I graduated from a top university with a liberal arts major (Psychology & English) but also premed. I decided against going to medical school. The only work experience I have is lots of research experience at my university and summer internships at hospitals. I have been unemployed now for 5+ months. It’s frustrating because I am very hard-working, dedicated and would work really hard to be an excellent employee. I have had a few interviews but didn’t get the job. Does anyone have any advice on what I should do? I really, really want to start working. It doesn’t help that I live in NYC which is super expensive.
You could:
*Start looking for jobs in your areas of expertise in places other than New York City
*Expand your search to jobs that you don’t specifically have experience in but that your experience could relate to
*have someone look over your resume
*do some mock interviews with someone who can cast a critical eye on things that might be keeping you from connecting with the interviewer
*Go back to your top university to talk with their Career Center, they may be able to help you
*Your top university may also have an alumni network that you could use to help you find something.
*try to go to grad or med school
Yes, what does your univ offer in terms of Career counseling? I’m guessing that you knew that you weren’t going to med school long before you graduated, so what were your plans after college?
Do you still have some interest in some type of medical field? Have you looked into working as a rep for a Pharm company? If you have the premed prereqs and you’re an English major, you should be an attractive candidate.
I used to read this forum years ago when I was applying to college. I am now 24 years old and graduated from undergrad in 2008. After graduating from UG, I decided I would like to go to med school and completed a post-bac program. My overall GPA is 3.7 and my science GPA is 3.6. I graduated from a top 15 undergrad (according to US news and rankings). I will be taking the MCAT in mid-August. If I apply this year to med school, I will be a late applicant. I may get in somewhere but it might not be my top choice. Should I apply anyway? Or should I wait and apply early next year? My parents say I should apply this year anyway and worst comes to worst, reapply next year if I am not satisfied with where I get in. They are concerned that if I wait another year to apply, I will be 26 when I start med school. Any advice would be appreciated.
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You graduated in 2008?? nearly SEVEN years ago?
I’m guessing that your MCAT didn’t go well? Either way, what have you been doing for the past few years? It appears that you may have been working but lost your job 5 months ago? what were you doing???
Absolutely go back to your college and use its career center and join the alumni association. My alma mater offers free AA memberships for unemployed alumni and free one-on-one career counseling for members. I’ve referred quite a few people to it who have successfully found jobs. Also get on LinkedIn and look up other alumni who are in your preferred field and try to connect with them. I am much older than you, but I was out of work for a while a few years ago and eventually found a recruiter through LinkedIn who led me to the great job I have now. And don’t forget to do the basics like look at Craigslist. My S just got a job that way.
Find a friend living in a cheaper metro area (Dallas/FW?) that has a robust economy?
Apply for entry level jobs at the hospitals you’ve worked in- using your former supervisor as a reference. Hospitals have PR departments, human resource teams (good place for psych majors), event planning departments for their annual gala/meet and greets for the CEO, policy/government affairs departments (the people who track legislation relevant to the hospitals payments/reimbursement strategies, etc.)?
Get a list of classmates working in companies you are interested in and email them- offer to take them to Starbucks so you can hear about what their jobs are like and if there are openings you ought to know about?
Rule of thumb- if you aren’t working 6+ hours a day, 5 days a week on your job search, you aren’t really looking for a job.
what have you done so far and other than a couple of interviews, what has happened? What kinds of jobs were these and do you need to expand your horizons?
Hiring has picked up significantly in the last few months. Have you asked for feedback from everyone you’ve interviewed with to find out why you didn’t get the job? You may be making an easily correctable mistake which you can learn from.
My D graduated a couple of years ago with a liberal arts degree. She ended up moving back home and registering with some temp agencies. She got a very good position through one of them and was offered a permanent position, which she declined. After working 5-6 months she relocated to a different city (bigger, more vibrant, where her bf is in graduate school) and registered with several employment agencies. She worked as a temp for a couple of months while interviewing and was offered a great job within 2 months of relocating. Her experience in the temp positions helped her secure the permanent position.
Apply to various hospitals as a unit clerk/ward clerk/cardiac monitor tech. Or phlebotomy. These are not jobs requiring an education, but train you on the job. With hospital experience, I bet you’d have a chance at these jobs and will put something on your resume, while you keep searching. Meanwhile, it is an income, and in time, benefits.
What happened with your MCAT? Did you get disillusioned with your score and not apply? or did you truly lose interest in med school? You seemed to have put a LOT of effort with the post-bacc and such.
If you still have an interest in med school, then did you consider DO schools? Your MCAT doesn’t have to be as high. If you were a good student, then likely you’d get accepted with an ok MCAT.
Don’t fear DO schools…you’ll still be a doctor, you’ll still be a physician.
