(04-22-2014 04:01 PM)EverRespect Wrote:  

(04-22-2014 03:50 PM)Hitch Wrote:  You have to turn one job into the next. Keep building your skills and seeking out new opportunities. Selling shirts at Macy's? Ok, then make sure you learn how inventory accounting works too.

It isn't about skills (at least not in regard to working at Macy's), it is about responsibility. The more you take on, the more desirable you are. I'm not going to take on someone that sells shirts at Macy's because he learned inventory accounting. Frankly, unless you want a career in retail, it is useless. I'm going to take him on because he is involved with other things outside of work and because he tells me a nice story about how he is working there because he is a big boy, takes care of himself, and it pays the bills. I guess that's the difference between Gen X and Gen Y. I'd rather have someone that strikes me as someone willing and driven to learn and improve than someone that thinks they already know.

My inventory accounting example was about taking the initiative to seek out new skills and learn something outside the core of your position (i.e. seeking out the opportunity to learn the business side of the house).

I got the position I wanted at the time but it certainly isn't the position I would want, or the direction, I would take today.

There was a hiring freeze at the time in the field(s) I thought I would be entering. I had about 13 years restaurant and management experience (front and back of the house) as well as the schoolin', so I took a job as the executive chef at a place in the Outerbanks. Pretty easy decisions really...haha A whopping 30 grand a year but more than enough to live there. We had a four bedroom, waterfront house on the sound for 500 a month. Total. For 4 of us.

Places were still seasonal down there back then so by the next December I was out of work. Started a little business venture with a partner and never looked back. I use my book lernin regularly in what and how I do what I do, but not in a very strict sense.

Can't find a job? Start your own.

Got mine

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I'd say very few people get their dream job out of the box, that is why most young people switch jobs and usually companies 3 or 4 times before settling in for a career track position.

In demand Majors are Engineering, Finance/Accounting, Information Systems, Biology and Chemistry. If you don't mind the hours most typical Pharmacy majors work that's a good gig too.

Typically waste of time majors are Liberal Arts, unless it's from an Ivy League school.

I was strictly blue collar when I left the Air Force as an aircraft mechanic. First job was in the manufacturing field (pants). After I quit that job I was unemployed for 3 months when I got accepted at EP Int'l Airport as an aircraft refueler/crash-fire-rescueman. I also went to school aiming to be a social worker. After investigation I decided that wasn't my cup of tea and I stayed at the airport for 30 years. I retired at 53 years of age and after a divorce married my present wife of 24 years at 41 yrs. old. She retired too as a high school teacher and then a h.s. counselor at 54. We're living the good life and between her salary, my salary and soc. security we have it made. We're not millionaires but in a way we are as we aren't in need of anything and everything is paid for.

Life shouldn't be about how much money you make but how comfortable you can be.

No. I had to drop out of college to run the family business when my dad got sick. Anyway, while I always aced accounting, it sucked balls and I didn't want to do it for a living.

The Navy came calling my junior year at ODU to consider becoming a Navy Nuclear Engineer. The deal was that I had to nothing but maintain grades until graduation, and I was paid E3 wages with bennies. Of course I bit, and graduated, got my commission, and owed the Navy 6 years. Ended up serving just over 10, with 4 onboard ship, and 2 at NORAD. While shipboard life sucked, the experience and training received have served my very well in my current chemical sales career.

Feel pretty lucky about the career path, especially when I receive resumes from PhDs for entry level jobs at our company. Job market today is tight, but still surprises me that many candidates lack to requisite skills to advance in the interview process.

I've got a wide variety of experience and I'm always surprised at what random things are seen as positives by prospective employers.

my first choice of career was starting second baseman for the dodgers. my second career choice was top male porn star in the world. imagine my disappointment.

I still have a real shot at career choice #3; middle aged lounge lizard. I'm trying to not get my hopes up. I've been crushed before.

(04-22-2014 11:16 PM)EagleX Wrote:  my first choice of career was starting second baseman for the dodgers. my second career choice was top male porn star in the world. imagine my disappointment.

I still have a real shot at career choice #3; middle aged lounge lizard. I'm trying to not get my hopes up. I've been crushed before.

That's pretty much the level of drop off from my A to B to C. My C may be worse.

(04-22-2014 08:07 PM)olliebaba Wrote:  I got accepted at EP Int'l Airport as an aircraft refueler/crash-fire-rescueman.

That sounds pretty exciting. Any stories?

How things have changed. I graduated in 1967 with a degree in Math. (There were no IT or Computer Science programs back then and all the programming courses were in the Math Dept). I had 4 job offers to choose from, including: being a systems engineer (SE) for IBM; a management trainee for Bethlehem Steel; a defense contractor; and an aerospace company. I took a job with the aerospace outfit and wrote software for the Apollo space program.

Starting pay (inflation adjusted to 2014 dollars) was $61,000.00.

In full disclosure, I could have gotten more money at IBM or Beth Steel, but the job I took had an occupational deferment from the draft so I was able to avoid Vietnam. However, I seriously considered joining the Air Force as I was offered a program to be a meteorologist. I could have been the real Brick Tamland.

(04-23-2014 07:35 AM)QuestionSocratic Wrote:  How things have changed. I graduated in 1967 with a degree in Math. (There were no IT or Computer Science programs back then and all the programming courses were in the Math Dept). I had 4 job offers to choose from, including: being a systems engineer (SE) for IBM; a management trainee for Bethlehem Steel; a defense contractor; and an aerospace company. I took a job with the aerospace outfit and wrote software for the Apollo space program.

Starting pay (inflation adjusted to 2014 dollars) was $61,000.00.

In full disclosure, I could have gotten more money at IBM or Beth Steel, but the job I took had an occupational deferment from the draft so I was able to avoid Vietnam. However, I seriously considered joining the Air Force as I was offered a program to be a meteorologist. I could have been the real Brick Tamland.

Yes, in 1967 a college degree put you in elite status. Now it is worth about what a high school diploma was worth back then, unless it came from an Ivy or a Stanford, Duke, Vanderbilt, etc. Nobody is hiring entry level anymore and if you are lucky enough to get in somewhere, you'll be lucky to break $40k to start.

What's crazy, about 30% of folks have a college degree or more.

Right out of college I started as a Manager of a Pizza Hut. That didn't seem like a great career path, so I went back to school and got an education degree. Taught for almost 5 years and was actually a Head Track Coach and Head Football Coach while teaching. Probably the most "fun at work" I ever had.

The second child was in the oven and I started thinking "How in hell will I ever be able to send these kids to college making what a teacher makes?". Started job hunting and would up in the Aerospace world which paid much better and to this day is still interesting.

Life sometimes shapes career paths.

(04-23-2014 09:44 AM)Crebman Wrote:  Right out of college I started as a Manager of a Pizza Hut. That didn't seem like a great career path, so I went back to school and got an education degree. Taught for almost 5 years and was actually a Head Track Coach and Head Football Coach while teaching. Probably the most "fun at work" I ever had.

The second child was in the oven and I started thinking "How in hell will I ever be able to send these kids to college making what a teacher makes?". Started job hunting and would up in the Aerospace world which paid much better and to this day is still interesting.

Life sometimes shapes career paths.

Life presents you with paths, opportunities, and challenges... You shape the career path..

(04-23-2014 08:40 AM)HeartOfDixie Wrote:  What's crazy, about 30% of folks have a college degree or more.

That's what I was thinking. People keep saying everyone these days has a college degree, but 30% is a long way from everyone.

(04-23-2014 09:46 AM)Bull_In_Exile Wrote:  

(04-23-2014 09:44 AM)Crebman Wrote:  Right out of college I started as a Manager of a Pizza Hut. That didn't seem like a great career path, so I went back to school and got an education degree. Taught for almost 5 years and was actually a Head Track Coach and Head Football Coach while teaching. Probably the most "fun at work" I ever had.

The second child was in the oven and I started thinking "How in hell will I ever be able to send these kids to college making what a teacher makes?". Started job hunting and would up in the Aerospace world which paid much better and to this day is still interesting.

Life sometimes shapes career paths.

Life presents you with paths, opportunities, and challenges... You shape the career path..

True. I suppose it's easier for someone that knows exactly what they want to do. Lots of people aren't really sure and I think can have more "forks in the road" as a result.

I know my daughter was going into computer science entering college. Her first semester, she had a computer class and after about 3 weeks called home and stated "I hate this computer class, all we do is look at computer code". My response was " What did you think computer science was, surfing the net?". An early fork in the road for her.

(04-23-2014 09:57 AM)Crebman Wrote:  I know my daughter was going into computer science entering college. Her first semester, she had a computer class and after about 3 weeks called home and stated "I hate this computer class, all we do is look at computer code". My response was " What did you think computer science was, surfing the net?".

You're sort of happy she didn't answer "Yes" right?

(04-22-2014 11:24 PM)ncbeta Wrote:  

(04-22-2014 11:16 PM)EagleX Wrote:  my first choice of career was starting second baseman for the dodgers. my second career choice was top male porn star in the world. imagine my disappointment.

I still have a real shot at career choice #3; middle aged lounge lizard. I'm trying to not get my hopes up. I've been crushed before.

That's pretty much the level of drop off from my A to B to C. My C may be worse.

(04-22-2014 08:07 PM)olliebaba Wrote:  I got accepted at EP Int'l Airport as an aircraft refueler/crash-fire-rescueman.

That sounds pretty exciting. Any stories?

There's too many to remember. I've told my wife that I wished I had kept a diary so that I could write a book. I suggest every young man/woman keep a diary with names, places and pictures for your old age.

My prize possessions from that era are the 100s of astronaut pictures and patches. A lot of them were autographed to me so that makes them especially treasured. I carried a commemorative coin in my wallet for years made from the metal of a spacecraft that had been mothballed. The coin got beat up pretty badly and probably would be worth more if it was in tip-top shape. I have pictures of the spacecraft crew that got killed in the explosion with the teacher. A ball cap of that infamous chapter of space travel with the logo patch from that flight.

I could go on an on. I loved working at the airport in those days.