What were your entry level jobs?

The Coffee Shop
1

I have a degree in marketing but not too much incentive to use it, I’m not sure I even could. I missed out on internships, but in saying that there isn’t a great focus on marketing grad programs or internships where I live. I only know of a few people who did them.

I feel like now I am only qualified to work in basic customer service roles. What are some good ones that will possibly go somewhere and I’ll gain some useful skills/knowledge? Where did you guys start your careers?

I could go back to uni but right now I think it’d be better to get a job and my life started to some extent.

2

CAD monkey

aka architectural intern. Was that for 12 years. Depending on the company, everyone who is persuing licensure is an intern - some companies let you be designer or job captain without a license. You legally can’t be an Architect till you are licensed.

3

Project Engineer. First project was in Singapore. Second one on the Yucatan peninsula. I lucked out.

4

Although I am no longer in the field of distribution, I started as a warehouse employee and worked up to distribution manager for a couple of different companies. I would say that almost as important as finding the right entry position is finding the right superiors who will guide you and give you opportunities.

5

volunteer camp counselor to assistant director
undergrad to now working on a Ph.D.

Ja, maybe I’ve never really had a real job :wink:

6

First job or first job with a degree?

First job was a a dishwasher at a busy italian restaurant (Spaghetti Factory in Hollywood). i couldn’t eat spaghetti for over a year after working there. motivated me to get my college education.

7

Assuming you mean after you got your degree…I have a marketing degree as well and got a job selling medical supplies for a manufacturer.

8

Pre- degree- Lifeguard.

Post undergrad- With a B.A in History I repped window blinds to retailers like Home Depot, JCP etc. for two years to pay off some undergraduate debt before I went to law school and incurred more. I hated that job as I’ve always sort of held to the Lloyd Dobbler career theory, but it was a means to and end. During that window of time I also worked as a bartender and standardized test scorer.

I’d say get a job, virtually any job, while you figure out what it is that you want to do long term. You’ll have an easier time getting hired for the position you really want if your already gainfully employed. Customer service, outside sales, whatever.

9

After pursuing a degree in photography, all I wanted to do was train and race. I figured if I was ever going to get back into photography, I needed some business sense. So, I first went to work as a credit card debt collector (during the early 90’s recession), then in outbound telephone sales for Omaha Steaks. I was able to work on a business degree too.

10

sadly, it looks to me like the entry-level job has been replaced by the unpaid internship. now most ‘professional’ careers are looking to fill what would be entry-level positions with people who have multiple degrees and real work experience. this is especially a bummer if you’re working in a specialized field that’s concentrated in a few cities - you’ve got to save a lot of pennies to go live in new york or geneva or singapore for a few months while you intern for free. . .

-mike

11

Haha I should start work on my phd then.

Interesting responses. Glad I’m mostly not hearing “Goldman Sachs hired me right after my honours year…” which seems to be mostly the stories you hear. Nobody hears about the guy who sold frozen chickens for two years or something like that.

12

I grew up on a big farm. Enough said.

13

I started out with a degree in finance at a small college. First job out of college was a entry level finance job at a huge fortune 100 firm. Got the job just by mingling with alumni at a gathering hosted by the school. None of my other friends wanted to go, thought it was going to be pointless, even though none of them had jobs lined up. Spoke to one lady and found out she was a big hancho in the company, ended up getting the job with no formal interview. Speaking to her was enough.

In the end it was crappy dead end job with mediocore pay, but was a big learning experience about the corporate world and I learned a lot of good technical skills. Eventually moved on and got a better job with the help of my technical skills and experience, its amazing how little older people know about microsoft excel.

Advice, get a job, any job, you may hate it, it may suck, but if you work at it, with some luck someone will see it and let you move elsewhere in the company. If not, its better then putting ‘unemployement line’ on your resume.

14

Haha I should start work on my phd then.

Interesting responses. Glad I’m mostly not hearing “Goldman Sachs hired me right after my honours year…” which seems to be mostly the stories you hear. Nobody hears about the guy who sold frozen chickens for two years or something like that.

Actually from what I have heard, that isn’t the approach you want. Investment banks take college grads, suck the blood dry working them them 80+ hours a week, then after 2 years unless your one of the few not burned out, lay you off and go after more college grads. Again, just from what I have heard.

15

Some days, I’m pretty sure I’m still IN an entry level job.

After graduate school, I worked as an associate editor for a small publishing house. Actually, out of all my jobs, that was probably one I liked the best–and I had the most responsibility, autonomy, and interesting projects. Sadly, I also had next to no salary (about $8/hr), no vacation, and no sick time. I did get my health care covered at 100%, though. And, eventually, my employer said he couldn’t pay me to work more than 1-2 days a week (but he was still paying my health insurance, “so that’s like getting a raise!”).

From there, I went on to be the writer/communications manager for a professional fundraising firm. Wrote phone scripts, solicitation and fulfillment packages, donor and prospect correspondence, marketing materials, webcopy, etc etc etc.

For the last seven years, I’ve been working for the University as a writer/communications specialist. I do “stuff with words”. Marketing, fundraising, feature articles, newsletters, catalogs, webcopy, etc. Video scripting and storyboarding, social media, etc etc. Basically, if it involves writing…I end up with it.

Truthfully, I should have gone to med school to be some sort of investigative pathologist or medical examiner or gone to vet school. But writing was easy, I was good at it, and it does have its perks from time to time (money and meteoric career rises not being two of them). Sometimes I even like doing it…but usually when it’s something I am interested in personally (so, animals/small animal medicine/ethology/behavior; cognitive science; orthopedics; etc etc). If I could get back to work writing science/medicine/vet med books (or columns, articles, etc.) for a lay audience (either ghostwriting, or under my own name), or maybe back into editing them, at least…that might be interesting.

So there you go…I’m a writer, and it’s totally all the glamour and intrigue you’d think it is. (Side note: I hear “why don’t you write a novel” about 6,457 times a month. Or, “how can you say you’re a writer if you don’t write stories. When will you write a book?” I have no desire to write a novel. Long form fiction is not my strength, nor do I have the attention span for it. I think it’s funny that most people assume if you’re a writer, you write novels–if not professionally, then at least in your free time.)

16

I guess graduate or research assistant was my entry level. Finished PhD, post-doc, assistant professor, now associate professor.

Alternatively my entry level position was loading trucks at UPS as I did that through most of my undergrad and master’s degree years :slight_smile:

17

I went to night school and was able to land an entry-level accountant job at a small local CPA firm. I finished the last 8 months of school while working. I was there until I decided accounting wasn’t for me, well at least public accounting. I had an interview lined up for a Tuesday and on the Monday I found out I was accepted into grad school. Went the grad school route, graduated in 2010 without a job. Worked terrible jobs until I landed a job I thought I would like. Was there a little over a year and moved into my current role.

I can honestly say I have not been at a job for a full calendar year since working at Starbucks in 2006. Get in where you can and you can always ask around in that company if you are not in your ideal role. Find out what interests you and the company will probably have it. I currently love my job and it pisses quite a few people off but whatever to them.

18

First job after college was with a small software company as an assistant. It paid 12/hr and was 20 hours a week back in 2000. I waited tables at night at a brewery. Next I found a job (randomly by chatting someone up at a bar) with a medical company delivering surgical equipment and doing surgical scheduling. Then 9/11 happened and I was laid off so I moved to NY at the end of 2002 and got a job as a temp at a start-up for 15/hr (found on craigslist) and after a few months they switched me to perm. When the start up was acquired a few years later the large fortune 500 kept me on and that is where I currently work as a financial analyst.

19

My first entry level job after earning my degree was with the U.S. Government. I was hired as a Contract Specialist (GS-1102-7), and over 4 years I completed three levels of job related training, an MBA and voila, I was a journeyman Contract Specialist working at the GS-12 level. Not a bad job, it as secure a job as a person can have in the U.S. Government these days. Contract Specialists are even prohibited from applying for early retirement as most organizations are fighting to stay at an even partial workforce. There are 190 or so official positions in my current organization and only 165 people filling those positions, a condition that is pretty much Government wide except in a few smaller organizations.

If you are interested in such a career, check out USAJobs.gov. The 1102 career field is pretty good, with opportunities to work in every state, overseas and matches well with private sector jobs, particularly in companies that do business with the government.

Before I completed my degree, I was in the U.S. military, and after I left the service I was hired by U.S. Customs, so technically I have had 3 entry level jobs now. I hope to get a fourth in a year or so when I start teaching part time at a college/university.

20

I’d say get a job, virtually any job, while you figure out what it is that you want to do long term. You’ll have an easier time getting hired for the position you really want if your already gainfully employed. Customer service, outside sales, whatever.

Agree with this, especially in marketing.
I have a marketing/communications degree and my first job was at the local newspaper in their marketing department. Waited that out till something better came along. From there I worked at the local chamber of commerce, a nonprofit, and now a large manufacturing company.