Jobs for generic college degrees?

Drakeon

Been thinking increasingly about jobs as I near graduation (This spring, so I probably should've been giving this more thought before now even) and I'm not sure how many jobs I'll be able to find that I'm interested in in my major (Criminal Justice). How hard is it to find jobs that might just require a bachelors in general? Where do I start looking?

Improvolone

Any management training program, Enterprise has a good one.

Saddler

You might be able to talk your way into some kind of entry level management position, or office work. It would help if you could learn Excel, Quickbooks, and Access. Personally I am shaky on Excel and pretty ignorant on the other two, but many job postings require knowledge of these programs.

Sales work is readily available to people who can do it. There's anything from relatively classy insurance sales (which requires a few hours of training and a license), to something on the lower end like cable TV, or spam.

The good news is the job market here in California seems to have improved over last year, in my personal experience, in spite of the horrible unemployment rate. Except for the hated public sector, of course.

JebusUD

Drakeon wrote: »

Been thinking increasingly about jobs as I near graduation (This spring, so I probably should've been giving this more thought before now even) and I'm not sure how many jobs I'll be able to find that I'm interested in in my major (Criminal Justice). How hard is it to find jobs that might just require a bachelors in general? Where do I start looking?

Don't you want to apply to the police academy or something?

Astrocookie

JebusUD wrote: »

Drakeon wrote: »

Been thinking increasingly about jobs as I near graduation (This spring, so I probably should've been giving this more thought before now even) and I'm not sure how many jobs I'll be able to find that I'm interested in in my major (Criminal Justice). How hard is it to find jobs that might just require a bachelors in general? Where do I start looking?

Don't you want to apply to the police academy or something?

Yea, a Criminal Justice degree sounds pretty good. It's not exactly something useless like philosophy or asian studies.

Deebaser

I got my start in health insurance. No 18 year old enters college thinking "I wanna major in corporate bullshit". Pay was fantastic, benefits too.

Deebaser

But yeah, if I could echo the above

learn Excel

Dear God do this. A lot of generic office jobs require it. Also, YMMV, but in my experience managers have an irrational hard on for pivot tables. If you know how to make a pivot table and do a VLOOKUP, you're golden, brah!

kaliyama

What is the US news ranking of your school?

Drakeon

Thanks for the advice guys. Sorry I didn't reply back sooner.

Anyways, I was at one time interested in applying to something like a police academy, but not really anymore, hence the creation of this topic.

US News ranking of my school? Uhh, not sure. Probably not too good, it is a state school and local. I just checked, it says Tier 3. Not sure what that means.

Health Insurance huh? Mind if I ask what you ended up doing? Were you selling Insurance? Or more like an office desk job?

Also: Where would I start looking for some of these jobs? Craigslist? I'm a little clueless when it comes to finding jobs like the ones you guys are mentioning if they aren't in classified adds or craigslist.

Kyougu

I was in a very similar position when I graduated college. I'm a Political Science major, who had planned to go to Law School until I realized how expensive it was going to be and the current state of people graduating from Law School. So with that planned shut I had no idea what to do.

The good news is that even now, a college degree counts for something. Furthermore, I found that a lot of skills that a liberal arts education teaches and instills translate very well to the work field.

The bad news? You will most likely have to start at an entry level position. Monster.com, Careerbuilder are your friends. Just start applying for anything that looks interesting. I just mainly looked for office jobs.

Improvolone

Think of a big company. Go to their website. Find the "apply/hiring/work for us" link and click it. EVERY company is doing on-line hiring only.
Hertz, Enterprise, Humana Care, Progressive, McDonalds, Kohls, Home Depot, Lowes...

Deebaser

Drakeon wrote: »

Health Insurance huh? Mind if I ask what you ended up doing? Were you selling Insurance? Or more like an office desk job?

Fresh out of school armed with my Political Science BA I worked for the "No!" Department of a regional health insurance carrier. It was about as glamorous and soul crushing as you might imagine. Pay and benefits rocked though. Also, I was able to build my MSOffice skillset and industry knowledge and leverage both to getting a much better job at a competitor.

Drakeon

Alright, when should I start applying everywhere? I know with state jobs that I've been looking at, I can start applying months before I graduate due to the hiring process taking a really lengthy time. Should I only start applying after I graduate? Or around a month before?

Hachface

If it's not too late, getting an internship can give you a significant foothold in pretty much any non-scientific field you can think of.

Liberal arts degrees are unfairly derided, in my opinion. They won't put you on an obvious path like an engineering degree would, but if you are creative and persistent and willing to get paid shit at the beginning you can make a career for yourself.

Edit: Have you considered social work? You level of debt might preclude that kind of thing, but I can imagine you can leverage a criminal justice degree into that field fairly easily.

4U2NV

What is a good way to learn Microsoft Excel?

Improvolone

4U2NV wrote: »

What is a good way to learn Microsoft Excel?

Book+software
OpenOffice is a close alternative but just not the same.

LaPuzza

Insurance companies are often open to hiring people with college degrees in the "other" catagory. I know a few Psych majors that have gotten jobs as adjustors, for example.

4U2NV

Improvolone wrote: »

4U2NV wrote: »

What is a good way to learn Microsoft Excel?

Book+software
OpenOffice is a close alternative but just not the same.

I've been looking on Amazon, but I really don't know what book to get. I've been reading the reviews, but I need one that will even teach the absolute basics. I really don't have any experience using it and I am sure my new job will have me using Excel.

Anyone have any recommendations?

Malkor

Being one person in an office able to use Excel well if pretty much a good way to become one of the most sought after people in said office.

Good things come of that.

Drakeon

Hachface wrote: »

If it's not too late, getting an internship can give you a significant foothold in pretty much any non-scientific field you can think of.

Liberal arts degrees are unfairly derided, in my opinion. They won't put you on an obvious path like an engineering degree would, but if you are creative and persistent and willing to get paid shit at the beginning you can make a career for yourself.

Edit: Have you considered social work? You level of debt might preclude that kind of thing, but I can imagine you can leverage a criminal justice degree into that field fairly easily.

I have 0 debt, since its a state school and my parents paid for all my schooling. Haven't really looked into social work, but that might be something to look into.

I do have an internship right now actually, at the California Department of Justice, which has helped open me up to lots of available job types, although I have to wait for them to open in most cases.