So you are graduating college/university

[Heil]

I mean, yea, it is a bit late in the season, but what have people been looking to get into since finishing schools?

I just graduated in May with a BS in International Business concentrated in Finance and have been trying to land a job in the finance field. 400 applications later, still no real offers, and no, selling retirement plans/life insurance are not jerb offers.

How about the rest of you?

[bldavis]

well i am actually going onto work on my bachelors in civil engineering so....
i know what i am doing for the next 3-4 yrs

[Fivelives]

You might want a degree in linguistics, modern languages, or at least a second language in a country you'd like to work in/with to go along with your international business license. At the very least, are you bilingual?

Since you're hopefully going to be working with an international company, after all.

[Dazhbog]

You might want a degree in linguistics, modern languages, or at least a second language in a country you'd like to work in/with to go along with your international business license. At the very least, are you bilingual?

Since you're hopefully going to be working with an international company, after all.

Fivelives makes a really good point here. Hell, being bi- or multilingual is incredibly useful in any industry; a bunch of folks (including myself) just applied for some job postings at Turbine here in Boston, and the girl who got it did so because she can speak fluent German, and they have her working on localization stuff.

Currently about a quarter of the way through my decision to re-educate myself and switch career paths. The old BS is in electrical engineering, then I spent three years as a theatrical electrician, and now I'm going back to school and focusing on getting into CG art and environmental design for games. Have a call-back interview sometime next week!

[Heil]

Oh trust me, I did the German language minor. However, German =/= Mandarin on the finance language demand continuum. I guess the big thing that is blowing my mind is that despite being a college grad w/ a decent GPA (3.64), a veteran and published, I continually open my mail box to 'we are currently pursuing other candidates. <3 a robot'

If only I had a crystal ball back in 2007, I would have totally just double majored in accounting and finance. Oh well, I guess the buck shot continues to fly from my keyboard on to various HR section domains, lot's of room left on that Fortune 500 to scroll through.

[Brutalicus]

I got really, really, astronomically lucky this year. In my junior year I looked at aerospace companies, nuclear power, gas-turbine companies; heck, I ended up doing my senior design project for a polymer company. I did a lot of applying and I ended up getting a job with a contractor who designs reactors for these guys. My degree is in Mechanical Engineering from Penn State, and I am thinking about swallowing my pride to get a Masters at The University of Pittsburgh (this hypothetical diploma would go in my bathroom, of course).

Any engineers with Masters degrees out there? Pros/cons of taking courses after work?

p.s. Heil, I hear you on the crystal ball. If I knew I'd be dealing with neutrons and shit, I'd have gone for the Nuclear/Mechanical double major (you can do that without much extra work at Penn State, but I'm no seventh son of a seventh son here).

[Fivelives]

China is the only country with a thriving economy right now, so of course companies are scrambling to find grads that are bilingual in Mandarin. Try Rosetta Stone, or taking a Chinese language course at your school?

Just because you have a degree doesn't mean you can't go back and get more classes under your belt.

Brutalicus, nice Alvin the Maker reference.

[Cogglamp]

I think you're over-estimating the robust Chinese economy. They're showing signs of strain as well as everyone else in the vaunted BRIC category. That house of cards is going to fall one day or another.

[Hrobertgar]

I think you're over-estimating the robust Chinese economy. They're showing signs of strain as well as everyone else in the vaunted BRIC category. That house of cards is going to fall one day or another.

I agree. I visited China last summer, and they havesome issue that are not really publlicized outside teh country.

They have a housing bubble building. In one city I saw over a dozen 20 story appartment buildings - all completely empty after being baught up by speculators for inflated prices.

They have large numbers of people in various industries going on strike to protest government actions.

They have a rising cost of labor issue as more of their population is getting invovled in various industries.

They have demographic consequences of the one child policy.

The cost of their promises to their population are an order magnitude more porblematic than our social security.

China has major structural issues to address and will have a major correction coming and probably fairly soon. Everything looks like roses now, but it always does before the bubbles burst.

[Fivelives]

That doesn't mean that their economy isn't strong right now. That's why our businesses are looking for people that can facilitate US-China business relationships.

[bldavis]

That doesn't mean that their economy isn't strong right now. That's why our businesses are looking for people that can facilitate US-China business relationships.

that and until our economy gets out of the toilet, they are the world power

and at this rate....i might as well enroll my kids in mandarin courses

[Cogglamp]

If people are looking to get "in" with China now and they haven't already, they are going to be holding the rope when their asset bubble bursts.

Boston Consulting put out a report on building factories in China and they came to the conclusion that by the time you get it built and up and running (2013) that the inflection point of the cost savings by doing it in China will have disappeared. You'd be better off staying in the US.

Add to the fact that our markets still aren't stabilized (Yay for a 520 point drop today!), the clamor of jobless claims isn't going anywhere and we're heading into an election year. I wouldn't be surprised if we start to see a bit of "protectionism" shortly by our politicians if things don't get better relatively soon. I'm not arguing that it's rational to do that, but it's pretty spooky out there right now and there aren't any signs of it abating.