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I'm sure you're all tired of hearing me whine about my job search, but.... I do have a general sense of what I'd like to do. I want to work in the field of international trade. There are 3 different places to work within the trade field: with the government (customs & immigration services or the ITA), import/export (either within the logistics sector of a company or for an external shipping firm), or in global finance (corporate bankers who work with exchange rates, monitoring economies to determine if trade would be profitable, etc.). Immigration is somewhat related, but also still appeals to me, which is why I've applied there.
Problem A is that I honestly am without a clue as to how to find import/export and global finance jobs. Hope College didn't really know what to do with me when I told them that I wanted to work internationally without having to move to another country. The one professor who had a good sense of international studies left after my freshman year and was never replaced. Most of my professors were like "you should go teach English in suchandsuch country!" Trust me, if there is one thing I will not do, it is teaching. And internet searches only help when you know what you're searching for.
Problem B is that I don't feel that I'm good enough to get these kinds of jobs. Maybe it's a self-esteem issue, maybe it's an honest concern about my qualifications. I see things like "business or related major strongly preferred" and I just get this feeling that even though I do apply, my application is just going to end up in the shredder. Not the best way to approach things, I know. I feel that maybe dreaming big is something reserved for people with better degrees than me.
Someone please tell me to stop make stupid excuses.
There are a number of positions I haven't heard back from yet, and no news is...well it's not bad news.
Edit:k, so, I have discovered Vault.com for career research which I think I had a link to from Hope, but made it sound like you needed to be registered. You don't.
Problem A is that I honestly am without a clue as to how to find import/export and global finance jobs. Hope College didn't really know what to do with me when I told them that I wanted to work internationally without having to move to another country. The one professor who had a good sense of international studies left after my freshman year and was never replaced. Most of my professors were like "you should go teach English in suchandsuch country!" Trust me, if there is one thing I will not do, it is teaching. And internet searches only help when you know what you're searching for.
Problem B is that I don't feel that I'm good enough to get these kinds of jobs. Maybe it's a self-esteem issue, maybe it's an honest concern about my qualifications. I see things like "business or related major strongly preferred" and I just get this feeling that even though I do apply, my application is just going to end up in the shredder. Not the best way to approach things, I know. I feel that maybe dreaming big is something reserved for people with better degrees than me.
Someone please tell me to stop make stupid excuses.
There are a number of positions I haven't heard back from yet, and no news is...well it's not bad news.
Edit:k, so, I have discovered Vault.com for career research which I think I had a link to from Hope, but made it sound like you needed to be registered. You don't.
no subject
http://ismajor.wisc.edu/isCareer.htm
http://gargoyle.arcadia.edu/Career/Majors/links/international.htm
http://www.pdx.edu/careers/majorinternationalstudies.html
And don't be like, "I've looked at this kind of stuff before" or "There's nothing useful here" ... read every word and pull everything you can out of each website. There's always more than you think if you take the time to look for it.
Regarding Problem B:
Your major does. not. matter. You have a college degree... that's what counts. Employers don't look at an International Studies degree and think, "well, this person must be dumb" and then look at an International Business degree and think, "this person must be awesome"... it's about who you are and what you can do. What you have to do is sell yourself by highlighting what you're good at, and what skills you developed while getting your degree. You have to be ready to do this at the drop of a hat, using concrete examples. It takes preparation, energy, ambition, and wholesale dedication. If you don't have one of those, fake it 'til you make it, as long as you are sure you can actually do whatever it is the job requires. If you look at the job description and think, "yeah, I could do that," then apply, no matter if it says "business degree preferred" or whatever... apply, write a cover letter, send your resume, call the company and be ready to sell yourself. It doesn't matter if your application ends up in the shredder 19 out of 20 times. The 20th time is worth it. Search multiple websites for job postings every day. The more places you apply, the better your chances. The more phone calls you make, the better your chances. Talk to each company as if it's the only one you're interested in. No one is going to push you; you have to push yourself. If you think you're not qualified, work toward making yourself qualified. Teach yourself stuff. Do research. Practice doing whatever it is you think you can't do. If you're not happy with an aspect of yourself, then work to change it. If you think the problem is that you can't change, and that's the aspect of yourself that you're not happy with... start by trying to go half a day without saying to yourself, "I can't". Then try to go for a whole day. Then a week. You're smart enough that you really could do pretty much anything you really decide to learn to do. Just work to control all the aspects of the job search that you can control, and then, if you still get rejected, you can be confident that the problem was not with anything that YOU did or didn't do.
That was really long, I know. Hopefully at least some of it helps...
no subject
And remember that your major is not the only thing that counts. Tell them about all your hobbies, work experience and other skills, and convince them to hire just *you*. All companies are of course looking for the perfect applicant, but in reality the person they choose probably doesn't meet *all* the requirements.