FlanAl wrote:there's hustling with a management degree for management positions and then there is hustling with a humanities degree and no WE. I mean in 07 one of my friends with an anthro degree and mediocre GPA got a fat position at a company in Dubai 05-07 was a completely different animal than now. It seems like people on this board are like "Hey why don't you just be a super rad manager or I-banker for like a year and then go to law school," and I think this comes from people who graduated a few years back when that sort of thing happened way more often. I just don't see that kind of thing happening these days but that could be due to me being in California in a city with about 12% unemployment.
But on the topic of WE at OCI would having a year between UG and Law school being a barista etc. be a negative?
I didn't start applying to jobs until right at the time my B.A. was awarded because I was pretty sure I was going to be headed to graduate school. It only took me a couple months after deciding against getting a PhD to land a job at a law firm (in LA, so don't talk about CA being a bad job market). I eventually left that for a new one. I have a "useless" liberal arts degree and had no prior WE.
Getting a job is just about selling yourself. Other factors matter, but spam convincing, flawless cover letters and interview well, and you can get a job ITE. The problem is getting your foot in the door. Your mad interviewing skills and writing prowess won't get you anywhere if you can't get anyone to read your letter or talk to you in the first place.
Going to top UG helps a great deal in getting people to take you seriously, regardless of what you majored in. Aside from that, hit up alumni and network through friends, parents, and professors to see if you can talk to someone in a field you're interested in. And, of course, shoot out applications like a motherfucker through your school's career portal website (if it has one), Monster, and Craig's List. If you persevere through sending hundreds of applications, someone will eventually bite. Then you gotta follow up on the whole "selling yourself" part. (It was easy to convince people that my degree could be brought to bear on their work in a meaningful way. And it has, because it taught me to think critically, research effectively, write well, and analyze very complicated information. It also gave me a good writing sample.)
As I said, the quality of your UG comes into play. Your GPA will come into play. Your degree will come into play depending on how relevant it is (of course, you can make it relevant once you start talking to employers, but some majors will obviously get more attention when they just simply look at your resume).
It also depends on what sort of job you want to get. I was flirting with the idea of going into consulting, and got interviews at some top firms and a few good boutiques even though I'd never taken a single economics or accounting class, but I decided working at a law firm would be much better considering I was thinking about law school. Yes, you probably won't be able to get a job as an accountant (or even a "bookkeeper") without having studied accounting, but if you want to go the finance route, consulting is a viable option regardless of your degree. You just have to be able to solve problems. Get a case workbook and start studying. (I'm pretty sure UG quality is a big factor in getting consulting firms to take a chance on you though.)
Anyway, money and WE is out there, even for recent college grads. You just have to be flexible and relentless. As I think somebody already mentioned, if you can't get a job right now that doesn't bode well for your ability to succeed in OCI.
