Blog Archives
Don’t Let Someone Tell You Your Degree Is “Useless”
The following is a re-blogged post from PR Daily. My thoughts on the ridiculous post are below.
English, journalism among ‘most useless’ college majors By Kevin Allen | Posted: April 23, 2012
No one likes to admit they’ve made a bad investment. Few investments, meanwhile, are as costly as a college education. And yet, many of those investments are completely useless, according to The Daily Beast. The website compiled a list of the 13 most useless majors. Read ‘em and weep, fine arts enthusiasts: 1. Fine Arts2. Drama and Theatre Arts
3. Film, Video, and Photographic Arts
4. Commercial Art and Graphic Design
5. Architecture
6. Philosophy and Religious Studies
7. English Literature and Language
8. Journalism
9. Anthropology and Archeology
10. Hospitality Management
11. Music
12. History
13. Political Science and Government Read the details about each major at The Daily Beast.
The use of the phrase “most useless” is what irritates me from the very beginning. If you spend four years at a university studying a subject and can’t take away anything useful from it, the major isn’t worthless, you are. There are countless lessons to be learned attending a university. If you visit The Daily Beast you’ll notice that the following categories are used to rank the degrees:
- Recent graduate employment
- Experienced graduate employment
- Recent graduate earnings
- Experienced graduate earnings
- Projected growth in total number of jobs, 2010–2020
- A student graduates with a degree in accounting (this is not a knock on accounting, just an example) from a university and can’t find employment. A student graduates with a degree in graphic design and lands a job at the advertising agency they interned at over the summer. Which degree would be considered “useless” in this situation? The accounting student isn’t using their degree, but it is still ignorant to think that an accounting degree is useless. Likewise, it is ignorant to think that the student with a graphic design degree has a useless degree because it has helped them attain employment.
- A student who would be an exceptional journalist decides to instead pursue a degree in biology pre-med because of this study. The student receives mediocre grades and upon graduation can’t get into med school. Is that degree really worth more in this situation?
This is post twenty-one of Posts For Employment. For each day in April I will be publishing a blog post to showcase my writing skills, ability to communicate effectively, meet deadlines, handle multiple projects at once and think creatively. I look forward to connecting more with you as an audience, having fun and finding a job. Friends, followers and employers can reach me at 20pankratz33@gmail.com.
Halfway Through The Journey, What Have I Learned?
It is hard to believe, but April is half over. Graduation is less than a month away. I’ve got 14 posts left this month. I’m interviewing with a company in two weeks. Tests are piling up. Papers aren’t writing themselves. There is a lot going on. Although there is a lot on the horizon, I want to reflect on what has happened over the last 16 days since I started Posts for Employment.
- 933 Views
- 16 New Posts
- 15 New Twitter Followers
- 9 New Comments
- 7 New Subscribers
- 1 New Interview
While these numbers aren’t groundbreaking for the professional bloggers of the world, I am pretty happy with the results I’ve seen. But even more important than the results are the three important lessons that I’ve learned over the past 16 days.
Planning is important in everything
Before April I would post roughly three or four times a month. My goal was once a week. Since I started Posts for Employment and made a public commitment for all the world (and employers) to see, I have placed much more emphasis on scheduling when and what I am going to write about. I came close to missing a post this past weekend when I was at a wedding, but I found a simple 20 minutes to write my post Wedding Season and it quickly became one of my most viewed posts, which brings me to my next lesson.
Writing has become easier
In addition to not planning when to write my posts, thinking of what to write about was more difficult before I started Posts for Employment. I thought that writing everyday was going to be very challenging, but it turns out that writing more has made things easier. I attribute the ease of writing to two thing. First, my brain is always on. Not that it wasn’t before, but making the commitment to write everyday has encouraged me to do a lot more critical thinking and analyzing. If I have a couple posts in the chamber for the week and something strikes me in class or while I am out and about, I can choose to write about it that day, or schedule it for later in the week. Second, the more you write the easier it is. It is that simple. Writing everyday has helped me gather my thoughts and get them down on paper (and by paper, I mean blog) much faster.
Research is key
Simply writing your own thought is certainly an exercise that can be beneficial, it is what I am doing today in this post. But doing research is also a great way to find topics to write about and is also a great way to learn more about the industry. Many of my posts are the product of reading several blog posts about a subject. I’ve started to include external links in many of my posts that shows where I got my statistics from and this has also brought in more traffic.
You can increase traffic
An increased amount of traffic is something that I anticipated and certainly was planning for when I started this endeavor. Here are several tips that have helped me bring more viewers in that you can use to help increase traffic on your own blog.
- Comment On Other Blogs – I have received a lot of traffic from commenting on Social Media Today and PR Daily.
- Share Your Posts – Don’t be afraid to send your post out on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google + or any other platform you spend time on. Show your audience that you have something to offer.
- Schedule Your Posts – I have my blog tweeted at a different time that I have it posted to Facebook. Pick times that you’re audiences are on their different social media platforms and post accordingly. I see the most traffic from Facebook when I publish around 8:00pm.
- Share Other People’s Post – Just today I have received many views and tweets because I shared someone else’s post. They returned the favor and views started flooding in.
- Including External Links – The more links you include the more likely are people will find your blog
I’ve enjoyed the first half of this journey and I am looking forward to the second half. Thanks for sharing in the experience with me!
-Reed Pankratz
This is post sixteen of Posts For Employment. Each day in April I will be writing a blog post to showcase my writing skills, ability to communicate effectively, meet deadlines, handle multiple projects at once and think creatively. I look forward to connecting more with you as an audience, having fun and finding a job. Friends, followers and employers can reach me at 20pankratz33@gmail.com.
Take The Small Victories, My Friends
This is post ten of Posts For Employment. Each day in April I will be writing a blog post to showcase my writing skills, ability to communicate effectively, meet deadlines, handle multiple projects at once and think creatively. I look forward to connecting more with you as an audience, having fun and finding a job. Friends, followers and employers can reach me at 20pankratz33@gmail.com.
The year is 2012. The battlefields run black with the ink of college student resumes. Many men have been defeated in battles, but all is not lost. It is a new age where opportunities could be waiting at your next tweet, event, e-mail, post or connection. You plan your moves carefully, crafting each cover letter with strong stokes and sending out applications with pinpoint precision. Yes, hope is on the horizon. No war has been won all at once. The small victories along the way are crucial to success.
The job search is a process. Sometimes, a painstakingly long process. Around this time anxiety has set in for many of my classmates. They have been battling for quite a while now to find a job. I am right there in the trenches with them. But, the last couple of days have been great. I have learned another valuable lesson. Cherish the small victories.
As my anxiety was starting to grow heavier and heavier, I got just the spark I needed. Earlier this year I had a general interview with an agency in Colorado. They posted a position in January that I was very interested in, so I contacted them to see when they were trying to fill the position by, knowing that May was likely to late. But, I had also e-mailed my resume as well as a link to my blog and they decided to interview me for future reference. Not too long ago I visited their website again, and much to my delight they had posted another position that I found very intriguing. I followed up with the employee I interviewed with and have since been asked to put together a presentation and then schedule a time for an interview. No, it isn’t a job offer, but it is one step closer. A small victory.
Since then, the small victories have been rolling in. Had I not taken the time to notice them, anxiety might have buried me by now. Small victories can come in many different forms. Here are a few that I’ve experienced that keep me going.
A phone call
No, not from an employer, but from a former intern I worked with over the summer. We spent 20 minutes on the phone and I walked away feeling much better about my job outlook.
A tweet
A simple tweet from a new connection via LinkedIn that assured me I’ve got what it takes to get a job.
A text
A short text from another new connection via LinkedIn (see a trend?) who has been helping me with the job search, letting me know about a new agency I should check out.
A conversation
Yesterday I saw one of my favorite professors at K-State standing outside the journalism school in between classes. It had been awhile since we spoke, so I stopped by for a short chat. Before I knew it, he was putting me in touch with one of his former students that works at an agency.
A discovery
This one wasn’t even job related. I’ve been searching for the right piece of information to make one of my presentations go from good to great. Today I was able to find that through a combination of research and reaching out to people I’ve connected with over the past year or so. A little boost to keep me going and that let me know I’ve got the tools to get things done.
If you’re experiencing the anxieties of the job search, it is completely normal. But I encourage you too look around and find the small victories that are going to help you reach your goal. They play a vital role in keeping your morale up and getting you through the day.
Here is the most important thing about the small victories you’re going to experience. These small victories are going to create momentum and confidence for you as a job seeker. One small victory will lead to another, which will lead to a connection, onto an interview and then finally employment. What started out as a general interview earlier this year has snowballed into an interview and now new connections.
I have one final thought on the anxiety of the job search. Think about your last internship or job you really loved. For me, it was this past summer. Now, think about how fast a week would go. Didn’t the summer seem to fly by? Now, think about how long a week feels when you are waiting to hear back from an employer. I know, it feels like forever. But remember, the people you are applying to are living busy, fast paced lives. A week to them might seem like nothing. It is just a little perspective to help ease the anxiety. But, if you feel like it has been too long, don’t be afraid to follow up. It just might be the push you need to make to secure your next job.
Two weeks ago, I cannot say my spirits were so high. Recognizing small victories has not only helped stay persistent in the job search, but it has also helped my overall mood. Right now, I am really looking forward to these next couple of weeks and the opportunity to interview in Colorado.
Here are some of my other tips to help reduce stress during the job search.
What have been some of your small victories?
Long long and prosper.
- Reed Pankratz
This is post ten of Posts For Employment. For each day in April I will be publishing a blog post to showcase my writing skills, ability to communicate effectively, meet deadlines, handle multiple projects at once and think creatively. I look forward to connecting more with you as an audience, having fun and finding a job. Friends, followers and employers can reach me at 20pankratz33@gmail.com.
