First Phone interview

[Dan J 277]

$62K a year for a recent college grad is too darn good. I don't believe these numbers are accurate.

Depends on industry, and where you are located. $62,000 is possible in some fields. Though most start in the 40,000-50,000 range.

[Nancy2015 2]

$62K a year for a recent college grad is too darn good. I don't believe these numbers are accurate.

Depends on industry, and where you are located. $62,000 is possible in some fields. Though most start in the 40,000-50,000 range.

Show me the college they went to - I'll go there too. I'm a college grad, and I don't make 40K. And I live in an area where a 100K salary is the norm.

Maybe it's because I majored in History

[athena_ny 1]

$62K a year for a recent college grad is too darn good. I don't believe these numbers are accurate.

Depends on industry, and where you are located. $62,000 is possible in some fields. Though most start in the 40,000-50,000 range.

Show me the college they went to - I'll go there too. I'm a college grad, and I don't make 40K. And I live in an area where a 100K salary is the norm.

Maybe it's because I majored in History

Uh, yeah, that would probably be why.

And an engineer is going to make a lot more money than a history major, regardless.

My mom has a history degree and works for a dental insurance company. So you're comparing apples and oranges.

[Dan J 277]

$62K a year for a recent college grad is too darn good. I don't believe these numbers are accurate.

Depends on industry, and where you are located. $62,000 is possible in some fields. Though most start in the 40,000-50,000 range.

Show me the college they went to - I'll go there too. I'm a college grad, and I don't make 40K. And I live in an area where a 100K salary is the norm.

Maybe it's because I majored in History

Being a collage grad doesn't guarantee you a good salary. My comment applies more to science, math and technology more than it does liberal arts.

History is not a bad choice, but it wont earn that much money, unless you can get a position as a collage professor. But for that you may need a Masters or PhD.

[Jessi+Rich 0]

Wow San Jose, I would like to live there!!! Housing is too freakn expensive tho. I always joke I want to live in a city where I can have the wages of CA (and the outdoors!), the views of ID (or any national forest for that matter), the taxes of NV and the weather of NM... Please let me know if you find a city like that!

For my area, CA is the top payer (LA, silicon valley), CO the second (Denver-Aurora). Other metro cities pay very similar wages. Bigger cities, better salaries.

Sid, if I had a History degree I would be pursuing academia as a top priority, even tho you have to invest to get there (a post graduate degree is required). Second, I would try to get involved with magazines, volunteering articles or blogging. It is surprising how much money a blogger can make if keeping up an interesting blog. I bet you have interesting things to write about.

Remember, you will get where ever you think you can get.

Best luck

Jess

[Jamie76 0]

A college grad making $62K starting out is NOT the norm, but it does happen. Take for instance recent grads majoring in petroleum engineering. Some of them are starting out in the upper 50s to low 60s depending on who they sign on with.

[Nancy2015 2]

Being a collage grad doesn't guarantee you a good salary. My comment applies more to science, math and technology more than it does liberal arts.

History is not a bad choice, but it wont earn that much money, unless you can get a position as a collage professor. But for that you may need a Masters or PhD.

I know it doesn't guarantee you a salary, but I kinda missed the point that we were talking about science grads here.

History wasn't my choice - it was mainly stupidity. I didn't care what to study when i went to college, so I went for something that I thought would be easy and won't distract me from hanging out. It turned out to be hard, boring, and I hated every second of it. I wanted to transfer and study chemistry, but a lot of people talked me out of it.

Actually, the whole reason I came to the U.S. to study, was to "fix" the history thing - I earned certificates in HR management and in project management here. It helped, but employers don't seem to be interested in my majors anyway - all they care about is experience.

I work as an admin assistant, and I'm planning to go for an MBA.

Sid, if I had a History degree I would be pursuing academia as a top priority, even tho you have to invest to get there (a post graduate degree is required). Second, I would try to get involved with magazines, volunteering articles or blogging. It is surprising how much money a blogger can make if keeping up an interesting blog. I bet you have interesting things to write about.

I'm Nancy. And I hate academia and whatever comes with it. I don't think I'm obligated to have a job related to my degree, and employers don't really care what my degree is in. I like administrative work, I do it really well, and I just want to keep moving up the ladder and make a manager someday.

As far as blogging and that kinda stuff - I don't like to write. A friend of mine (a hist grad also) has a great blog online - she can write really well, the blog is read by hundreds of people daily. Most of the folks that went to the University with me can write, and they work in the media, as researchers, editors, etc. They make good money. But it's just not something I'm interested in.

My mom has a history degree and works for a dental insurance company. So you're comparing apples and oranges.

I wasn't even comparing anything. Dan + Gemvita's comment was more like - all college grads start at 40-50K/year. That's the way I took it. But not all of them do, actually.

Edited September 10, 2007 by Sid and Nancy

[Nancy2015 2]

Wow San Jose, I would like to live there!!! Housing is too freakn expensive tho. I always joke I want to live in a city where I can have the wages of CA (and the outdoors!), the views of ID (or any national forest for that matter), the taxes of NV and the weather of NM... Please let me know if you find a city like that!

I wish there was a city like that...

[Jessi+Rich 0]

Nancy, sorry for having the names mixed up. Girl, get your MBA if that is what you want, and don't let anybody talk you out of it. It will certainly boost up your salary.

About academia, I tried it some years ago. Left it behind with the overcast sky of my native city to try luck in the Dominican Republic. Worked well for me.

Ok. The potential boss called again today. It seems they like me... or my below average salary expectations...

I have a face to face interview this week.

Wish me luck!

Jess

Edited September 11, 2007 by Jessi+Rich

[pnrmbr975 1]

So how did the interview go?

[Jessi+Rich 0]

It went great! 3.5 hrs interviewing with 4 people. Got the verbal offer next day for way up what I stated as expected. Went through a very extensive background check though. It took almost a month. I had to unearth contacts in jobs going 10 yrs back. I did a very close follow up on that, I was actually thinking if I don't get the job, boy I will open my own background check agency Oh! They DO have ways to check your experience. They DO call and/or fax previous employers and references no matter where they are or what language they speak.

I start working next month.

Thanks for asking. Was it you who said his wife was expecting a phone call from a job interview? Did she get it? I hope so

Best luck to all the job seekers.

Jess

[pnrmbr975 1]

Thanks for the update! Good luck! My wife has been told of unfortunate stories before she applied and some good ones hopefully will help encourage those who are applying still. Yes, she got the job and she recently experienced her first taste of American taxes.

[pervez 4]

$62K a year for a recent college grad is too darn good. I don't believe these numbers are accurate.

Depends on industry, and where you are located. $62,000 is possible in some fields. Though most start in the 40,000-50,000 range.

Show me the college they went to - I'll go there too. I'm a college grad, and I don't make 40K. And I live in an area where a 100K salary is the norm.

Maybe it's because I majored in History

Being a collage grad doesn't guarantee you a good salary. My comment applies more to science, math and technology more than it does liberal arts.

History is not a bad choice, but it wont earn that much money, unless you can get a position as a collage professor. But for that you may need a Masters or PhD.

Precisely the reason I went into Engineering, Mechanical and Production.

If I had tons of money lying around I'd be playing with history books all day and old documents, but you've got to make a living somehow and I realised that I'm neither teacher material(too impatient sometimes) nor would like to have to rely on writing books and them getting good placements in bookstores and ads(something that'd be beyond my control).