About to graduate, but not sure what comes next.

Parent Cafe
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<p>Hello there,</p>

<p>Former (2005-2007) CC regular checking back in. I’m graduating next year but totally conflicted about what comes next. </p>

<p>My background:
Ivy League degree with geography major, public policy minor.
Three internships to date, in D.C., New York, and Boston. 2008-small nonprofit (with competitive fellowship from school), 2009-large foundation, 2010-nonprofit consulting firm (with funding from school).
Department chair and former prof says I’m one of brightest in my year. Mediocre grades regardless (B+ average).
High debt load and working two jobs to put myself through school.
Co-founded and served as VP of campus social/philanthropic organization.</p>

<p>I’ll be looking in Boston or D.C., as will my boyfriend (de facto fianc</p>

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<p>What does your career center at your university recommend? Any help there?</p>

3

<p>I’ve been twice, and each time they’ve pulled up their website and summarized the resources there, then sent me on my way. It’s like, yes, I’ve seen the website, it didn’t do it for me, that’s why I need real human advice. Most of their work has to do with corporate recruiting, which I’m neither interested in nor qualified for, so I’m feeling a bit lost.</p>

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<p>I don’t think that salary will be too hard to get, even at a public agency. I work for a public agency, that deals with energy policy (not to get too specific), and although I am an engineer that sounds like exactly the type of background they look for in analysts. So don’t write off USAJobs. You don’t necessarily have to go into the private sector, although people tend to move in and out between public and private, at least where I work.</p>

<p>Of course, bear in mind that jobs are sort of hard to get, period, these days. So it may take you a while.</p>

5

<p>SAME HERE</p>

<p>I agree with you on the career resource center thing. It seems as though the people there dont know anything. Im like “Yeah, I know that…uh huh, yeah I know that too…that too. JESUS CHRIST DO YOU REALLY THINK I CAME HERE WITHOUT DOING ANY RESEARCH ON MY OWN??? I CAME HERE FOR SOME ADVICE NOT TO WATCH YOU CLICK AROUND ON SOME WEBSITE”</p>

<p>With that said and done. It seems as though you have pretty similar interests as me- social science, research & analysis oriented…etc. Heck, I even posted a VERY similar post on this exact forum, albeit, not as detailed as yours. </p>

<p>Were in the same boat. Lets hope it doesnt sink.</p>

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<p>OK, I work in public policy and most of my friends work at nonprofits, think tanks, or are bloggers/journalist types, so let me disabuse some notions for you. </p>

<p>“Poor” can be a really relative term in these cases. Sure, a person working in public policy will never be a millionaire. But a person just starting out, without too heavy of a loan burden, can expect to make somewhere between 32 - 42 thousand at their first job. Most of the people I know are pulling in 36 - 40 gross. It’s not a fortune by any means, but it’s enough for a decent apartment, dinners out/bar nights out, and a reasonable amount of travel (flying home to see family, long weekends to the beach, maybe one big trip if you save). It’s also enough to be able to afford small luxuries: a new iPhone, cable TV, a bike for getting around town, etc. So I classify that as being a pretty good lifestyle for a single person just starting out, as long as the job comes with health benefits (most of the policy NGO type jobs do and they also have pretty good vacation/sick leave arrangements). The hardest thing is finding enough to carve out to put something into savings. Which is not so terrible when you’re young, but can be more of a challenge when you want to save for a house or a kid’s college education. </p>

<p>So it’s do-able. Especially if you can live in a 1 bedroom apartment with your significant other because then you can get a nicer apartment for less. </p>

<p>People at the top of thier field can pull in a wide range of salaries, from low six figures (like 100,000 maybe) to 70-80,000 it depends on what field they’re in exactly (non profits pay less than others, think tanks or research institutes may pay slightly more). And you shouldn’t discount the possibility that one of you may end up getting a law degree or other advanced degree and doing something higher paying for a few years (maybe a stint in corporate law). </p>

<p>So no, you will never be rich. But to say you’ll be “so poor!” is really, really relative. You will never make as much as an egineering grad, a doctor, a corporate lawyer, or probably even a well trained nurse. But you can make more than enough to provide for your needs, especially when you’re just starting out and you don’t have kids etc.</p>

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<p>Thanks for the perspective, SmithieandProud. It’s not the first few years after graduation that concern me; as you noted, we’ll be sharing an apartment, and we are both good budgeters and pretty frugal. It’s more that, realistically, a three-bedroom house in a pedestrian-friendly neighborhood with good schools and a decent (rail) commute into Boston or D.C. costs at least $700,000. And we want to be in a position to afford that.</p>

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<p>I can’t speak for Washington and Boston - but you can get something perfectly reasonable in my town for $500,000. It’s an easy commute into NYC. Even my neighborhood - which I love has a few houses for $550,000. </p>

<p>My husband and I shared housing with others besides the two of us until we were over 30 and saved a lot of money. In fact we never felt so rich as the years we lived in Munich because we really saved a lot on housing.</p>

<p>We still aren’t rich. My husband is on the low end of professor salaries and I make much less than he does.</p>

<p>While it’s probably smart to be thinking about future salaries, I’m not sure it’s that useful. From what I’ve seen of my friends the way opportunities open up is largely unpredictable. As for where to look for the first job - start with family, friends and those former internships. Even if they don’t have job openings, see if you can get mentors there to give you ideas about who else you might talk to. Emphasize that you don’t need a job offer today (though I bet you’d like one), but you are more interested in figuring out what a person with your background might do. </p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

9

<p>

Most people would probably start with a little cheaper place and hope it appreciated, but you can’t really count on that these days. Now, negating your loans, which may be substantial, consider that if you could scrape together maybe 75K for a down payment, you could probably qualify for a loan to buy a house close (maybe 650K) to that price with a combined salary of 200,000K.</p>

<p>In my agency (similar income location to yours, a state agency, paying less than federal agency), an Analyst tops out around 100K. You could certainly hit this pay level in less than 10 years. If you move up the chain a little to management you could each hit 150K. So it is doable. But, as you know, you’re not likely to be making $300 or 400K.</p>

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<p>I think I wouldn’t worry too much about housing prices and finding a house right now. It will be a while before you can save up enough for that and who knows what will happen to you between now and then. Maybe one of you will join the foreign service and reap the benefits of hazard pay in a location where officers are much needed. Maybe you’ll get a consulting job that pays well. There are bonuses and other rewards. There’s grad school costs to worry about. Also there are housing booms and busts. Job transfers. </p>

<p>It’s good to plan and save, but it’s not worthwhile to make a major change to your plans out of fears that you can’t buy a house. </p>

<p>Look at it this way. Washington is full of people, literally FULL of people who work in public policy. The majority of the married ones own houses. Certainly the majority of the ones that I know that are married own houses, and some of the non-married ones do. My friends and I just graduated 1 year ago, so we’re not up there yet. But I’m confident that when I’m ready to buy a house, I’ll be able to do so in time and still work in public policy. </p>

<p>I think it’s just that there is no such thing as people who work in the public sector or in the non profit/think tank arena who do not have money issues, unless one of the spouses does something highly well paid. You will have mortgages, car loans, probably credit card debt. But if you can manage money even reasonably well, and you live within your means, you will find those means to be pretty comfortable.</p>

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<p>Does one of you have wealthy parents who can loan you the $140K you’ll need for the down payment to get a loan on that $700K house?</p>

<p>I commend you for thinking ahead. I don’t think things are that unpredictable and as an ivy grad if your dream isn’t to become a billionaire financier you have a very good chance of making it happen.</p>

<p>Your knowledge/skill set would seem applicable to lobbying, paralegal work and many private sector jobs that pay more than non profits. In NYC a top executive assistant can easily make over 6 figures. There’s management consulting which you could aim for later, they do like high GPAs but the right experience can make that less important.</p>

<p>I would do what you love for the first few years and build your skills. If you then seek to make more money, you will see lots of private sector opportunities.</p>

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<p>If you are the poster I’m thinking you are, IIRC, you are/were an international student. If that is still the case, have you considered how residency status may impact your job search?</p>

<p>Just throwing that out there… Also, good to see you around again! :slight_smile: I was wondering how you were doing…</p>

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<p>I have a visa with work authorization until 2012. If I can’t find a way to extend it, we are getting married. (We’d planned to do so eventually anyway, but will move up the date if necessary.) It shouldn’t be an issue.</p>

<p>And no, there are no wealthy relatives anywhere who might help us out, hence the putting myself through college. I think that’s why this makes me nervous.</p>

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<p>My two cents (disclaimer: engineering degree from state university long ago)…</p>

<p>Try NOT to think like this “It’s also enough to be able to afford small luxuries: a new iPhone, cable TV, …”.</p>

<p>Read some finance books like “The Millionaire Next Door”. Listen to Dave Ramsey on the radio and hear the horror stories of living beyond your means. I don’t think anyone’s bills ever go down, so try starting out as low as you can. You don’t need an iPhone and probably not even cable at least until you’ve paid off your loans. Save as much as you can as soon as you can. </p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

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<p>My student loans will not be fully paid until I am 46. That’s a long time to go without any small luxuries. (Government-subsidized from a European country, with a 25-year term and 2.5 percent interest.) That said, no, I wasn’t planning to get cable, daily Starbucks, or whatever. I’ve read the personal finance books; I know the deal.</p>

<p>But I also don’t want to have a puritanical, cut-to-the-bone, no-indulgences lifestyle forever and ever.</p>

<p>I guess the issue is, even if I were to consider a for-profit job, I’d have no idea where to go or what to look for. I’ve looked at entry-level corporate jobs on Monster, Careerbuilder, and others, and they all seem to be not only uninteresting, but things I would be actively bad at–either extremely technical (software developer, engineer) or extremely social (marketing associate, sales representative). I don’t imagine my earning potential would be very high in any of those fields either.</p>

<p>My ideal job, as far as I can tell, would be something like [url=<a href=“http://www.bridgespan.org/]this[/url”>http://www.bridgespan.org/]this[/url</a>], [url=<a href=“http://www.fsg-impact.org/]this[/url”>http://www.fsg-impact.org/]this[/url</a>], or [url=<a href=“http://www.rootcause.org/]this[/url”>http://www.rootcause.org/]this[/url</a>]. But with the market being what it is, and with my qualifications being fairly unimpressive (grades!), that isn’t something I can count on. So I’m looking for plans B, C, D, E, and F, and currently coming up short.</p>

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<p>Hi mscostello.</p>

<p>Save for a slightly higher GPA (3.7), I find myself in a very similar position. I am going into my senior year at one of the Seven Sisters with double majors in the social sciences and humanities.
What I think is the best approach, aside from visiting your career center, is to utilize your alumni network to contact people who work in those fields which interest you. Ask them for informational interviews. Tell them what you’d like to do and ask how you might get there. This is what I’ve been doing and so far have gotten many new perspectives that I hadn’t or wouldn’t have considered.
Good luck!
vb</p>

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<p>I’m telling my son (next year grad) to have short term plans and long term plans. Short term plans might be what vegbee is talking about…networking, exploring job and career options, putting a job-hunt plan of attack in place, boning up on interviewing Targeting 12 months and 24 months to 36 months from now. Longer term plans might be salary goals or the “next job” or getting to a particular city 5-10 years down the road. To try and figure out how to get to the city of your dreams, how to buy a home, etc. is difficult and it it generally doesn’t happen quickly. Most people can move forward faster if they knock off the short term to-dos before tackling the long term to-dos.</p>

<p>While salaries, with the exception of the director level positions, tend to be abit lower in the non-profits or founodations often young people can garner some great skills and responsibilities that they can use to move into higher level positions or transfer to business/industry side. Also the non-profit/foundation sector is a close knit community with their peers, community leaders, etc. so if you can network your way to job #2. Grant writing, proposal writing, development are great post-college entry points and would give you a solid footing. Another easy entry is to work on a political campaign, lots of networking, community leadership interaction, etc. Again, not big bucks if any - more networking/volulnteering. The first job is just that, a first job, and most likely something you would spend 3 years or less working in.</p>