It sucks. I graduated about a month ago with a double major in marketing and management and it's still a no-go for me. I do have limited experience with a summer job and a freelance business I've operated, but the only thing that seems to be available in town at the moment is commission-only insurance sales... yay.

I'm really not that picky about my first job at all. The only thing I ask is that they treat me decently and that the income is enough to live off of. I made a decision to live with my parents again for a year or two so that the majority of my income could go directly to student loans, which have added up for me.

So here's my question: has anyone ever worked for one of these commission-based insurance sales companies? My one stipulation is that I have some sort of base salary, but apparently those options (at least in town) are pretty slim at the moment. Also, just out of curiosity, what was YOUR first job out of college and did you have much experience before with part time jobs and what not?

Well, two incredible jobs opened up on craigslist today that I am totally qualified for. I am working on my cover letter as I type this. One is an account management position at a behavior health center (which is great because I have a good health management background with the courses I've taken), and the other a marketing analyst position at a financial firm. If I score interviews.. oh man. One thing at a time, Bike, one thing at a time.

This has definitely given me more hope now seeing these two open. I decided that I'm going to try to withhold jobs like the commissioned insurance sales until I've absolutely exhausted my options. Wish me luck guys!

Job market sucks everywhere. I'm in Canada and the only jobs available right now are crap sales positions. I'm in a similar position Bike, just graduated, double major, speak 3 languages and have international as well as local work experience.

I don't care what I get as I plan on doing my masters in Fall '11 (I want time to apply for scholarships). I was looking for a decent summer job to pass the time but after seeing the prospects have decided to just say fuck it and go on vacation. Most of the government jobs I want don't start taking applications until September anyway.

Basically like Bike I'm taking it easy until shit straightens out. I've kept my options open and can do the following.

1. Do an LSAT and apply for Law School (Nixed this idea because lawyers are greasy human beings and I never want to 'sell out' my idealism as so many of the boomers did. 'Sides finishing law school with 100k in debt and joining a market over-saturated with lawyers isn't probably a hot idea.

2. Take it easy for all the sinners out there and wait until the Government jobs I would like to apply for open up.

3. Work in said job or anything relatively decent until I start my masters in Fall 2011.

4. While I'm on vacation look for job in Greece. (Again not a hot idea but hey I speak perfect English and can navigate my way through the chaos)

5. Pron

TLDR: Since this is Bikes thread and I don't want to hijack it my advice to you is this. Do not get discouraged; many undergrads get disgruntled and settle for anything they can find job-wise which leads to them being miserable. You have an education, be proud of it and don't get discouraged you'll find what you're looking for eventually.

My degree is very specific so I had job offers before I finished grad school so I can't say anything from personal job hunting experience BUT I watched Giller experience something similar. He graduated with an International Business degree with minors in Economics and Finance. He ended up taking a mostly commission based job and quit within a month because it sucked and they gave him the shittiest possible area. As he continued to look for a job that he wanted and used his degree he took a job with the place he worked all through high school and college. It brought in a paycheck and allowed him time to job hunt. It's not what he thought would happen after graduating college but it was what he had to do and honestly that is what most new grads have to do. A new grad's reality is different from their expectations upon graduation. We can't all be CEO's or Presidents of companies right after graduation! :) I'm not saying that's what you or Giller expected but you get the point I'm making. New grads are in a catch-22 because most companies want experience and as a new grad that's hard to have.

My recommendation is that you don't take the commission based job. Find something if you need to that brings in a consistent paycheck while you look for the job you want (hopefully the ones you just found!). You'll end up finding something! Good luck!

Thanks for the suggestions, virus. Unfortunately my student loans mature in October, so I need to make sure I have a job to take care of them. Traveling would be an incredible thing to do, but I need money to travel which is almost entirely the issue. Service corps like you mentioned are options I have never thought about before, though.

Only on Federal student loans. Also, if you have consolidated any of your federal loans with private then you cant get deferral with federal programs like Peace corp.


On a side note, Bike. If you are willing to relocate, My company has a Sales Manager Trainee position open. Their office is in a suburb of St. Louis. I typically see a sales manager trainee in that position for 10 months to a year and a half before they are promoted to managing one of the national sales districts. They frequently hire new grads. Dunno if thats the kinda thing you were looking to get into, but thought I would bring it up. Once you are a sales manager I believe that you can live in the area that you are assigned...IE SW district (texas, ok, NM, az) , South (Ga, al, louis, flo), ETC.
Here is the link if you are interested. Just go to the Jobs search, select the missouri location. and search.

Best of luck getting one of those spots...

I was about to simply write "College? What's that?", then list the success I've been lucky to find with essentially no college, but then you'd all hunt me down with pitchforks.