Hey Everyone,

Thank you for including me in your forum. I have been battling for the past year to get a job that corresponds with my degree. I have a bachelor of Social Sciences degree and majored in Psychology and Sociology. I have applyied to so many jobs but every single one of them requires two to five years experience. How do I get experience if no one wants to hire me? I am currently working in an Electronics company, doing sales! This is not what I studied for! I live in Africa, in a country called Botswana. It is a fast growing, but small country. Work is limited. I need help. I don't want to be stuck doing something I don't want to do and forget what I studied. Please help. Thank you.

I presume you are in a very normal situation for a post-grad student. Got the qualifications now I need a job.

With your degree I would try a local healthcare centre/hospital. Maybe the social services department of the government?

That might get you into the door and start you on the way to a valued career.

Good luck.

Thank you for your reply but I would like to say that I have already applied to every advertised health care job and like I stated before, every job I applied for requires some level of experience, even for voluntary programmes. Will I need to go back to school and maybe get an honors and masters degree in order to qualify?

Still doesn't get you any experience, which is what you are after.

What about an Aid Agency? They may not offer you exactly what you want but surely any experience however loosely associated with your degree can only help.

I suppose I can try that out. I will also keep trying the hospitals/health care facilities. Thank you and I will keep in touch. Wish me luck.

Hi, donate,
I am not familiar with your area.
But, do you have any type of government run Social Services?
Have you considered asking to be a volunteer in any of the jobs you have applied for? It's possible that if someone would let you volunteer your services for awhile, you could possibly count that as experience.
I do wish you the best of luck.

Hi Donate

I can understand your frustration, I graduated in July 05, and began to look for a career, there are so many graduate sales, manager etc jobs but this was not my cup of tea (preference of job), I wanted a career in nutrition, however to be a dietician I need a masters and have consequently applied for and hope to be accepted onto for the coming September. Although I'm stressing myself about what I will do if I do not get on this course my advice to you would be to take your time to make the right decision if you have gone straight through from school to university I guess you will be 21-22, so there is no rush, if completing a masters will get you the specific job you are looking for I would say go for that. There are hundreds like yourself, including me so try not to worry. If you are more open to various careers try joining a graduate recruitment agency, I'm un aware if you have them in Africa, but in England there are ones such as prospects, and hobsons. Try contacting your place of study and maybe they can direct you from there. Hope that helps.

I don't know how things work in Botswana, but where I live, volunteering is considered experience. So could you start volunteering somewhere in your field, at a hospital or for a local charity? While I was attending university I did a lot of volunteer work and was eventually offered a couple of part-time jobs with the organizations I volunteered with. I had to volunteer with them for a while of course, but it was worth it to get the jobs. And I now have all that experience on my resume, as well as a couple of awards for volunteerism! The great thing about volunteering is, you can really "shine" as far as your gifts and talents. You don't have to be afraid to try new things, because no one will fire you! :p And you gain all kinds of experience, make contacts in the community, and feel you are making a positive contribution. I know of several other people who've gotten jobs this way. Case in point: a friend of mine wanted to be a teacher's assistant. She volunteered with the local school board for a year, and then they offered her a job! Now she works for them full time, and loves it.

I think that is a very good idea and I have considered it. The problem is I work from Monday to Saturday and my boss is a j**k a** who thinks I don't need time off. But this is about me and I do have to get out of this dead end job. So yes, I will do some investigation and get myself involved, especially in an AIDS Awareness Programme, I'd like that. Thank you. For awhile there I 4got what it was I studied for and you just reminded me. My country is very small and because of that it is rated one of the highest Aids infested countries in the world. Its time I helped. Don't you think?

One of the places I volunteered at was a local HIV/AIDS organization. It looks really good on a resume, and it was rewarding work! Actually we had some nursing students from Botswana, who were participating in an exchange program through the university, who came and helped out at the organization for the few months they were in Canada. They had a lot of great ideas, but I think I liked their cooking best! :p

If your boss is a jerk and won't give you time off, I guess you'll have to start small, just doing a couple of hours of volunteer work a week, on the weekends or whenever you have time... that's best in the beginning anyway though, because the organization you volunteer for needs to get to know you and trust you.

Good luck! :)

Thank you Orange, your advice is greatly appreciated and I will make time to do volunteer work, especially on weekends. My plan is to also find work with more flexible hours in the mean time, even if it has nothing to do with my degree. Do you by any chance have contact details of some of the Botswana ladies you worked with? They may be able to help me out as well. By the way, as a motswana lady, I do understand why you would enjoy our cooking. Thanks again.

Glad I could help! :)

I don't remember their last names offhand, but I can contact the organization and I'm sure someone there would know. I will get back to you when I find out.

I can not speak for your country, but many times you have to start in much lower paying jobs in a field, and even work in part time positions to get experience.

Also, at least here in the US, most jobs in those degrees will require a masters at least for most entry level jobs.

And of course many of us end up not working in our degree field. I have no figures but my guess is most people after a few years end up outside of their degree fielf for varouis reasons.

I have been thinking about continuing my studies up to a masters. I thought I would stand a better chance getting into the field that I wanted. I understand that most graduants end up in fields they did not study for. I just don't want to be one of them. Its sad that after the time and effort (sllepless nights) one puts into getting a degree, you only end up doing a job you have no passion for. I have every intention of continuing my studies... eventually. As for now I need to live and that requires an income. In the mean time, volunteer work seems like the best option. That I will do. We live in a time where passion means nothing when it comes to a career choice, and money means everything. True, I studied to get a good job to earn 'money', but I want to earn money doing a job I love. Right now I have no passion for the job that I'm doing and I'm I'm afraid that one day I'll wake up doing the same job and hating myself for it. I have seen a lot of people getting sucked into jobs they are miserable with cause eventually they see no way out. I pray I don't go down road.