What to do with my life

[stephly21]

I graduated college in 2005 and still feel lost. I got a job a couple months after graduating. The job was very stressful and they didn't pay well, at all. The stress was too much and I had a hard time building up my confidence for the business world when I knew nothing about it. They put me in as an admin assistant. Yes, I got demoted. So there went my confidence completely.

Then I moved to a new state in the fall and I needed to find a different job. I went for Admin Assistant again because I had to find a job fast and I felt comforatable taking on that role. Right now I am stuck in the position and unforunately do not do much work. I'm bored out of my mind. I took the job because they eventually promote you out of admin, but after my last job experience I am afraid to move to a new position. I feel like I have still learned nothing about excel, and all the other programs I should know. Plus all of the positions they want to move me into are not right for me. I am stuck. Anyone have any advice for me? Any advice at all would be appreciated.

[LaFille]

hey, sorry to hear about your job blues. it sucks to feel like you are not cut out for something, but it sounds like you're just not confident with your abilities and therefore feel hindered. what about taking a class at a community college or business school to learn some of the programs you feel you need to know?

at my last job, i live in Excel land, and i had never so much as opened a spreadsheet before that job. once you get the basics down you can pretty much figure everything out.

good luck (-:

[lindsaymn]

Hi-

I know exactly what you are going through. I'm 24, since I've been 17 I have worked in a pharmacy. This was my job in high school and throughout college. I graduated June 2006 with a BA in English and still having a hard time finding a job. Right now I'm back in the pharmacy working while looking for a job. I find it incredibly difficult to find even an entry level writer position. Most of the companies want at least 2yrs experience. I think the best advice I've gotten so far was from my sister who told me to write a list of things that I like to do and places where I'd like to live that way I can figure out what I even want to do with my life after college.

[caostotale]

I would say that 'admin asst.' type jobs are not good if you're a college graduate with more hopes and ambition. Most admin. asst.'s I've encountered at work are loud-mouthed, brainless housewives who are only good at bullshiting on the phone and cow-towing to whatever emotions emitted by the person they "assist." Occasionally they have to execute some arcane advanced function like sending out a meeting notice on Microsoft Outlook or running out to Staples to buy a new shredder, but nothing really more challenging than that. And a lot of them never get a different job than that...eventually they have the little certificates thanking them for 5-, 10-, and 15- years of service lined up next to pictures of their grandkids, etc. etc....

Figuring out Excel is good, but be careful that you don't get pigeonholed into some kid of data-entry type work.

It's a shame that a college degree means so little these days.... Sorry this isn't very helpful. It should be obvious that I'm also toting around a BA in hopes that someone will regard me as a person who's worth a smidge more than a dog turd.

[winneythepooh7]

I think you should make a list of things that you like to do. Also, talk to people in other types of jobs and fields that seem interesting to you, and find out what you need to do to get a job like that.

[fuzmiq]

Originally Posted by caostotale

I would say that 'admin asst.' type jobs are not good if you're a college graduate with more hopes and ambition. Most admin. asst.'s I've encountered at work are loud-mouthed, brainless housewives who are only good at bullshiting on the phone and cow-towing to whatever emotions emitted by the person they "assist." Occasionally they have to execute some arcane advanced function like sending out a meeting notice on Microsoft Outlook or running out to Staples to buy a new shredder, but nothing really more challenging than that. And a lot of them never get a different job than that...eventually they have the little certificates thanking them for 5-, 10-, and 15- years of service lined up next to pictures of their grandkids, etc. etc....

Figuring out Excel is good, but be careful that you don't get pigeonholed into some kid of data-entry type work.

It's a shame that a college degree means so little these days.... Sorry this isn't very helpful. It should be obvious that I'm also toting around a BA in hopes that someone will regard me as a person who's worth a smidge more than a dog turd.

You sound so jaded....and I like it. (hee hee) No seriously, I have a BA and I am an "assistant"." If I hadn't graduated from a private college with a degree, I would have absolutely no problem doing this for the rest of my life. But now I feel some kind of responsibility to myself to do something that uses what I have learned and spent good money for. And by the way I am not a loud-mouth nor a housewife.

[caostotale]

Originally Posted by fuzmiq

And by the way I am not a loud-mouth nor a housewife.

sorry, wasn't trying to generalize or be a jerk, but nearly every admin. asst. or better yet, exec. asst. fits the description I made before. Our generation will change that (innocuously of course) by adding college degrees, computer literacy, and social grace to the occupations.

Yes I am jaded to a fault. I worked too many blue-collar type jobs that didn't give room for nonsense and bullshit before my college degree allowed me to 'break into' the splendor of the office life where I have more trouble utilizing my abilities to sell myself. Maybe I shouldn't have spent all that time studying and reading books in college and instead should have spent all my time practicing for interviews and comparing necktie designs at the Gap. More fool me, I guess.

[NewMrs.]

Originally Posted by caostotale

sorry, wasn't trying to generalize or be a jerk, but nearly every admin. asst. or better yet, exec. asst. fits the description I made before. Our generation will change that (innocuously of course) by adding college degrees, computer literacy, and social grace to the occupations.

Yes I am jaded to a fault. I worked too many blue-collar type jobs that didn't give room for nonsense and bullshit before my college degree allowed me to 'break into' the splendor of the office life where I have more trouble utilizing my abilities to sell myself. Maybe I shouldn't have spent all that time studying and reading books in college and instead should have spent all my time practicing for interviews and comparing necktie designs at the Gap. More fool me, I guess.

At my previous job, the executive assistant of one of the owners had an MBA. She was only a few years older than I was at that time, so she would have been in her late 20's. She started the executive admin job shortly before she finished the MBA, and then she tried to find a different job, but that didn't pan out, so she kep tryng to get our boss to promote her. She was very stylish and had all the right mannerisms, so I am surprised that she was having so much trouble in her job search. She kept trying to get our boss to promote her also, but didn't have much luck, I believe because she was a woman. They did sort of eventually promote her to the position of Marketing Director, but she still had to answer phones and run the switchboard when nobody else was available to do it. She just up and quit one day after our boss made her miss out on a sales training event in order to answer the phones.

At that time, I lived in a very economically depressed area where there weren't enough well-paying jobs and college degrees were seriously a dime a dozen. When our employer needed to find a replacement for the administrative executive with the MBA, they decided to only interview candidates with master's degrees.