Help with career change
I've been hunting for a job for a while, and having minimal success. I've been through resume workshops, career service workshops, attending job fairs, searching the internet, applying with temporary services, and attampting to use every lead I can get my hands on to attempt to change careers. I believe that part of the problem is with my resume, and how it is viewed by employers. I am college educated (BA in Communications), and have taken some graduate-level courses in English before scheduling and financial difficulties forced me to leave grad school. The problem is, during and after college, I took a number of customer service and sales jobs in order to pay bills and finance my education. I am looking to leave the customer service/sales field, and begin a new career. This creates two major problems in my job search. The first problem is a lack of experience in any other field, which, I believe, is the major reason that the only employers that are interested in my resume are those with similar customer service and sales jobs to offer. The other problem is that, in spite of my experience in customer service and sales, I do not have good people skills, and am largely uncomfortable around people. I am looking for a career where I can use my education, perhaps even continue it, and am not required to deal with the public on a regular basis. Does anybody have any advice?
You've got a degree in Communications but you don't want to work with other people? Do you figure you can get someone to pay you to talk to yourself?
Tess
Hi Silvermoon - With all of the workshops, etc. you've done, what appeals most to you? What have been applying to that has not resulted in anything? Are you getting interviews and not getting offers or are you not even getting interviews? Also, how long have you been in the job search? How much experience do you have? I think that will help us to answer your question better.
You have a degree in communications and have experience in sales and customer service but don't like dealing with people. First you have an education and experience that does not fit your personality. This is a major problem. Second, any transferrable skills/knowledge you may have would be in area that you are not comfortable with even if it were in a different industry. This is major problem #2. Basically you have an education you cant use with some experience that you wont use. You need to stop looking for a job and spend some quality time with yourself. I dont mean this in a negative way. You really need to understand what you are trying to do and look at it realisticly and be brutally honest with yourself. Good Luck
I do not know which area you currently live in but you may consider using your communications degree in the entertainment field via radio. There is limited interaction with people in the radio business when your main objective is to key in the right songs, do some voiceovers, etc. I am speaking of the automated stations not the stations where you actually have to interview people on air or speak to callers and take requests or that type of work. I did a brief (part time) stint in a radio station where I simply made sure that the station was operable and that the tapes were playing in the way they were programmed. And also switched from one 90 minute pre-recorded program to another. The majority of my work hours were spent playing solitaire or reading a book. I had a little egg timer that I made sure would be set to go off 10 minutes before the end of the program so that I would have ample time to que up the next program. The voice overs were fun because they were a bit like acting.......but, without the professional style of writing you get with the metropolitan area stations. (Like they are any better, but still)
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