and I'm always conducting research- I'd really like to go into education/rehabilitation policy if the opportunity ever presents itself.

For now, my intention is clearly to "stay put" because as I mentioned, I love my job and I enjoy working with my colleagues, however, I have my goals outside of this field and have oftentimes thought about returning to the classroom as a high school teacher.

In a nutshell, my inquiries are defined as follows:

(I) I've been told that having Master degrees in both education and counseling will make me very attractive to school systems. True?

(II) Will the fact that I do not have terminal degrees in either fields (education and counseling) hurt my chances in obtaining research-based positions and/or work as a college instructor?

(III) For someone with two Master's degrees, what are the other fields I could go into when I have specialization in both education and counseling?

(IV) Has anyone experienced negative pitfalls of having multiple graduate degrees such as frequent rejections on the basis of being overqualified?

--------

Caveat #1: I am profoundly deaf. This, unfortunately, creates a lot of barriers for me in the workplace. Many schools have refused to hire me because in order for me to instruct in public schools, they would have to also pay for a full-time sign language interpreter since I communicate primarily in American Sign Language. In their eyes, I'm not cost effective- I'm a budget burden. As I mentioned earlier, I do not want to work at schools for the deaf because of the lack of job security and their notoriously low salaries.

Caveat #2: I've mentioned that I love my current job. However, I am also trying to plan ahead (1-3 years) and have always been open to other opportunities.

Caveat #3: Not really looking to relocate anytime in the near/distant future. Wife loves her job and is pregnant with our first child. We also put a lot of work in our present home.

Caveat #4: I'm 27 years old.

Caveat #5: My current job is paying fully for my second graduate degree, which is really the only reason why I went back to school after I completed my first Master's.

Thanks in advance for all of your suggestions/insights.

A suggestion box

Lemon of Byzantium — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 12:33:19 -0800

I graduated from university a few months ago, and have absolutely no idea what to do next. After reading about my past and current circumstances, could you swell folks offer me some suggestions? Although I did quite well in high school, my experience studying liberal arts in university was checkered. I went to a good Canadian school, and performed reasonably well academically, but there is undoubtedly a whiff of mediocrity emanating from my years there.

My mental health was at a low ebb during portions of my time there. This made it extremely difficult to concentrate on anything at all, much less academic work. I graduated without writing a thesis. This lack of purely academic prowess would be negated by good work experience and other extracurricular things, but I didn't focus on these either. Despite a few half-assed efforts in these areas, I was probably one of the most aloof people to ever attend this particular university. I didn't do any internships, nor did I form any lasting contacts with professors. I really didn't have any idea why I was even attending university in the first place.

Now that I've graduated, I have no idea what to do. I've been living at home and working a couple of so-so jobs, but this is driving me nuts. I've been thinking about teaching English in a foreign country, but I'm not sure. Does travel help? I have absolutely no desire to do an MA, or any other schooling, at the present time.

The thing is, I'm well aware that you can do well in life without having accomplished a billion things during your youth. Many people - intelligent people, at that - have faced similar problems, I'm sure. Perhaps you're one of them. I shouldn't be too whiny. But some help would be much appreciated. Does anyone have suggestions?

What do you do in an advanced degree?

divabat — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 19:27:31 -0800

Those of you doing [post]graduate degrees...what exactly are you doing? I've been looking into various advanced degree programs (Grad Cert, Grad Dip, Masters, etc) but I'm finding it difficult to imagine what sort of work one does in an advanced degree.

My family comes from a science background: my sister did biotech research for her Ph.D and my dad did coursework in engineering for his Masters. Apparently my aunt did a Masters in Sociology but I don't know what this entailed for her. I'm getting a degree in the Creative Industries, and have been looking into advanced degrees in non-profit management, arts, or education.

What DO you do in your degree? Do you do a lot of reading? Is yours more practical? Do you get to do a project?
How academic is your degree? Do you have to do a lot of writing in a certain style?
How much opportunity do you get to travel, or do experiential learning? How about conferences?

I figure this would differ wildly between programs and schools, but my only concepts of advanced degrees are either sit in a library then write a long densely academic thesis, or do research in a lab and write a long densely academic thesis (research is fun, but writing long densely academic theses is my definition of hell).

Is taking a year off uni for work a bad idea?

pmv — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 22:04:58 -0800

I'm a third year CompSci BSci Student in Large Canadian City, and I've just been offered to extend my co-op term into next winter or probably next year. Is this a good idea and it's worth it to delay my degree by another year? Is this a bad idea, and I would be better off graduating asap? It's a very cozy, comfortably paid job, in a pretty laid back office that is fairly easy to get to. If I were to stay on longer, I'd spend a chunk of my time performing sysadmin-y and support work, and more of the same development on internal tools I've been doing so far. Probably all Ruby, Java, Solaris.

I like it. It's very decent.

My family is convinced, no, firm in their belief that I will never go back and finish my degree once I get used to the cash influx, and they raise a good point. I could live comfortably with my salary, but I could only scrape by if I also had to put aside rent and living expenses for the year I return to school. So, moving out is tempting, but I'm not convinced it's a terribly wise idea.

If I were to stay at home, my lifestyle would probably increase to a pretty comfortable level, but I'm not sure delaying the end of my degree and sticking around at home for an extra year is worth it. (Traveling would be awesome, tho).

On the other hand, I've just had a really rough year at school, for various reasons, and I'm just not feeling it yet. I could probably do the motions just fine, but right now I'm fed up and tired of it. Part of me likes to think that a good number of months of work would allow me to clear out and want to go back.

What's more, from what I've read and others have told me, it seems that a year of experience on top of a degree goes a long way once you've finally left school.

Fortunately, tuition is not an issue, and this is a university run co-op program. This is my second out of a maximum of five four-month periods, and last summer I was at a different, more dysfunctional company.

Thanks, Hive mind.

Being the bright kid at 30

dcrocha — Sat, 17 May 2008 20:18:40 -0800

I would like to be the bright kid again, but I've just turned 30. What should I do? To make a very long story short: I was always the bright student, the one who'd have an amazing future, study in the best universities, get the highest paid jobs and be rich. I was also supposed to discover the cure of cancer, or at least have enough money to pay somebody to do so. Jokes aside, now.

During primary & high school, I studied in many different cities and schools but my results were the same: a perfect GPA , many compliments from teachers, many prizes, etc. In my country we must take a mandatory exam for each college you're applying to. I have applied to one of the best and got in without much effort.

During my first two years, still the bright kid: straight A's, few friends, "the one with the bright future" and all that crap. Then, in the 3rd. year of college, I decided I'd had enough of that sh*tty course and dropped out, going to work for an Internet startup instead.

Forwarding it to the present, so I won't bore you to death, I made a reasonably successful career as a software developer, working curently as a systems engineer for one of the greatest companies in the world, earning a decent (not fantastic) salary, and as I had some time to spare in the past 3 years, I finished a degree (with the same low level of interest) so I could have a diploma.

All seemed well, but a couple of weeks back I was flying to the U.S. reading my fave magazine ("Economist"), and took a more detailed look at its jobs section, which features many great jobs at the world's most prestigious companies and organizations such as the UN, European Comission, etc. Then I was struck by a lightning, having instantly realized I wasn't qualified for any of those positions. I got depressed.

The following week, I was in Boston for business and as I had a free Saturday I decided to have a look at the Harvard square. Pretty nice place, but I only got more depressed realizing I will never be part of such a community because I stopped being the bright kid the moment I dropped out of college, 10 years ago.

I am very proud of having taught myself everything I know, professionally-wise: English, Spanish, computer programming, etc. However I became very sad since this last trip, as I realized I'm just one more in the crowd, my predicted "bright future" didn't happend and I'm here having a standard corporate job, which I tolerate (but don't love), when I feel I could be doing much more with my life, had I followed the path "originally" planned for me.

I have already tasted having a normal life with a normal career. I'd like to see what my life would be if I become again the bright kid I once was.

How do I do that?

Getting hired into academe?

LN — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 09:23:37 -0800

Looking for help breaking into academe - fellow academic Mefites, what am I doing wrong? I have a PhD in Ethnomusicology, specialization in Irish music/singing (now the MeFiMu posts make sense, don't they?). I want very much to get into the academic setting, as I *love* teaching and doing fieldwork. But getting a job in academe has been proving difficult.

I graduated 6 years ago, and wound up in the public sector because, well, student loan bills needed to be paid.

I give talks at conferences and publish papers to the extent that my schedule and vacation time permits. I'll admit, the publishing side needs some TLC, and I am currently taking steps to remedy that.

I did some teaching while doing my higher degrees, but I figure it's not enough, so I volunteer-guest-lecture for professors at my two local universities, just to keep my chops up.

I'm active in the music scene here in town, teaching at the Ottawa Folklore Centre, giving workshops, organizing sessions, running choirs, etc.

I network like a fiend when I go to conferences, hoping the next mat leave or term hire that comes up, they'll think of me.

I apply for jobs, too, but get bounced out for reasons that seem very strange to me, like having a B. A. hon Mus., as opposed to a B. Mus.

What more can I do to make myself attractive to a hiring university?

Misfortune of a fortunate job?

Anonymous — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 22:16:50 -0800

Help analyze my terrible work situation! I REALLY apologize for such a lengthy question, but it has been developing over some time now and I finally gave in to ask the great collective knowledge here..

I got a job in a department located in a fast-developing portion of my university's campus roughly a year ago. The position I was accepted for is basically a building IT guy-- fix computers, run cable, respond to general tech emergencies-- but I also was responsible for some general graphic design and print work. I work under a supervisor, manager, senior IT manager, event coordinator and a building coordinator.

So initially (up to 4 months) the job was great. I had great equipment to work on, the assignments I was given were right at my skill level, I had a great coworker who was hired at the same time as me, and there was just a nice collaborative vibe in the office. On random occasion when working with my higher ups, I'd be told that I could have a chance at a full time position after graduating, which encouraged me to really put 110% into my job.

So I'm working my butt off to please everyone in the office, doing random things like designing vibrant brochures to advertise our building, picking up the trash after large events, helping move furniture and boxes around, and I start to get a knack for graphic design. At some point one of my flyer designs catches the eye of people in other buildings who frequent the one I’m in. As a result, the event coordinator starts getting more requests to hold events in the building, and naturally I am asked to produce graphic media for nearly every event that is booked. So I did—and I was unstoppable because years of NOT doing this sort of work had built up a pile of creative ideas in my brain that would flood out into Adobe Illustrator. Did I mention I was still doing every other task the other higher ups assigned to me? How about cleaning up a room after an autoclave explodes?

Around this time I am at home one evening when I receive a call from my manager who had consulted with the building coordinator about offering me a full time position. I kindly declined because my first priority is school (I wouldn’t even be in this situation if it wasn’t). So life went on, and things kept going at a fast pace, until one day there’s a big announcement that most of the full time employees in the office are moving to another building as part of a multi-phase plan to create a central management point for the entire area of the campus where I work. Oddly enough, I’m told that I am also going to move and be given my own cubicle and filing cabinets and all things great about office jobs—keep in mind that I’m just a student employee who had been sharing a desk with a coworker.

Since I’ll be moving and the building still needs tech support, a new guy is hired who I will refer to as BG. The thing about BG is that he’s really eccentric, introverted, and he sorta smells like body odor, but I don’t worry because I’ll be moving to a new office in a week or two (or three or four). Well, the day before the official move was supposed to happen, the building coordinator announces that plans have changed and nobody is moving anywhere, but we’re still going to manage the surrounding area as well as the current building using all the current staff but the same office space (remember I was sharing a desk?). And this is where the trouble starts…

Since me and my coworker from the beginning are pretty cozy with each other, I figure that BG will be let go since he was hired on the assumption that he’d have an actual place to work when most people left. Nope. Turns out my boss has some policy where she considers student employees to be on a contract so the only time they’re let go is at the end of a term. At this point in time I’m bummed about not getting my own work area, but the office vibe is still good and I want to be welcoming to the new guy. I offer to share my machine with him since our shifts bump up against each other… possibly the worst idea I could have ever had. BG turns out to be incredibly messy and disorganized, and he apparently thinks its okay to leave pirated games, movies, and music on my work machine. I bring it to the attention of my supervisor who ends up not doing anything, so I tell the senior IT manager who doesn’t do anything, and then I tell the building coordinator who doesn’t do anything but tells my supervisor to do something, but he doesn’t do anything. I finally take it upon myself to pull BG into a private conference to tell him to not leave a mess and to not put “that” stuff on my machine.

Because we are the tech support guys, we occasionally get spare machines that aren’t new but still are fully functional, and BG gets one so that he can finally have his own computer to use. The machine isn’t working, so BG attempts to get it working, but fails and decides to leave it alone and just use the other guy’s machine. About a week later, the senior IT manager comes in asking if he can have my computer for a project he’s working on and offers to buy me a brand spanking new computer. I gladly oblige and get to configuring it the way I like, and my supervisor ends up ordering another one just like it for us to use. The computers come in after a few days and I’m giddy because I feel like I really earned mine and I could use the extra GHz/RAM for when I do graphic design. I begin to unpack mine when BG jumps out of his chair and begins unpacking the other box while mentioning “alright it’ll be great to not have to use this piece of crap anymore (referring to the spare machine that came in)”. I have an issue with this, but I’ll skip to the next chapter of the story and let you figure out what my problem is.

In my best efforts to remain professional in my behavior at work, I just deal with the fact that BG is probably staying around. I try talking to him to get some goodwill going, but he only gives quick responses to questions and never initiates conversation (he still hasn’t to this day). I continue on as the graphic design guy, doing whatever I need to so I can keep up the 110% effort, and things are going well. Somewhere around this time the senior IT manager and the building coordinator decided they’d do something for me and nominate me for an award, but they didn’t consult with me at ALL and failed to tell me that the nomination committee would be checking my GPA. I wasn’t exactly thrilled when I got a letter in the mail saying I failed to receive an award that I wasn’t aware of, and that my current GPA didn’t meet the requirements for said award that I was unaware of. Ever relapse into clinical depression? Not fun.

So forward on a month or two later and I get an offer to be sent off to a training seminar along with the event coordinator and my supervisor (not all at the same time). I get hyped up about going and book my flight and hotel and wait until the day to arrive. Well a few weeks before I’m supposed to go, I’m pulled aside by the senior IT manager who is relaying a message from the building coordinator that maybe I need to not go to training yet (I had gradually started burning out on graphic design and the BG situation wasn’t helping either, so I was still civil and sociable, but I was in a “bad week” mood). I had no choice but to cancel my trip and hotel and try to get myself back on track, although I’m not sure I was ever off?

Well, I hope I’m not alone in saying it doesn’t make me want to be a superstar employee when I keep receiving offers for really great opportunities, only to have them snatched back a few weeks later for no concrete reasons. Currently, I’ve just been working on some low-key work doing SQL and website development, and some occasional graphic design on the side. I feel fed up with my higher ups who I originally thought were great people, but now work feels like drama. I guess the popular thing as of late has been to treat me like an imbecile and ignore me whenever possible. (I honestly have NO idea why they’re doing this to me)

I suppose the good thing is that I picked up a lot of experience that I have been using to apply to other jobs at the university. Unfortunately, some of these jobs pay at a lower rate and offer less hours (the nice thing about my current work is that the pay is pretty well for part time and I can work up to part time max hours).

So my big question is, should I stay at my current job where I’m making decent pay and have top-of-the-line equipment to work on but have to deal with a stinky, eccentric coworker, unfaithful bosses, and more drama than daytime network television, or take on a new job where I could get a pay cut and less hours, but have a chance to start over in my work ethic when it comes to working at a university and hopefully know where to draw the line so I can stay as neutral as possible until I graduate school (not to mention it would be nice to get away from the people I work with now and [this is just horrible], but I think it would be really fun if they ended up trying to talk me into staying).

Also, any sort of analysis and criticism against me is appreciated. If I’m just acting like a jackass, then I need to know.

Help me survive an appraisal at work

slimeline — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 03:06:54 -0800

Tomorrow I have my annual appraisal with the deputy head of the department at the Uni. where I work. This is not my first time, as I been in this job for several years, but this time I am looking for advice on how to make this into a meaningful and useful meeting instead of the usual box-ticking exercise. Also, what is the best way to answer the standard questions they ask such as: "What were your most significant achievements since the last interview?" Other questions I have to answer ahead of the meeting are: "What aspect of the job gave you the most satisfaction since the last interview?" and "What has caused you most difficulty?"
My main problem is that I know from past experience that whatever is said in the appraisal has very little effect on the year ahead, all these targets and objectives seem very meaningless to me at the moment. So it is hard to shake off a cynical and negative approach to the whole thing, but at the same time I definitely don't want to come across in the appraisal as someone negative and uncooperative. So how can I muster a positive outlook and make the most of the opportunity?
Thanks fellow appraisees / appraisers. Yours truly, Slimeline

Miserable with a future, or on hold but with less misery?

Anonymous — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 22:38:44 -0800

I have almost certainly won an eighteen thousand dollar award to do my Master's degree, but every day I find myself semi-wishing that I don't win it so that I don't have to do my Master's. Do I suck it up and advance my career, or turn down more money than I make in two years and end up working at the mall? I am a pretty smart cookie, I love school, and I love the fields that I majored in. For the past several years, though, I have been a research assistant for Dr. M, and when the time came for me to pick a supervisor, he seemed a natural fit. Smart, well-known, friendly, a good boss. Since then, though, we have had some conflict. I have had to change my topic from the area I am passionate about to the area he studies (I know, this is fairly typical) and he micromanages every step of the application process. As an example, he wrote my scholarship application for me and then seemed insulted when I made changes. He made all the decisions about who would be on my committee without consulting me. He has already decided the theoretical framework and methods for my study (as it happens to coincide with his). Anyway, bitching aside, the Cole's notes version is: I am unhappy with my supervisor, I am unhappy with my topic, I will very likely win a bunch of money to do this work.

Switching to another prof so that I can study what I want is not an option, as for various reasons I am tied to this one city (which only has this one school), and my department is quite small. There is no one here who specializes in my interest, and the department is so small that I really can't afford to step on anyone's toes, especially not Dr. M who has invested so much in training me these past years. I feel like I owe him.

If I do turn down the award, my degree is not such that I am qualified for any particular position. I would probably end up working at a call centre or something equally fulfilling. At this point, though, all I really want is to get away from the Uni. I have been there for so long that I have grown to hate it, hate research, and hate writing.

I can suck it up and do this degree, but I am sure it will not be a pleasant two years. Still, it will be two years, a short amount of time in the long run. I will have the award to put on my CV, plus some publications. All-in-all, good for my career. Do I do this, put my academic potential first and suffer through two years, or do I put my career on hold for a bit (turning down a large sum of money), and experience Life After School?

Dressing past the interview...

srah — Fri, 23 Sep 2005 10:41:17 -0800

What should I wear to work in a higher education student services setting? Interview attire is one thing - I'm all set with that. But once I get the job, what should I wear to work? I want to build up my professional wardrobe and I want to do it right. There's plenty of information on the web about what's appropriate or inappropriate to wear to a job interview, but much less about what's appropriate to wear once you get the job. What information there is (I've read JT Molloy's New Women's Dress for Success) seems to be angled towards the corporate world, rather than higher education, and I feel like the rules are probably slightly different.

Background: It's my first professional job after back-to-back college and graduate school. I want to look professional to my co-workers/supervisor, but I thought that wearing a suit every day might be overkill in this setting. I want to be approachable by students but not look like one of them (I'm a petite and young-looking female, so this is a concern).

Please let me know what works/doesn't work for you!