Newbies

Re: Introduction/Advice

JAlanKatz — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 01:28:55 GMT

You could try to land a job with a libertarian somewhere (if you're willing to move) doing PR work, or maybe with the beltway "libertarians" in your area? All in all, though, it's a pretty tight spot, in a bad market, with a degree that was really created to make money for the colleges. Most business degrees are a pretty raw deal, except maybe accounting.

Graduate school might be an idea, with the idea of leveraging what you have into training that actually leads to a career, but I'm not keen on your chances for an assistantship with your GPA, so the question becomes - how will you pay tuition and live? I don't have a good answer. If you don't anticipate good opportunities with your degree, have you considered learning a trade, which you can then use to pay for grad school? I ended up getting an assistantship, but I anticipated paying for grad school - so in college, I became an EMT then a paramedic. I've made use of this trade - worked every summer in college and after while teaching, worked my way up to management, and had something to fall back on when I left grad school with no degree the first time (back in now, on a new assistantship.) The skilled trades are still desperate for workers in many areas, despite the downturn. (In EMS DC has a huge shortage.) Your trade could be anything, though - cook, butcher, pizza, furniture...whatever. In a lot of trades, you can get an apprenticeship (usually called a job now) at low pay and work your way up. I got a job delivering pizza at one point, and slowly the owner started showing me other things. I never worked in pizza after that, but I have saved a lot of money by being able to cook my own at home...

Re: Introduction/Advice

chloe732 — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 03:06:40 GMT

Joe:
maybe to Spain, Argentina, Chile or Brazil to teach English

Do you have a degree? Could you find work? Could you pull this off? You can't do this alone, but this seems to "click" with you.

Joe:
the more I think about it, the more I want to go to grad school and study economics. I really love learning about it, and I think it would be great to contribute to the movement

But what would you do for a living?

Joe:
The parts I liked the most in school were putting together campaigns and making sure that all the details of the campaign fit together well. I was also interested in marketing research (not market research)

This is the most realistic thing I've read. You might want to pursue this. This are valuable skills. Your tone here sounds "up". I think you're on to something here.

Joe:
I am not sure if marketing is really for me

It's not.

Joe:
100% commission sales jobs, which is not exactly my thing.

Avoid this.

Joe:
I didn't seem to find much motivation in college and had to pass 21 credits in my last semester in order to graduate on time,

Ask youself "why"? The answer, I think, follows...

Joe:
which meant that I wouldn't have to pay for school which was pretty awesome

This may explain the motivation problem.

EDIT: Think about the possible connection between "motivation" and "wouldn't have to pay for school". Whatever you get into next, I suggest you have an investment in it. I'm talking about your own money, not money you have borrowed. If you don't have any money, earn it somehow. Get a job doing something. It reminds me of sound economic principles: When an entrepreneur invests his own capital in a venture, this motivates him and guides him to make darn sure this venture is likely to work. He stacks the odds in his faver, etc. It is the investment of his own resources that drives the capital into the "correct" areas. When there is no "self ownership", the capital is easily squandered. You are young, and your comment about enjoying putting details together to make a complex project work sound encourging. Have you considered a career in "management"?

Re: Introduction/Advice

Jonathan M. F. Catalán — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 07:44:23 GMT

Welcome to the community! Since you live in the D.C. area, have you thought about looking into the Cato Institute for a possible internship? You could also research on finding a job with them directly; the reason I mentioned the internship is because I believe they hire interns if the interns are particularly promising. At least, this is what I gathered during my stay at Cato University this past summer. In any case, I know how you feel (although, not personally: my roommate recently graduated with a degree in mathematics and economics, and he's still unemployed. In fact, I think that the majority of my friends who already graduated are still unemployed.

In regards to teaching English, I tried doing it in Spain and it didn't work out too well. But, I am a horrible teacher and very impatient. On the other hand, in all the above mentioned countries, people are becoming poorer and so I'm not sure what the demand for English tutors will be (in Spain, they not have institutions that offer collective English tutors for very cheap prices).

In regards to graduate school, that is a pretty low GPA (I'm not one to talk; I have a ~3.0, and I have been trying to desperately increase it to as close to a 3.5 as possible... failing calculus this semester (for not showing up) did not help). I would suggest taking that economics exam... I can't remember what it's called. In any case, I would also suggest trying to publish, and doing relevant internships. I have tried to publish, starting with less formal methods of doing so (such as Mises.org), but I am not a good enough writer (although, I keep trying, and much (probably) to the editor's chagrin I will keep trying!). But, these types of things will certainly make your applications look a lot better.

Whatever you choose to do, welcome to the Mises.org forum community and I hope to see you around!

Introduction/Advice

Joe — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 07:23:50 GMT

As some might have guessed, my name is Joe. I am a 23 year old College Grad who is about to be unemployed at the end of the year. I graduated from the University of Maryland in 4 years in May of 2008, with a degree in marketing. Although I was good student in HS, I didn't seem to find much motivation in college and had to pass 21 credits in my last semester in order to graduate on time, which meant that I wouldn't have to pay for school which was pretty awesome. I chose marketing as a major because it was the only major in the business school that I could get a degree in when I asses my situation at the end of my 1st semester senior year. I have found it pretty difficult finding a proper job in the marketing field. Most of what I find are 100% commission sales jobs, which is not exactly my thing. After a an unsuccessful search the summer after graduating, I took a courtesy office job at a company run by someone that was the father of some people I knew in high school, and liked to give people from my HS jobs. He owned a small gov't contracting company, and the whole situation did not jive, and after 6 months we parted on mutual terms. Then I went unemployed for 6 months and finally sucked it up and took a temp job which I have had the last 6 months doing basically nothing by type (again working on a gov't study, but that is the DC area for you) and listening to mises.org podcasts and other lectures from ausrian econ profs and other liberty minded stuff.

I have always been a libertarian as long as I can remember. Maybe I didn't always know what the word libertarian meant, but I always had a problem with gov't rules, controlling, and taxes, even though I was never the one breaking any of the rules. And I have always been a big fan of the free market. In college, especially as an upperclassman, I started doing a lot more exploring into the ideas of liberty. And although I had heard of Austrian Economics, it wasn't until this summer that I got really serious about the economic side of things (although I always liked to think that I thought like an economist)

Now I find myself at a crossroad (although I guess your always at a crossroad). Although(seems like a lot of 'althoughs,' sorry) I did try looking for more legit jobs during my time temping, I did fall into what I guess would be called the 'discouraged' category (obviously not because I am still currently employed, and once I am not, I wont be discouraged anymore as I'll have nothing else to do). So I see my options as:

1) try again to find a job in the marketing field, taking pretty much ANYTHING

2) apply to graduate school

3) move somewhere

1. I am not sure if marketing is really for me, I know that marketing covers a lot of different things, but I don't know how happy I would be in any of them. Equally, I don't know if I will hate it either, but I am sort of leaning this way. The parts I liked the most in school were putting together campaigns and making sure that all the details of the campaign fit together well. I was also interested in marketing research (not market research)

2) the more I think about it, the more I want to go to grad school and study economics. I really love learning about it, and I think it would be great to contribute to the movement, as well as fulfilling doing something that I believed in. I do have some concerns over my ability to get into an economics program. I had below a 2.5 gpa in college. I am pretty confident that I could score high on any sort of placement exam, nothing off the charts, but higher than a 2.5 might translate. I am not afraid of any math. While I haven't taken any serious econometrics courses, I have always done very well in math, and was even on the math team. I had to take 4 or 5 econ classes to get a business degree. Even if I couldn't get a masters/phd in economics, there are other fields within the social sciences that I find very interesting, such as social or economic anthropology (for some reason I keep thinking the social science's "theory of everything"

3) is sort of the "give up" approach combined with getting some excitement. I lived a couple of summers in Brooklyn. I really liked it, I could try moving back there or to LA where one of my friends moved a few months back, or to New Hampshire or maybe to Spain, Argentina, Chile or Brazil to teach English

I hope to be sticking around a while, and I also hope to bring some different approaches. If you think my political ideas are radical (which I guess most people on here wont) you should see what I would do with the BCS.

Thank you to anyone who actually read this or even half of it (I suspect readers to this forum are used to much longer) and comments, questions, advice is all welcome.