Advice for DD

[Corporateburnout]

After getting her BA in 2005 DD worked in higher ed administration for a private university. Last year she returned to school full time and got an accelerated Masters degree in Marketing communication. She is due to officially graduate at the end of August after completing an internship. She has been actively looking for a job in the Marketing field for a couple of months but the only offer she got was for contract work at a major university admission's office. She currently supports herself (in a very expensive city) waiting on tables as she is completing her school work.

Her dilemmas are:
1. Going back to work for an industry that pays low wages.
2. Justifying the cost of her masters degree and repaying the loans that will be due soon (35K total)
3. Part time work with no benefits.
4. The negative effect on her desired career path.
5. Lack of time needed to conduct an effective job search

I advised her to take the job and wait out the recession as most employers would understand her reasons for taking a part time work outside her intended field of study. What do you think?

 

[W2R]

Did she ask for your advice? I would think that a young woman in her position would have a better idea of what her best options were than you or I might have.

 

[Corporateburnout]

I offered my advice because I noticed her increased level of anxiety about the lack of job offers.

Furthermore I don't believe that there is anything wrong with advising one's own daughter.

 

[BunsGettingFirm]

I'm assuming that her intended field is marketing, not higher education. In that case, I would advise going into that field now. Offer to intern, beg, or whatever, but get the experience. The experience and minimum pay will pay off later when she goes for the higher level job.

I was in a comparable situation two years. After graduating with an MBA and working on my CFA, I mistakenly took a job in a computer company thinking that I at least will practice my finance skills because that's what the job title is. Too bad the job doesn't actually exist because I didn't realize that Web 2.0 meant the revenue is two dollars and zero cents, so instead I'm back doing technology work. It's interesting, but my MBA and CFA have been completely wasted. For my current job, my M.Sc. in computer engineering and B.Sc. in electrical engineer are more than enough. Now if I want to go find even a mid-level corporate finance job, I'm at a huge disadvantage. Be careful what you get into because it will skew your subsequent jobs.

I'm still hopeful that someday I will get to combine my finance, computer, and management skills into a great job, but so far, I feel as if I'm wasting my time about 2 days out of every week.

 

[Moemg]

If it was my daughter and in fact my daughter was in a pretty similar situation .I would advise her to get a part time job that would pay the basics while she accelerated her job search including other areas and to get catastrophic coverage medical ( at her age it should be pretty reasonable ). If need be she could get a few part time jobs . My daughter was always juggling several jobs while waiting for a good paying full time job . She taught adult classes. She worked for goggle ( got the job at the goggle site online ). She designed web sites . She worked at the Y after school program and yes ,she waited tables . Like your daughter she had a great job at Boston University that she gave up to move to upstate New York with her husband . She now has a growing business and is a college professor so luckily they do land on their feet . It is just harder than it was when I graduated .

 

[Corporateburnout]

If it was my daughter and in fact my daughter was in a pretty similar situation .I would advise her to get a part time job that would pay the basics while she accelerated her job search including other areas and to get catastrophic coverage medical ( at her age it should be pretty reasonable ). If need be she could get a few part time jobs . My daughter was always juggling several jobs while waiting for a good paying full time job . She taught adult classes. She worked for goggle ( got the job at the goggle site online ). She designed web sites . She worked at the Y after school program and yes ,she waited tables . Like your daughter she had a great job at Boston University that she gave up to move to upstate New York with her husband . She now has a growing business and is a college professor so luckily they do land on their feet . It is just harder than it was when I graduated .

From a health insurance standpoint she will be eligible for the subsidized Massachusetts mandatory health coverage at a very reasonable cost of about $200 a month.

BTW the part time contract job she is offered is at Boston University.

 

[Moemg]

From a health insurance standpoint she will be eligible for the subsidized Massachusetts mandatory health coverage at a very reasonable cost of about $200 a month.

BTW the part time contract job she is offered is at Boston University.

My daughter started at Boston University in a lowly position and moved up the ladder pretty quickly . They also paid for her master's degree while she worked there and as an added bonus that is where she meet her future husband . It was a really nice place to work . She started in the marketing department but then moved into the education department .