I graduated with a degree in...; is it employable now?

[woman-king]

I was.  Got bored.  Came here.

Not everyone is like you.

I would be surprised if there are any Australians here just for the money.
I gave up a job paying twice as much to come here for family/adventure reasons.

I have met one who was unemployed at the time so needed a job, but I still think adventure was his primary motivation.

 I have a friend from Ireland and that country is an ecconomic basket case and money still isn't the reason he is here.

Even the few Americans I know aren't here for the money.
I know that my experience is skewed because I am not going to be hanging arround with fresh grads or people that are just here for the money.

Edit: I can actually think of two Kiwis I know who's main motivation is money but it's not the overwhelming reason (i.e. if they weren't happy the money wouldn't be enough to keep them).

I understand some people have to do what they do to survive but I really don't want t spend time arround people that are unhappy here but stay for the money.

I've only met one Australian my entire time here, and a couple of Kiwis.  Lots of people from the West Coast of the Canada and the US, lots of people from the UK and quite a few South Africans.

We can't say everyone's motivation is the same, but the fact that there are so few Australians here and the fact that Australia's economy is the best in the Anglosphere right now is probably not coincidental.  If good opportunities are available close to home the majority of people will step into that without looking at other options unless, like you said, they're motivated by adventure or cultural interests.

[#basedcowboyshirt]

Yeah, I definitely came here for the money coupled with the possiblity of living abroad and travelling.

Unfortunately, having a degree in Philosophy and English does less than nothing to distinguish me from the majority of other employment hopefuls in Canada. Employers look at degrees in Humanities, with a special bias reserved for Philosophy, as being completely worthless in most business settings. Which is unfortunate.

I am completely unemployable in professional settings in Canada. I do love working in kitchens and in construction, but those are way too demanding for something I want to make a career of.

[unknownx]

Major: Business Economics w/ Accounting


- Currently working as an Accounting Clerk for a local CPA firm. Taking the CPA exam next year. The sky's the limit after I get my license.

[james8807]

i graduated in accounting, great uni great grade, came to korea for 2 years in a public school, now studying a masters in east asian buisness and korean. will be back lookin for a uni job in no time :)

[bobrocket]

Just thought I'd bump up this old thread. :D

[transient28]

I have a degree in American studies. I am (was?) working on a MLIS, but having serious doubts.  BA is not employable, the MLIS is employable. I have a decent job (scored before the economy tanked) but I'm bored stiff and not sure I want to be a librarian. I always kinda-sorta-maybe wanted to be a teacher, so I'm giving this a try.  Hopefully teaching is more fulfilling than librarianship.  :-X

[alyssa.callahan]

Asian Studies! :D

And no, it's not extremely employable... not bad, but not great.

[chasmmi]

BA Korean :)

Well... we shall see...

[UK1983]

I graduated in Drama, theatre and television studies.  Was a tough triple major.

Used to be worth something and got me my foot in the door in jobs such as sales and govt positions at a higher level than I could've walked in to them without it.

But BE WARNED - When I went back to UK from Korea after 15 months I had to do temp jobs for 8 months before anyone would hire me for a full time permanant position.

The people from the temp agency I worked for expained to me that I was essentially a flight risk and that employers would be wary that after a few months I'd up and get the travel bug again.  (I did and am back here....)

Now it's been 5 years since I've worked in my home country and when I go back there I know for a fact I will have to temp again until I've spent enough time in country that employers believe I'm ready to settle and am worth the investment that hiring and training costs them.

  Dont believe what the temp agencies tell you though - it's in their interest to keep you temping. One told me that 5 years of teaching would stop me from getting an office job because my experience of working in an office was too long ago. Bollocks if you ask me. Not everyone recruiting is so narrow-minded.

You're quite right though in that I wouldn't expect to walk into a great job after you get back from Korea. I think that if I decide to stay in England, what I am going to have to do is decide on a proper career and possibly go to do a master's in it etc. Temping seems to be one of the only ways is you have no clear path you want to go down (and how many waygooks could you say this about!!?!?!).  Once you figure out what you want to do then you stil need a bit of luck, but you can start to build up around it. By this I mean it looks like a lot of people are volunteering and etc. in order to gain experience.

An English degree is just too vague - TEFL is one of the only careers you could say relates directly to it!

 It wouldn't surprise me if we start seeing more and more expats settling down in Asian countries. I'll tell you what, if I thought there was much chance of having a career that wasn't just teaching English then I'd certainly think about a permanent move to Japn, Korea, China etc.

   

[UK1983]

The vast majority of people did Humanities here then - lack of direction?

[Bratan]

Fine Art, specialising in portrait painting, 'minoring' in History of Art.

Wouldn't be true to say I'm doing TEFL because of a lack of direction, but it would be fair to say my options otherwise are somewhat limited.

[releitse88]

Graduated with an honour's degree in Anthropology with a specialization in International Studies.

Unless I get my PhD and become a professor, teaching English overseas will likely be the only stable employment I can get (especially considering the state of the economy back at home)

[Gansie]

I graduated with a BSc in Genetical Engineering. At my univeristy we had more than 3 majors per degree, so I can always pursue further degrees in either Microbiology, Biotechnology, Genetics or Biochemistry (and I could even wangle it and get into Physiology). However, with just a bachelors you'll be stuck cleaning the lab after the "real" scientists are finished. That's one of the reasons I'm in Korea, to fund my future studies.

Oh, and I'm also a qualified high school science teacher back home (something I can always fall back on when I feel like it - and so far teaching is great fun!  ).

As for the job market back in SA.... well, I'll see when the time comes. The government always bemoans the fact that there are so few scientists in the country and that too many are leaving for greener pastures, but it's still difficult to get a job as a scientist.

[rahfh]

BA Psych, Philosophy honours.

One day when I'm big I WILL get my PHD, but until then, traveling around the world teaching English sounds good.

[PrinceHal]

I haven't actually graduated yet, but I'm just one semester away. I will have a major in English teaching and a minor in literacy education.

[VanIslander]

I never expected my Bachelor's degree to become a ticket to any particular profession but instead it was to be a foundation of literacy, comprehension, expression and research skills that would serve me well on whatever career paths I would take. In other words, I have a Humanities degree in Philosophy that has indirectly helped me remain steadily and happily employed in Journalism and Education for a decade and a half.

I expect most trained nurses, accountants and lawyers are actually employed in their fields of specialized education rather than teaching English in a foreign country. But there are always exceptions to expectations.

[VanIslander]

Practical career-oriented degrees that would keep me away from overseas contract work:

B.Comm (Hospital and Health Care Administration),
B.C.Sc. (Programming)
B.Eng. (Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Petroleum Engineering)
B.Sc. (Forestry)

If anyone with one of those degrees taught English overseas I'd ask, what's wrong with you? Did you get burned out or what?

[JF512]

Bachelor's of Education: Adolescent-Young Adult (Grade 7-12) and Bachelor's of Arts (Integrated Language Arts).

[tesoljon]

BS in Business Administration (biology minor)
MEd in Higher Education***
MA in ESL

I *plan* on eventually returning to the US. I came to get some additional overseas ESL experience to make myself more marketable back home. However, I did get into ESL because the university administration jobs I wanted were hard to come by.

***The full version is a tongue twister and sounds mighty pretentious: Master's of Education in Higher Education with a concentration in Student Administration.

The vast majority of people did Humanities here then - lack of direction?

I think the results are skewed because social sciences and linguistics got lumped in there with humanities and the arts. Those are some pretty broad categories to be lumped together.

[anixela]

I said Computer Science because that's the one that relates the closest to my degree, but actually I have a degree in Fine Arts with a Specialisation in Computation Arts. So, basically, I did crazy, snobby artsy fartsy stuff with programming languages. I did not like one minute of it. I much preferred my Art History electives.