What I Did with a Bachelors of Business Administration Degree

When I graduated from college in 1989, the job market for recent college grads was depressed, to say the least. Recent reports say that those who graduated from college in 2009 are facing the worst job market since 1989, so I feel their pain. Of course, the looming question is: what does one do with a college degree in a down job market?

My first is advice is to find a job- any job. Case in point: I have a friend that has two recent college grads at home. One was a brilliant philosophy major who now sleeps late and plays computer games all day. The other was an education major who waits tables at night and occasionally works days as a substitute teacher. (Pop quiz: Which one will be self-sustaining first?)

When I was in college I waited tables and tended bar, so after graduating I still had a "job", per se. However, like most of my recently graduated friends, I couldn't buy a real job. So, a friend and I decided to start our own freelance advertising business. We had absolutely no experience, but since we had our degrees and some credit cards we figured we were all set.

We got our first client, which was really cool, and came up with a killer campaign. Then we realized that we had no way to produce it. Hmmm. That was a real stumper. It was like we hadn't gotten that far in our coursework. Being 1989, there was no digital photography, and desktop publishing seemed like something from an episode of The Jetsons. Needless to say, our "company" quickly disbanded as we realized the rent was due.

One of the smartest things I ever did was keep my job as a night-time cocktail waitress. I was really rakin' in the bucks, averaging over $12 an hour at a time when minimum wage was $3.35. That worked well so I stuck with it. Meanwhile, my parents kept asking me when I was going to get "a real job".

The one avenue that's always open to graduates with a bachelors of business administration degree is sales, so into sales I went. Life insurance sales, car sales, time management sales... you name it. I bounced around from one sales job to the next.

Sales wasn't my first choice as a career path, and it soon became apparent that Plan B doesn't always work. I was really bad at it. But since I couldn't get a job in advertising, couldn't start my own company, and couldn't work in bars all night for the rest of my life, a sales career seemed like the only option in which I could (air quotes) use my degree.

Needless to say, my career in sales was short-lived. Luckily, I was so bad at it that I had to keep my night job, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise. I continued in the bar business for a total of 22 years- I had a great time at it and I made a pretty decent living.

Then in 2005 I lost my job, mainly due to the economy. Several local factories that we relied heavily on for business either closed or had massive down-sizing. Without their business, the bar closed.

At that point I'd had enough of the bar business and, in an ironic twist for a person with a business degree, landed a job as an office administrator at a non-profit organization. As it turns out, I love it there! And since the job requirement was "associate's required, bachelor's preferred" it was a good thing that I had that bachelor's degree in business!

As a post-script, in 2007 I decided to take another stab at freelancing, but this time as a writer. The Internet is filled with opportunities for freelance writers! It works out really well for me because I'm able to keep my day job and write what I want when I want. I'm very lucky to be among the few who love what they do for a living.

My second piece of advice is: If you have a college degree and can't find a job, explore the possibilities of web freelancing! You might just find that it's a good fit.