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Need help: Job, Central Purpose, Country

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Hey. I haven't been here for a while.

I thought some of you might find pleasure in helping me, if not I will delete my rantings after a while.

 

I am currently looking for work and not finding anything. My background: Master of Arts in English with specialization in Linguistics. Did my master thesis on the linguistics of brand names. Thought I would end up with a company like Lexicon Branding or at least entry level marketing (trainee), but that seems to be a dream that will not come true soon. Probably I have to give up my apartment if I don't find anything.

 

I increasingly feel like studying was a waste of time. It was interesting, but I can't find anything. And I am also wondering whether I will ever find a central purpose in my life. It is not that I am not interested in business degrees, but I have always been bad in math, and I think that is haunting me as well. I would be able to perform adequately in business if given a calculator, but most tests to get in there require doing it without (as if anyone would ever do it without in real life).

Should I seek employment involving hard work? They would probably tell me I am overqualified. But even Roark did it, and I currently don't feel like I am in any way able to compare myself to him. 

 

Not sure, what to do going forward. I feel like I might be in a country where economic freedom is not as high as in others, maybe I could find better opportunities in the States. Immigration is not really an option, since it is almost impossible to obtain a green card if you have limited work experience. 

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Do you definitely want to get into marketing or advertising? If you're open to other options at present, there's many research opportunities at universities if you can get a PhD fellowship (meaning you wouldn't have to pay for your degree). You'd be matched up with an advisor in your field, be able to work on your dissertation, and be able to work at the school- since you have a BA, this could be an assistant teaching position or something similar. I don't know about linguistics specifically, but having a PhD will definitely get you in somewhere. I would check out other options before doing manual labor, unless you're particularly interested in that.

 

Edit: Another option is to get your PhD in a different field

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Thanks for the answer and suggestions.
I taught as an M.A. for a semester. But there is a new professor and he brought his assistants with him, so they did not extend my contract. Also I thought about leaving university for a while. Higher education bubble etc.
I don't think a PhD in the humanities would be a good idea and would not really increase my employability. I am not so sure about getting into marketing or advertising, but that is where I have at least some knowledge.
I have thought about MBA. I've talked to an MBA part-time school here, and they would accept me with a corporations to work for half a week. Same thing: I need to find a job.
 

May I ask you what you are doing?

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Hmm- did you like teaching? You might be able to teach at a community college- that would give you a lot of flexibility (ie: teaching a few days a week, working elsewhere, or studying a different subject). If that's not your thing, think about why you chose to study english & linguistics. Was there was some job you wanted to get, or some specific field you wanted to get into? Doing a quick google search, I found some job prospects for people with linguistics specializations. (Some of these sound really cool- like the neurolinguistics research job):
 

Graduate degrees in applied linguistics can lead to jobs in education: teaching foreign languages, teaching English as a Second Language (ESL), working in a bilingualism program at elementary or high school level. Or it may lead to jobs in other areas, such as translation, research and documentation of endangered languages, or working for religious organizations to research lesser-known languages, for the purpose of developing grammar books, teaching materials and Bible translation. In a psycholinguistics program, students may focus on the processing of language, the development and acquisition of language, or the loss of language (through aging or disease), among other things. Neurolinguistics focuses on language in the brain, and graduates usually work in a university or hospital setting, working with aphasia patients, and/or running experiments using the latest technology (fMRI, MRI, PET, MEG, etc.) Computational linguists work in high tech firms, developing and testing models for improving or creating new software in areas such as speech recognition, dictionary development, grammar checkers, etc...

 

Students have attended graduate school in fields such as speech pathology, law, criminal justice, and business...

 

...For example, several of our students have gone on to be lab coordinators at large research labs (here at Northeastern, and at Harvard). Others have decided to work abroad teaching English in countries like France or Brazil. Several have gone to work for publishing companies, either in editing, or developing educational materials such as textbooks and classroom materials for language arts and foreign language texts. Still others decide to become teachers, and earn their certification to teach at the elementary school or high school levels. -Source

 

Maybe you can make a list of all your options, pick the top three areas that you're interested in, then talk to an advisor at your school to see how you can pursue each of them. From there, you'll be able to narrow down the list based on your qualifications and specific interests.

 

Edit: Getting an MBA would be cool, but make sure it will serve some purpose before you take the plunge- especially if you have to take out loans to get it.

Edited by mdegges
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You seem to be very focused to be involved in business ventures only. I wouldn't bring Roark up or any fictional character here, because they don't have even your emotions or values. Business is fine, but I don't find it interesting, so I didn't pursue it personally. I prefer academia/research/science. Maybe you'd be interested in that. Neurolinguistics and psycholinguistics are important fields, for instance, and I think you'd be able to find research opportunities at a university. I imagine you still find linguistics interesting? If you did well in school, does a PhD interest you? I don't mean you'd be more employable per se, but the point of going for a PhD seems to have a lot of opportunity for self-advancement by being able to direct your own interests. In fact, to do high level academic work requires a lot of independent thinking.

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Just because you can't find work right now doesn't mean you'll never find work. The ticket to life really is, "Try, try again." If you can't find what you're looking for, or maybe don't know what you're looking for, keep trying. If you can't find it in time for making rent, find another way to make the money in the meantime -- take any job that will pay the bills, and be a good worker while you're there.

If you don't have a main goal for yourself, keep trying until you find one that you like enough to give it everything you've got. Once you have that goal, and you really, really want it, go for it. But then, of course, you can always change your mind later, or change anything along the way if you need.

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You seem to be very focused to be involved in business ventures only. I wouldn't bring Roark up or any fictional character here, because they don't have even your emotions or values. Business is fine, but I don't find it interesting, so I didn't pursue it personally. I prefer academia/research/science. Maybe you'd be interested in that. Neurolinguistics and psycholinguistics are important fields, for instance, and I think you'd be able to find research opportunities at a university. I imagine you still find linguistics interesting? If you did well in school, does a PhD interest you? I don't mean you'd be more employable per se, but the point of going for a PhD seems to have a lot of opportunity for self-advancement by being able to direct your own interests. In fact, to do high level academic work requires a lot of independent thinking.

 

I did not study neurolinguistics and psycholinguistics. My master's thesis was on language issues in branding. My Bachelor's thesis was on the language of advertising. So I am rather looking in that direction. And I don't really want to do a PhD. 

 

Just because you can't find work right now doesn't mean you'll never find work. The ticket to life really is, "Try, try again." If you can't find what you're looking for, or maybe don't know what you're looking for, keep trying. If you can't find it in time for making rent, find another way to make the money in the meantime -- take any job that will pay the bills, and be a good worker while you're there.

If you don't have a main goal for yourself, keep trying until you find one that you like enough to give it everything you've got. Once you have that goal, and you really, really want it, go for it. But then, of course, you can always change your mind later, or change anything along the way if you need.

 

That, of course, is true. But it is easier said than done. 

But thanks for your words, y'all.

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