<p>I can’t think very far into the future right now. We’ve had some bumps in the road this year and our focus is limited to the next 5 years. By 2016 both kids should have their college degrees. If we can reach that finish line (hopefully without debt), I’ll have an optimistic answer to AHS’s question. If not, I’ll be rather distressed.</p>
<p>I perform part-time contract work for a place that eats up legal assistants, partly due to poor pay but probably more due to difficult working conditions. The average tenure is well under a year, more likely four months; I have lost track. Most have been college grads and some have been college students. The best ones, including the one with at most one year of CC under her belt, were those interested in law, even if it was in a vastly different area of law. Maybe it was the way their minds worked and how they were willing to use their analytic skills. The UCLA engineering grad, the UC Davis science grad, and the Econ grads were fairly mediocre at best, and the music major with the master’s in library science was a cut above. Tops was the Cal sociology major who is now in law school. </p>
<p>If I were hiring and training (and I’m not, BTW), I would look for grads in sociology, anthropology, political science, ethnic studies, or area studies from schools that required a lot of writing and critical thinking. However, since I have worked with a couple of gals whose circumstances did not permit them to attend college full-time, I would consider giving a chance to a non-college grad with the right references.</p>
<p>Sure, legal assistants do not have the prestige of attorneys – nor do they have the overhead or law school debt – but with experience and possibly moving around to move up, it can pay decently for a grad with a <em>worthless</em> bachelor’s degree.</p>
<p>H was head hunted by Disney, made a six figure salary, had no college degree and barely any college courses. Sometimes, talent is all you need. I know this is the exception.</p>
<p>"Are you as hopeful? "</p>
<p>-No, not at all. Only weeds grow by themselves. Beautiful flowers need real nurturing. Since kids at at school most of their waking hours, I do not trust that kids are in really nurturing environment. We have to do lots on undamage at home. Not all parents are doing this. You have asked for opinion, her is mine. Sorry, it is opposite of yours.</p>
<p>^ “Weeds” and geniuses. They do exist. Just tired of seeing all these absolutes and rigid thinking.</p>
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<p>Had big ears and a tail?</p>
<p>There are a lot of engineers looking for work as well. When S graduated with his BEE, there were many of his classmates who still hadn’t found jobs, some had even stayed an extra year to get a masters & moaned that they now had one more degree, more debt and still no job.
A friend recently was able to emergency hire a guy with 3 masters degree, including one in EE. He is on a 89 day contract with no benefits and she had to fight to be able to pay him $20/hour. The others wanted to pay him less & he is just grateful to have a job! It’s a very tough market out there. D is hoping the contacts she’s been cultivating at her school will help her get something to live on when she graduates in May. Her field has always been notoriously tough–cinema!</p>
<p>"“Weeds” and geniuses. They do exist. "</p>
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<li>I could not rely that my kids are in this category. No, I took care of them after damage at school. More so with the younger, since I did not realize what is going first time around. Others might have Steve Jobs’s and the like, we just have very ordinary genes and live very ordinary lives.
Again, what does it mean “six figure salary”? $101k is a six figure as well as $999. Which one?</li>
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<p>Discussing salary - MD residents on average have about $50k/year. They also have loans in hundreds of thousands after 8 years in UG + Med. School. They still do it and it is getting harder and harder to get into Med. School every year. Money is not everything. MD will have a job. I will work for half or less tha I am making now if I had to and I had to do it few years ago, also traveling to place every day 1 hour one way. You do what you have to do. It is not a point. The point is to have a job.</p>
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<p>Why does it have to be one of the other? Why can’t it be $500k? Or more than $1M if you count it in Euros?</p>
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<p>Sounds like you have the same job.</p>
<p>"Quote:
Again, what does it mean “six figure salary”? $101k is a six figure as well as $999. Which one? </p>
<p>Why does it have to be one of the other? Why can’t it be $500k? Or more than $1M if you count it in Euros? "</p>
<p>-I could not include all figures between $100k and $1M. That is why I used 2 on opposite side with the biggest difference. $101k is not that imressive to brag about, although it is very good, $999k is very impressiv so is $500k and even $250k, but I do not want to list every single one.</p>
<p>I swear, sometimes the reactions on here are so predictable. After I made my post I very shortly regretted that I wrote that we hired five “engineers” because I knew somebody would take it to mean that only engineers can get jobs, or that all engineers have an easy path to employment in this economy. Both propostions are ridiculous. It is tough for everyone, but there are jobs out there. A lot of it depends on luck, location, circumstance and in many cases just plain perseverance. </p>
<p>In addition to engineers we also hire analysts, and have been hiring some. I don’t hire them but I know we have been hiring some. But I would never deny it is a tough time.</p>
<p>We always have recent grads around, and the ones I talk say it is tough, but most everyone they know has found something they can live with (even if it is not ideal) within six months or so. </p>
<p>Really, if you need an Ivy League degree to get a job it is a sign of such huge problems in our economy that we might as well hang it up right now. Because if only 15,000 or so Ivy League grads can find decent work, it won’t matter. They won’t support an entire economy. </p>
<p>Maybe this is true, or will be true in the future, but I hope not. As for me, I’m just your run of the mill state school educated person, but I still get contact from headhunters several times weekly. I don’t know if these jobs are real or not, and I’m not moving. But it seems to have picked up a bit.</p>
<p>Iam actually not American but i wanted to share with you something that President Obama said on one of Oprah’s episodes , he said :
(( it’s as if alot have giving up on the American dream )) or something like that .
And iam sorry to tell you that he is 100% true . And alot of you know that allready.</p>
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<p>There will always be jobs in retail.</p>
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<p>I think we should not make extreme statements. Moderation is key. Right now your statement is analogous to saying that there are Ivies ($999k) and then there are community colleges ($100k). There are many, many good colleges in the middle and many people get retail jobs after getting a Humanities degree from such colleges.</p>
<p>^And he should have never said that. It is not his position to say something like this. Too bad you paid that much attention, but it is your choice.</p>
<p>"I think we should not make extreme statements. Moderation is key. Right now it is sounding like there are Ivies and then there are community colleges. There are many, many good colleges in the middle and many people get retail jobs after getting a Humanities degree from such colleges. "</p>
<p>-The discussion about six figure slary was in connection of not having college education at all.</p>
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<p>Which further proves my point. A high school graduation degree is all that is needed.</p>
<p>We need a strong middle class. No matter how rich you are personally your life is infuenced by how the majority lives. Can’t turn this thread into a political one, but we need to pay attention to how most job holding Amricans are faring. Taxation policies that widen the gap between management and workers and richer people getting unneeded tax breaks have all changed in recent decades. I would rather pay more in taxes- I can afford them- than have today’s general conditions. When public schools and cities have to cut back on services it affects the rich as well as the rest of the population. I want my son surrounded by people from the poorest cleaning staff to the college educated who had good educations from kindergarten onwards. I want good roads, libraries and everything else. My overall standard of living is dependent on the standard of living of the average American. Living in a priveleged bubble or island is more restricting than seeing prosperity no matter where you go around your area or the country. Being relatively poor in a rich land is nicer than being rich in a poor land.</p>