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TheGraduates0705[i++] = new Array("","Introduction","","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/070501/070501_graduation_hmed_4p.htease.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "left", "", "Getty Images stock", "99", "148", "#000000", "", "", "", "");
TheGraduates0705[i-1].body = "This year, MSNBC.com asked five undergraduate seniors to tell us what it’s been like as they make the transition from the world of professors and finals to the land of bosses and, hopefully, paychecks. In the first part of an occasional series, we'll look at the trials and triumphs of gaining that first post-college entry into the working world.
Some of the students we spoke with were struggling with whether they truly were ready to get behind a desk and get on with their careers or still needed some time to sow those proverbial oats. Others were anxious to get into real jobs in the real world but unsure exactly how to get there.
For everyone we talked to, the job search process forced them to evaluate not just what they wanted to do for a living, but also who they wanted to be – where they wanted to live, who they wanted to be close to and what kind of an impact they wanted to make on the world.
As graduation day approached, everyone also shared another common goal — finding an option that wouldn’t leave them feeling adrift once they accepted their diplomas.
“I would much prefer to have a job or something in mind, ... because I think I’d just be incredibly anxious about it,” said Kathryn Sherman, a senior at Middlebury College in Vermont.
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TheGraduates0705[i-1].body = "
Age: 22
Education: Indiana University
Major: Tourism management
After working at Indiana University’s career development center for three years, Dena Roberts knows well the job opportunities available to her. She’s just had trouble deciding which one she wants to pursue.
A senior at Indiana University majoring in tourism management, Roberts already has been offered what she calls an “alternative job” — a stint at a U.S. military ski resort in Germany.
On the plus side, the job would let her travel, give her plenty of on-the-job experience and allow her to do something besides sit at a desk all day.
On the minus side, the first three months would be spent doing “things that aren’t very glamorous,” such as busing tables, before she would have the opportunity to apply for more advanced positions.
The job also would take her far away from family and friends. The possibility of being overseas is causing a bit of consternation for her father, who, she says with a laugh, would be happier if she would stay home for “the rest of my life.”
Roberts thinks it might be better for her career to pursue a job with an event-planning firm, although she worries about whether she should commit right now to a job that will likely have her sitting in an office 40 hours a week.
She’s not too concerned with how much an entry-level job will pay, “just as long as I can live off of it.”
A bigger concern is location. She’d like a job in a big city, even if it is more expensive. She’d also like to be in a place where she could get by without a car, so she can do her part to fight global warming.
Roberts said that although she knows benefits are important they are not a priority to her now.
“Right now, it’s more important for me just to find a job (so) that I can support myself and not have to depend on my parents,” she said.
After interviewing in the spring for one of those more traditional office jobs, Roberts became even more convinced that there might not be any harm in taking a year to go to Germany and then starting down a more conventional career path.
While she hasn’t officially signed the papers, she said she is seriously leaning toward heading overseas after finishing a summer internship with a meeting planning company.
Roberts reasons that when she gets back, she’ll still be able to find an entry-level job with an event-planning group or some other company in her field.
“I know that they’re going to be there, the same kinds of jobs,” she said.
In the meantime, she’ll have gotten some real-life experience, and had the opportunity to travel.
“I want to be outside and explore,” she said.
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TheGraduates0705[i-1].body = "
Age: 21
Education: Middlebury College
Major: Spanish literature and culture
Growing up in New York City and attending public schools there, Carlos Beato knows well what a kid can face while trying to navigate both the city and the school system.
“I know how challenging it can be,” he said.
Beato is by all counts a success story. After graduating from high school, he won a coveted full scholarship to Middlebury College, a private college in Vermont.
Now that he’s graduating from college, he’d like to work with kids, preferably those who are also growing up in New York City. The problem is, he hasn’t been able to find a job — yet — that will let him do that
He’s been to some conferences, visited his college’s career center, posted his resume on what feels like a million career-oriented Web sites, and done a few phone interviews. But so far, nothing has panned out.
Beato has experience, including internships working with young people on issues such as English as a second language (Beato speaks English and Spanish fluently).
The one thing he doesn’t have is a teacher’s education minor -- he gave up pursuing that in favor of a chance to spend a year abroad in Madrid.
Still, he hopes to go to graduate school eventually, perhaps to pursue a teaching degree or a graduate degree in Spanish literature.
The desire to go to graduate school is one reason Beato also has recently started giving serious consideration to a two-year stint as an admissions counselor at Middlebury. The job, which he is in the process of interviewing for, would give him the comfort of staying in the college town and perhaps starting some graduate coursework in Spanish literature.
The job also would allow him to work with high school students, since he would visit schools and talk with prospective students. Seeing the college admissions process firsthand would be valuable experience if Beato pursued another goal of going into school administration.
“I would know how to prepare my students in the future,” he said.
Beato said he also is continuing to look at possible jobs in New Yor. But if he’s going to live in the city, Beato knows he’ll need a job that will pay him enough to live on and offer health benefits.
“It’s important that I’ll be making enough money that I’ll be able to afford rent,” he said.
Without that kind of job available, the prospect of two more years in Vermont, where he could certainly save some money, sounds attractive.
“I’m still, like, so undecided,” he said.
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TheGraduates0705[i-1].body = "
Age: 22
Education: Lewis & Clark College
Major: Environmental studies
With graduation looming, Briita Orwick has been struggling with a big decision: Should she go for a job that would put her close to family and friends, or head out to a rural outpost that might give her more experience in her chosen field?
Orwick, an environmental studies major at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Ore., has applied for several jobs where she could do field research, including one in remote northern Alaska. The jobs are temporary and competition is stiff, but the work would give her the type of experience she needs if, as planned, she goes on to graduate school with the goal of eventually leading her own research.
Still, the nature of those jobs means she’d probably need to move around a lot, to follow seasonal jobs in her field, and she’s not sure she wants to commit to such a nomadic existence.
“It’s a hectic lifestyle, and I don’t see myself wanting to do that for all that long,” she said.
Instead, Orwick is tempted to stick around Portland, perhaps getting a job at an environmental nonprofit. That would keep her closer to friends from college, and not too far from high school friends and family who also live in the state.
That’s a precious opportunity, since many of her friends will likely move on for jobs and other reasons in the near future.
“I feel like there’s not much time left while people really consider Portland their base,” she said.
There’s a downside to that plan, though. Because the types of nonprofit jobs she’s looking at pay little or nothing, Orwick would likely also have to nab at least one part-time job, in addition to the work in her field, to make ends meet.
Orwick feels lucky that she has a couple mentors who can help guide her through the application process. Her parents also have been supportive -- although not to the point of actually agreeing to support her once she finishes school. Orwick sees their point.
“I need to be cut off, and I’m definitely ready for that, too,” she said. “I’d really like to be someone who can just take care of myself in that way.”
As she studied for her last final, Orwick was still waiting to hear about the potential job in Alaska, and had decided to stay in Portland if that didn’t work out. Although she knows that work will carry its own set of responsibilities, she also was looking forward to not having to study late into the night.
“I can’t wait to have evenings (when) I don’t have to work,” she said.";
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TheGraduates0705[i-1].body = "
Age: 22
Education: Middlebury College
Major: American Literature
Kathryn Sherman feels like she finally knows what field she wants to be in. The difficulty is figuring out how best to get there.
Sherman, 22, also wasn’t sure what she wanted to study when she arrived at Middlebury College’s campus nearly four years ago. She eventually chose to major in American literature and figured she’d use that background combined with a love of reading to seek a job in publishing after graduation.
Her plans began to change when Sherman realized a long-held dream of traveling to Senegal, finishing her five-month trip with a project looking at the devastating waste problems affecting the capital of Dakar.
At first, Sherman said she still figured she’d go into publishing after graduating. Then, increasingly, she began to wonder if she might be able to find another job that more directly related to her growing interest in the problems facing Africa.
She considered journalism, but didn’t feel like she had enough experience. Then, she thought maybe she could train as a nurse, with the goal of returning to Senegal or elsewhere in Africa. But after talking it over with her mother, a social worker, she wondered whether her personality would be right for a job that would involve dealing with people’s serious problems on a daily basis.
At one point, Sherman interviewed for a two-year position with a study-abroad program in Senegal, and that’s when she had another realization — although she’s interested in returning to Africa one day, she doesn’t feel prepared to make a long-term commitment to moving back there right now.
“I’d like to stay in the U.S. and then hopefully go back abroad,” she said.
Sherman also thought she’d like to go back to graduate school eventually, but she wanted to get some work experience first.
By early spring, Sherman had been looking at jobs in public health and other fields, but was growing frustrated by the fact that still wasn’t sure where to look for jobs, or even what an appropriate entry-level job would be.
Her parents and other adults had been helpful, she said, but they are in different fields so they couldn’t give her much advice specific to her job search. She also was frustrated that she either hadn’t heard back from, or hadn’t gotten, various internships or other positions she’d applied for.
So, Sherman was relieved when finally she received good news: offers for not one but two internships, both of which she thinks will help prepare her for a career in public health.
Sherman plans to spend the summer in Washington, D.C., helping out with event planning for the American Red Cross, through a paid internship program.
Then, in the fall, she’ll head back to the Boston area, where she’s from, for a three-month, unpaid stint with the Clinton Foundation’s HIV/AIDS initiative. If her superiors are happy with her performance, she said she’ll be offered another six months of paid work at the foundation.
Sherman is hoping the two jobs will give her experience and contacts to help land a more permanent job. In the meantime, she’s happy to not have the weight of a job search on her shoulders anymore.
“I can finally relax and enjoy the end of my senior year,” she said.
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TheGraduates0705[i-1].body = "
Age: 29
Education: San Jose State University
Major: Corporate finance
While many of her peers were fretting about what their post-graduation futures may hold, Tiffanie Craig was secure in the knowledge that, after she received her diploma, she’d also be getting a paycheck.
Last August, the senior at San Jose State University was offered a job at auditing firm Protiviti following a summer internship.
“Basically, when you start the internship, they tell you, unless you totally screw up, you’ll probably get a job offer,” she said.
Nevertheless, Craig decided to go ahead and interview with several other accounting firms last fall, just to see what else was out there. She said she found that many of the bigger firms didn’t offer as many opportunities in the field she is interested in, so she decided to stick with Protiviti.
Her job will include such things as helping companies make sure that they are in compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley accounting rules.
Craig, 29, had worked as a bookkeeper previously, giving her some background in accounting. She said she chose the profession because she knew there would be lots of jobs available, plus the opportunity to live elsewhere in the world.
The original offer from Protiviti included a lower salary than Craig was hoping for, but in late 2006 she said the company agreed to increase the pay.
“So, essentially, I got a raise before I even started,” she said.
The company also said she could start out at its offices in Santa Clara, Calif., near where she lives now, and then transfer to the San Francisco office when she moves there in about a year.
It also is letting her take a month off in September to go on a European vacation with her husband, who has been juggling work while finishing up a master’s degree. While Craig said she was anxious to start making a living after graduation, she also wanted to be able to take a much-needed vacation after years of juggling work and school.
“I haven’t had a vacation in, like, 10 years,” she said.
";
// END editorial data