LaunchingU_Founder

You know this changes all the time and varies by location etc. Right at the moment for example lawyers are having a tough time. In the Northeast, people in manufacturing are finding it tough to find entry level jobs. But this is not how I think about the relationship between college degrees and employment. I think people should study what they love and that if they are willing to do the work and learn how their skills connect to jobs, build their network and become an excellent candidate, they can get a job in any field.

I was shown a great example the other day. A young woman had majored in Ancient Languages (not 100% sure that was the name of the major). She loved languages of all kinds and along the way had gotten interested in computer languages. She applied for an IT job and made a brilliant case in the interview that her facility with languages meant she was going to pick this up really fast. They hired her.

I don't think it is a total waste of time to use the job boards, but you have to realize that they are a very low yield activity. If you are going to use them remember: 1. Don't waste your time applying for jobs unless you are out of central casting in terms of the job requirements. If you don't have exactly what they are looking you are not going to get a response. I do think the hire rate is a bit better than 3%. In part it depends on the level of the job. 2. Don't take it personally when you don't hear back from posts that you sent in. Recruiters are completely overwhelmed with resumes. There is no excuse for not getting something that tells you that your material got to them and then another email telling you when the job is filled but you just have to remember that it is a low percentage shot. 3. Job boards are useful in giving you a sense of how the company thinks about a given role, what key responsibilities there are in a position etc. So if you have targeted a company as being a place you really want to work, one valuable thing to do is to look at the job postings to understand more about the skills and experience that they value. Then figure out how to network your way into the company.

I will try and circle back to your other questions later.

Don't assume you can't move into a non-profit four year college. If you had a 3.5 in your previous program I believe a four year program will take you.

But before you invest more money to get that four year degree I would get out and talk with all kinds of people who are in the kinds of roles that you are interested in getting into in 5-10 years and see whether the four year degree is going to be important to that goal. It could be that in your field additional certifications or technical training will end up being more valuable. By all means continue to network and develop relationships in your field. If you have a moment can you share here how you used networking to get into your current role?

It is incredibly rewarding. I decided to do this because my clients knew my background and asked me to talk to their kids who were graduating and didn't seem to know how to make the move into the workforce. It turned out that there were often such simple things they could do to focus in on what they loved, get people to be interested in helping them and find a job where they can thrive. I found myself paying more and more attention to this work, and now it is my career. I made this move because I love this work.

You don't have to move to LA or NYC to build a successful career in the film industry (if that is in fact what you want to do, many people pursue careers outside of their majors), we know many people in our small city that write and make films right here. We even have our own film festival!

If there are no building blocks in your town for a film career you may have to make a geographic move, but it doesn't necessarily have to be to the big city. In fact, many smaller production houses in out-of-the-way places have a hard time finding qualified employees and would be happy to hear from someone with your expertise.

At the end of the day you'll need to weigh your commitment to film against your commitment to your current town.

We encourage you to network heavily with people in your industry. Your college's career center should help you as an alum, and may be able to introduce you to alumni from your college that are already successful in the film industry. You may need to offer to volunteer your time at first in order to network your way into a full-time job.