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TOPIC: Dear Prudie: Student Debt and Job Choice

Lady Gaga Snerd

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Status: Offline

Posts: 25897

Date: Oct 27, 2014

Dear Prudie: Student Debt and Job Choice	Permalink

Dear Prudence, Like a lot of young adults, I’m a twentysomething woman with a pretty high student loan debt. I graduated from high school at a time when we were being told by everyone that any loans we took out for our educations we would be able to pay back right away. Now I know better. When I graduated university, I had trouble finding a job and ended up as a cashier in a large retail company. I kept the position while going to graduate school and working two other jobs. Three years after starting at the company I have a masters degree and some good experience in my field. I also have been promoted twice at my store, and broken into management. I love my job now. I’ve found it to be fast-paced, interesting, and a great use of my skills. This company has helped me grow personally and professionally, and I am so proud of what I’m accomplishing as a manager. I want to stay and continue to climb the ladder. Right now it doesn’t pay as much as I could get if I went on to the field I have a degree in, but I see so much more potential for growth than I did in my graduate assistantship. Lately I have been getting a lot of questions about when I plan to start my career and some condescending comments about how unimportant my job is. I’m also not sure if I’m making the wrong choice, and setting myself up for a life of debt. What do you think? —On the Ladder Dear On, Read this story of how Karen Kaplan went from being a receptionist to the CEO of Hill Holliday, one of the country’s top ad agencies. I’m not surprised your company recognized they had something special in you. Not many people could juggle graduate school and two jobs. Whatever it was you were studying, you obviously have a superhuman capacity for work and a rare ability to meet your goals. Good for your employers for recognizing your talent and drive and rewarding it. Keep impressing people, and you’ll continue to climb. Since you started at a low pay base, you must ask for raises commensurate with your accomplishments and your education. You need to point out that now you have both a great track record at the company and a graduate degree, so you would like to increase your compensation appropriate to your experience and education. It’s fine if your degree is in a subject not obviously related to retail. Make the case that what you learned in graduate school about analyzing complex data (or whatever) is something you apply every day. Also check that you’re handling your loans in the most efficient way—here’s a New York Times column full of tips on this. You do not express any longing for what sounds like a now-abandoned academic track. You do express a desire to make a mark as a corporate manager. So tell those naysayers that you’ve already launched your career and you feel grateful to have found a rewarding way to use your skills and abilities. When you become a CEO and profiles start getting written about you, please mention that one lesson you’ve learned is that when you’re having a major dilemma, it’s good to turn to a neutral person for advice. —Prudie http://www.slate.com/articles/life/dear_prudence/2014/10/dear_prudence_on_halloween_poor_kids_come_to_trick_or_treat_in_my_neighborhood.html __________________ https://politicsandstuff.proboards.com/

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