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SmartMoney has an article on its front page today talking about seven career fields that college graduates can work. The list is pretty good if you have an accounting, engineering, or computer science (IT) degree, but if you are anyone else things are not looking too good for you.

From the article:

That liberal arts degree isn’t a total waste. Various companies are looking for business or liberal arts students to fill their management training programs.

Rental car agency Enterprise?Rent-A-Car says it plans to hire 8,000 college grads by July, many of whom will start out at a rental branch in a customer service position and, within a year, move up to assistant manager, according to spokesperson Lisa Martini. L’Oreal and Macy’s are also seeking graduates to join their training programs, says Trudy Steinfeld, executive director New York University’s Wasserman Center for Career Development.

Wow. So, if you’re a liberal arts major you can start your life by working at a car rental place? I think that the “promise” of being able to be an assistant manager within a year is a complete joke.

Recently, I found a job that promised the same thing, but when I started talking to other employees about wanting to move into corporate to work in marketing all I got was a laugh. During my interview with this company, I was told that after about a year and a half I would be able to get a promotion (from a retail sales position at a department store) to area sales manager, it just moved up from there depending on if you wanted to have a higher store position or a corporate position.

Well, that all went out the window when I spoke to a girl who graduated with a marketing degree two years before I did. She was working the exact same position I was and was actually making $9 an hour, $1 less than I was.

I’m sure that there are companies out there that want to hire graduates to promote them, but I know at least one that is taking advantage of graduates on a regular basis. Besides, Enterprise wants to hire 8,000 new grads to move them into assistant manager positions? Does it have that many stores? Some of those graduates will be making minimum wage for a bit longer than a year.

SmartMoney: 7 Places Where College Grads can Find Work

Jeremy

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