The Glade 4.0

Ok, so, having more kids is effectively off the books and we're all caught up there I think so no need for discussion. Now that that's out of the way, what in the world do I do now?

My last *real* job I held for 13 months and it ended in Feb of last year as an IT consultant/desktop support specialist for a University. It was a sweet job with great pay and great benefits, but I feel like a only got that job because I got lucky and was in the right place at the right time. I don't have a degree in anything computer related and the only thing I had going for me was some call-center experience a few years beforehand.
Since I don't have any degrees or related certifications, and since I've effectively been off the IT grid for almost 2 years, I don't think I have a future in it...although I did apply for jobs earlier this year in that field and only had one interview and subsequent rejection letter (5 months later!)
I tried applying for my old IT job when it opened up but they had so many applicants with BS's and Master's degrees in Computer related fields that I couldn't even land an interview. Ain't that somethin'?

I've had 2 part-time minimum wage paying jobs in the past year, and they both sucked so hard I got majorly depressed....for various reasons upon which I care not to extrapolate, minimum wage paying jobs are clearly not for me.

I decided to check into doing something with my BA in Spanish, which around here, the only opportunities are teaching. Sadly for me, my BA did not include a teaching certificate....I called the university a few times and found out information about the alternate certification route, which would basically mean me taking the Praxis I and II and a few courses at the University followed by an internship. I ran into quite a few different snags with that plan as well, not the least of which was the plan that I qualified for is held at a community college 3 hours away. That's just not do-able. There were a few other things wrong with that plan as well, unfortunately. In addition, to be completely honest, I only majored in Spanish because they forced me to declare a major after two years and I happened to be really good at conversational spanish. I suck at grammar...that might not make for a very good teacher.

I'm currently toying with the idea of going back to school and getting a second degree in something that I'm more passionate about, like music. I initially was going to major in music the first time around, but my mother (who held a masters in music and practiced music for a living for 40 years) told me I would fail and I should pick something else. She's dead now, so I'm not listening to her anymore....I've thought about getting a BM in Music Therapy, which is available at the University right here in town. Convenient, eh? Caveats to that are that most of the requirements are specialized and not general education credits, so I don't think my other degree will cover much of that (I'm looking into it) and I'd be looking at about 2.5-3 years to complete. In addition, it would mean more student loans...granted, my current student loan debt is a grand total of $300, but is it worth going into debt over again to get another degree? I could really see myself using music to help others as a healing tool and getting paid to do it...I'm fairly certain that I could take that and roll with it for a lifetime career. But can I get a job with it in 3 years or so after getting the degree, going through the internship and passing the licensing exam?

In the meantime, I've applied to be a substitute teacher, but you have to jump through so many stupid hoops just to get the job, that my application process will not be completed until after the holidays. (I'm waiting on reference letters to be turned in, then to be contacted for an appt for a background check which I was told takes 30 days to come back from the state, and then the school board only meets once a month and they are the ones that approve these applications. I was told that there are "several people" ahead of me in this process.)
Subbing doesn't pay diddly-doo but it's infinitely better than the other two crappy jobs I've had this year....and it would keep me busy and give me some sort of purpose instead of rotting my brain on the internet all day.

_________________
"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Jesus of Nazareth

Why don't you find an organization that does music-therapy and volunteer with them until a position opens up? I think the degree is a waste since you already have a bachelors, so I would instead spend time shoring up your resume with experience in the field you want to get in to.

_________________

No offense (I mean it) but even if you're amazing at it, music degrees aren't exactly known for their great job placement. I'd consider that a waste of schooling time (and money) especially if you already have a degree. If you can do the substitute thing without accruing more debt I'd say that would probably be a decent road to go down.

I hear Spanish speakers are in demand.

Si usted desea ser un agente de inmigracion, tomar el examen.

_________________
"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."

Hop, the degree actually results in a certification as a licensed musical therapist....I'm not sure but I think that would prevent me from opening up a private practice or being paid by insurance companies or working in a hospital/nursing home environment?

Lenas: Yeah, I know, but I just want to do SOMETHING back on the 40k level and not on the 10 to 15k level...subbing pays $68 a day, and there is no guarantee of when you would get to work or how often.

DE: I got plenty of offers for that my senior year.....re-locating is not an option right now, and I don't feel like getting my whole family killed by mexican drug cartels kthx.

_________________
"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Jesus of Nazareth

Unless you're going into a hard science field, taking out additional student loans is a bad idea. If you can go on your own money, or if you can land a scholarship, that's one thing. Do not take on additional debt for a second Bachelor's. Moreover, have you considered applying for a graduate degree in music? You have a Bachelor's already. It doesn't have to be a Bachelor's in music to pursue a Master's. Now you might have to do a little bit of self study to pass whatever GRE type of tests they'd have you taking, but that's what the internet is for.

As for your Spanish degree, apply for teaching jobs anyway. Don't have a teaching certificate? Don't let that stop you. Apply anyway. What's the worst that happens? They turn you down?

_________________
Buckle your pants or they might fall down.

Seems to me that "going back to school" so often means "I'm afraid to put myself out there unless I have more credibility than I believe I have now".

What would you do if you weren't afraid of failure?

You don't need a degree to do most things, it's only required in a few job categories. IT sure isn't one of them, you can go far with just a willingness to learn.

If you don't want to get paid minimum wage, you need to focus on the growth industries and apply yourself to getting employment in one of them. I don't see music as ever being more than minimum wage, but it's way outside my experience so I don't know for sure.

_________________
In time, this too shall pass.

Um...doesn't state law dictate that I have to have a teaching license in order to teach? That would be a pretty stupid waste of time to apply for jobs that they legally cannot give me.
As far as getting a Master's goes, I have considered that as well...I don't know if I could get in though considering that over a 5 year span my GPA wound up being one point under a 3.0 I also looked into it earlier this year, and there are some undergrad pre-reqs for a Masters in music that I would need to have first.


Taskiss: I have applied for EVERY job I came across in the past several months, even ones I didn't think I qualified for starting in January. I have spent countless hours taking online tests, filling out forms, questionnaires, etc. I've had 1 interview and two rejection letters and a bunch of silence. I've had my resume looked over, I've asked if there is anything I'm doing wrong....the only thing I've been able to get are two temporary, part-time, min wage jobs.

It's not a fear of failure. It's a lack of **** jobs that I qualify for.

_________________
"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Jesus of Nazareth

I may be misremembering something, but I believe you may be able to get the teaching certifications while on the job within 2 years or so of starting. Or it might be that if a master's degree is required, you can get that while on the job.

I'll look into that, Lonedar, but I'm pretty sure I have to have be certified except in cases where they need a semi-permanent sub when no qualified teachers can be found and even then, as soon as someone certified applies, I'd have to resign. I inquired about a Spanish teacher opening at a school earlier this year and even offered to be a temp but they said they already had an applicant pool of certified teachers for the position.

The Cartels do not actually carry out hits on Border Patrol agents or their families. If they started doing that, they'd quickly find themselves fighting a real Army rather than the Mexican army. They talk a good game, but the fact is that if they seriously start confronting the United States in the way that they confront the Mexican government, we'll do exactly what the Mexican government is doing, and send the military to deal with them.

As for relocating.. it wasn't an option for us, but we did it. I'd be curious to know why not (for any job). There's also jobs for linguists in the government without becoming an actual Border Patrol (or any other kind of law enforcement) agent.

That ability to speak another language, even one commonly spoken in the U.S., is your strongest asset. Use it.

_________________
"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."

LadyKate:

1. You've been unemployed longer than 6 months and did not transition to a new position out of your last one.

2. You're looking for work in a market where as much as 30% of active wage-earners are under-employed according to their previous position.

Those things alone are working very hard against your endeavors, and I'm not really sure what you can do about them except keep trying.

I know it sucks. I know its depressing. I apologize for those realities.

_________________

It's not particularly easy work, but I'd imagine there would be decent jobs at farms in your area- the rural south is more known for them than anywhere else. Especially places working with horses pay decently.

As for the requirement to be certified to teach- that's usually only hard and fast at public schools. Private and Parochial schools are usually a good deal more lenient- especially if you start working towards your M.Ed or a teaching certificate.

The other option would be to offer after-school classes or tutoring. You probably wouldn't make as much in Spanish as other fields, but the going rate for tutoring college level chemistry and math is about $40-$80 per hour if you're good at it.

Adding to Khross's realities: I know you don't really want a minimum wage/near minimum wage job, but with your employment history and degree, that might be the best you can do for a while. I'd certainly think $40k is a bit high of a goal to shoot for. In the rural south, $40k is about what you'd make with a hard science/engineering degree (or IT, etc), and your BA in Spanish probably won't pull that much. For the record, you wouldn't start making $40k teaching with a Bachelors in Education until you had around 20 years of experience- or 11 years of experience and a M.Ed or 7 years of experience and an Ed.D or PhD.

_________________
Darksiege: You are not a god damned vulcan homie.

Public schools can and will hire a non-certified teacher on a provisional basis to fill positions for certain subject areas. Foreign languages (though maybe not Spanish) are often such a subject. This is how school districts get warm bodies into math and science classrooms when there are fewer actual certified teachers for those subjects than there are positions needing to be filled.

It is actually possible for a person with a Bachelor's degree to have the school district they're working for pay for their teaching certificate, though it generally requires some form of contract stipulating a certain number of years teaching in that district or you have to reimburse the money.

_________________
Buckle your pants or they might fall down.

Don't forget Civil Service if you can find it. Are there any military bases in your area? They tend to have high turnover of the positions as families transition in and out. Civil Service jobs in state and local government can be difficult to get, because they have very low turnover, but if you can get one, they are easy jobs to keep...

Run for office.

You are passionate, dedicated and outspoken. Find a platform and get people interested in what you have to say. City Council and you don't have to relocate. State Rep and you can work part time from home.

Really LK, you would be a lot better than a lot of the people in office right now.

_________________
The U. S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself. B. Franklin

"A mind needs books like a sword needs a whetstone." -- Tyrion Lannister, A Game of Thrones

Seriously, don't waste your money on more school. Bad idea

_________________

There is a reason why universities use some sort of comprehensive test encompassing a traditional Bachelor's degree as part of the criteria for entry into a graduate program. You have been out of college for a significant length of time. There is quite a bit that you no longer remember. Even if you had a 4.0 a school is not likely to give you blanket admittance into a graduate program. You would be required to prove you still know what you learned.

This actually works to your benefit. You see, the other side of this coin is that universities are likewise aware that some people continue to practice and get better after they leave. They are aware that over a span of time, people who were once lazy slackasses become exceptional students. Were you to use your time studying up on various material prior to taking the GRE, you might compare very favorably to someone who had a 3.5 over four years and then flubbed their GRE, and indeed there are many people with high GPAs who elect not to take it precisely because they're afraid it will make them look bad when they apply for graduate school. (Some programs will simply automatically accept their own undergraduate students who have a certain GPA upon graduation).

Do you know anyone who is either employed a four-year university or is in a graduate program that might be willing to go to the music department and ask what their criteria is for acceptance into a Master's program?

I would point out, however, that given your circumstances, it would not be advisable unless you were able to secure either a grant or a scholarship. Graduate courses are noticeably more expensive than undergraduate courses.

_________________
Buckle your pants or they might fall down.

Neph: Farm jobs are mostly about an hour north of us and 3 hours south...and that is where all the mexicans are...doing the farm jobs.
As far as private schools go, my kid attended one for half a year right after we decided to stop homeschooling (so I could find a job...ha!) and I turned in my resume and spoke with the principal, but he said that due to their budget, they will continue using a multimedia format for Spanish and not an actual teacher. I even volunteered to teach in exchange for my son's tuition and he said it just wasn't an option for their budget at the time but he would call me if anything changed. The other two private schools require certification. And 40k is a bit high, but I was making 37k and some change with great benefits at the University.


Coro: I keep checking with the schools, but with 2 major universities within a 30 mile radius of each other, they have no shortage of education majors or certified teachers. (I am kicking myself that I was so focused on just having *a* degree that I didn't think about what I was going to do with it....I totally should have done something else or gone the education route.) I'll call them again tomorrow, maybe I'll get lucky. And yes, the alternate certification program that I was mentioning early offers a free ride if you are willing to work in a high-needs area for a period of 2-3 years after you become certified...the nearest high needs area is over an hour and a half away, so that is not an option either.


Midgen: We have an AFB here within 30 minutes of where we live...NF works there, actually. I've been trying to get a job there since we got married...the closest I came was when they called me and told me they wanted to set-up an interview, and then canceled it because, they said that at the last minute someone came in who had held that exact same position in 2003 and according to their government regulated hiring procedures, they had to give the job to them. I just applied for 2 jobs there last week, but I heard they called other people and I didn't hear from them.

Micheal: My heart is in the right place, but as you can probably tell over the past 3 years of me posting in hellfire, I'm a bumbling idiot when it comes to politics. I'll think about it though.


The temptation to go back to school for a couple of years (which I enjoy) and draw student loans is VERY tempting....but I suppose in the short run, the wisest thing to do would be to keep looking and hoping and praying something shows up.

_________________
"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Jesus of Nazareth

LK, have you looked at local hospitals? There may be a need for Spanish interpreters considering the migrant farmworker populations nearby. Hospitals around here have full time Spanish interpreters on staff, but we have a lot more Spanish speaking patients. So maybe a large regional hospital near you?

_________________
Women are from Hoboken, men are from Trenton. ~ Jimmy Kimmel

If you are interested in a commisions based sales job, I could start you on the path to gainful employment tomorrow.

_________________

Ezekiel 23:19-20 

LK:

There are no farms at all closer than that? You don't need something huge.

I can't believe there is any part of MS that devoid of agriculture.

_________________
Darksiege: You are not a god damned vulcan homie.

Colphax: The last time I checked, (admittedly it has been a couple of years so maybe things have changed), the hospitals around here were using volunteer lists for translating...they had a list of several people that they would call, who would do it for free, if they needed a translator.
I also tried 911 dispatch and the local police department earlier this year and they already have someone...a native spanish speaker on staff. While I was at the unemployment office, applying for jobs, I asked them if they needed a translator and they said no as well...they, and the other govt offices around here like DHS all use a telephone translating service.

Rynar: I tried selling Avon, but the market here is absolutely saturated with people selling Avon, Premier Jewelry, Insurance, Cheesecakes, Houseware/kitchenware, Decorations, etc. I'm willing to try anything though....

Neph: The last farm job I had was in 2006-2007 on a small cow farm about an hour from here. (I lived closer to it then, though.) I was the only employee and I drove a tractor to fertilize the fields, vaccinated cows with a dart gun (that was fun), drove a 4 wheeler with a trailer to feed the cows several hundred pounds of grain every day, rain or shine or snow, that I had to shovel myself (damn I was in good shape!) and scout fencelines looking for breaches and sick cows. It was an awesome job, but it only paid $8/hr...it was perfect for a young college student, which I was at the time. My physical condition now after 4 pregnancies in 2 years is not great...I honestly do not think I can handle such a labor intensive job right now, my body is still recovering.
We have local farmers with small cotton fields around here, and harvesting time is usually the first week or two of November so I'll ask my son's football coach (he has several acres of cotton) and see, but I know it's all done by machine though, so I don't know what, if anything, there is that I could do. That was sort of the problem that we ran into when I worked for the Migrant Education Program (before I got laid off because of funding issues)...I traveled over 28 counties in MS searching for migrant laborers whose children qualified under the No Child Left Behind Act Title I Part C for educational assistance. There has been a large drop in migrant labor here because farmers have switched to crops that require little to no un-machinated work.

_________________
"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Jesus of Nazareth

I just went to our local women's shelter for substance abuse rehab...they told me they already have someone who does Art/Music therapy and told me I'd need a license for that or any other position they might have. They did give me an application though and told me to fill it out and they would call me if anything opened up.
I volunteered to volunteer, but they didn't seem to interested in that either.

Do I have some sort of 3rd eye? Do I smell bad? I can't quite seem to figure out exactly what I'm doing wrong here....I smile, make eye contact, don't invade personal space, don't sit until I'm asked to, I introduce myself, shake hands, answer questions politely and professionally....why can't I get a decent job?

_________________
"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Jesus of Nazareth

Because you're living in an extremely poor state in a bad national economy. At least you're not out on Wall Street making a fool of yourself.

I am a little surprised the women's shelter didn't need someone that speaks Spanish though. Did you mention that?

_________________
"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."