What Was Your First Job After College?
June 13, 2009 by Miranda Marquit
Filed under Finance
My brother just graduated from college, but he’s not looking for a new job. Instead, he’s working at the furniture store he’s been at for the past couple of years. It’s a little difficult right now for college grads (which is why so many of them are going to grad school, or taking on internships). The unemployment rate is at a more than 25 year high of 9.4%.
However, it’s not just the economy that can make a job search difficult. My first job after I got my B.A. was as a cashier in a farm and ranch store. Not a lot of jobs for communications majors in the small Southern Utah town where I completed my undergraduate studies. My husband worked as a telemarketer.
But we’re not the only ones with jobs right out of college that didn’t pay well or have anything to do with our majors. Some of today’s most successful people had surprising jobs right after college. CNN Money offers this information on first jobs right out of college:
- Carol Bartz, CEO of Yahoo: Sold banking software
- Sumner Redstone, CEO of Viacom: Spy (okay, this is a cool job to have anytime)
- Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft: Dessert maker
- Jeff Zucker, CEO of NBC: Researcher at NBC (great example of moving up through the ranks)
- Tim Armstrong, CEO of AOL: Teacher
What was your first job out of college?
Image source: Wikipedia
I was lucky enough to get a job about three years ago that was exactly in line with my major. However, I’m thankful that I held about 6 or 7 jobs before that (through high school and college), which I felt prepared me pretty well for what to expect in a professional workplace.
They included everything from grocery store clerk to my favorite – beach pass ticket checker. :)
Software engineer for a behemoth company, right up my alley for an analytical person.
Great jobs! Teach you to work, yet at the same time provide you with an appreciation for an education and skills development for jobs that you might like better. Although beach pass ticket checker might be fun…