Think it's time to start looking for a new job... Not sure where to start...

[MattW]

I've only had one job my entire life, working part time at a retail store, mostly cashiering, occasionally putting out stock and working on the floor as a sales associate. I'm not a fan of the whole retail environment, and I'm beyond tired of it, after five years of doing it. I've been taking college classes this entire time, as well, but I've bounced around with majors a bit and have yet to actually earn a degree. I started out working towards a computer-related degree, but after a couple years of classes, it just wasn't meshing with me.

 

I'm currently majoring in business, and I'm on track to get an associates degree this year, then I plan to do a degree completion program to get a bachelors. I'm not particularly interested in the "business world", or having a particularly "corporate" kind of job, but I just want to be done with school, and business seems general enough to me to be useful in any kind of career.

 

For a while, now, I've had a difficult time deciding what I actually want to do with my life, career-wise. Recently, I've discovered that I have an interest in audio/ video editing and that sort of thing. At the moment, it's just something I play around with, a "hobby" of sorts, so I have nothing to actually show from it. But I think I'd be happy if I could make a career out of it somehow. There's actually a specific company I "dream" of working for one day, but I'd probably need to get some experience under my belt before they'd even give me a look (not to mention, I'd have to make a pretty big move to work there; I'm in Cleveland, Ohio, and said company operates in Texas...).

 

So, I find myself having no idea how to go about finding a new job in the short term. My mom and dad kinda helped me with the process when I got my current part time job, so I didn't even have much of a hand in that. Not to mention, given how little real world experience I have with anything (combined with the fact that I still don't yet have a degree), I wonder if I could even qualify for anything more worthwhile than retail, at this point? I'm also curious as to what I should be looking at, in terms of working towards a career in "audio/ video" thing. Not even sure how to get a start with that.

[hear_her_roar]

If you're currently going to school, maybe you should look into whether your institute has a career placement office or something of the sort. While they're generally aimed towards placement post-graduation, I know many people who have had luck finding summer jobs, internships, and even basic part-time jobs that fit their educational interests and career goals by talking to people there. If you don't know if your school has one, contacting the student's union would be a good start.Also along the lines of school, bullitain boards are great. Often companies looking for part time employees will be allowed to post job calls at the university.

 

I have generally had luck looking online for most of the jobs I've worked at. Try one of those "job shop" areas, or a classifieds section for your local news outlet, or even straight-up Google "jobs in [x place you live]". Even if you don't find anything worth applying for, it's a good way to get a feel for what kinds of jobs are hiring in your area - and generate some ideas about where you want to work!

 

Asking fellow students, friends, and family about any openings they know of can be helpful as well.

 

Since you say you've had pretty limited experience, focus when talking to potential employers on your hireable points. Yeah, having only one type of job could be cast in a negative light, but when I helped interview people I noticed that younger people who have demonstrated great job loyalty like you have (and that's what a five year position looks like!) can work that in their favour. And remember, the kind of skills you picked up in retail can translate to other forms of work, too. It's all about how you spin your experience!

[ElenaIMHQ]

I work online full time, so I'm only able to give my advice around online business. Are you interested in having online audio/video business? It can be offering services or working other things online using your skill. There are so many things you can do to earn money online with audio/video skill. You can manage your time easier this way, anyway.

[camus154]

Your real problem isn't a degree or a potential career, but your own aimlessness. You've been milling about for 5 years working the same retail job while taking the odd class here or there. And you're still not up to an associate's degree, right?

 

Not to take shots at you, but let's be honest and call it for what it is. You sound extremely unmotivated and not in any particular hurry to do much of anything.

 

My advice is to forget about this recent hobby of yours and stay the course with business. Start taking more credit hours and finish a degree, already. Now, if you can't stand business and really think this audio/video editing could be a career, then the absolute first thing you should do is RESEARCH. Research the degrees and the careers you could have by following this path. Do your homework. Make sure it's worth the time and money. And above all, have realistic expectations about what a career really is. Most people aren't lucky enough to truly enjoy their jobs day in, day out.

[blueidealist24]

While I agree he should pursue business since he's already doing it, there's no reason he can't pursue the audio/video stuff on the side.

[EssexMan]

It's possible to leverage one line of work into another, with patience and luck.

 

For example:

 

You have customer service experience, and an interest in audio/video.

 

So maybe you can start looking for customer service work with AV suppliers or retailers.

 

Then, you could migrate from there into tech support for those AV products.

 

From support, with some further training maybe you could shift into some aspect of product development or technical writing or a host of other things.

 

Just an example, I'm absolutely not advocating the kind of 20-year career road map some people have because I think it's pretty meaningless in today's world. But think of a career as little steps toward something that you find rewarding, each one adding extra experience and extra heft to the resume. Of course, it helps a lot if you can also enjoy the steps on the road for their own sake, as well.

 

And of course, finish your degree too.

[blueidealist24]

It's funny that people now have started commenting on the thread.. when I haven't seen Matt on the site in at least two weeks..

[EssexMan]

Maybe he can't get interested in a thread until he's sure he's interested in it.