Free Career and Job Search Advice

[VaRu]

I am from Minnesota, United States.

Hello!

I am actively looking for a career and I would appreciate if anyone made any recommendations based on my situation.

I have a B.A. in English and I am two classes away from completing a Master's Degree in education. I am 24, and my hope since I graduated from high school was to become a teacher. I have had many tutoring and small-group teaching experiences that have been successful. But as I entered student teaching, I struggled with classroom management/discipline much more than I expected. I have tried student teaching in two different schools, but my performance was clearly below average. So in March I decided to quit leave the school, following all the appropriate procedures of course.

In any case, one of my problems is that I can't put anything on my resume aside from tutoring/teaching jobs and my academics. Because I thought I'd be a teacher, I focused on school and the only other job I had was cashiering at a grocery store for two years. Right now I am looking at different jobs that I could get. A part of me wants to abandon education completely and just build on my English degree somehow. If I couldn't become a teacher, why stay in education? But since almost all of my resume is education-related -- and I still like helping kids and adults -- it's tempting for me to try and find some kind of educational work.

I would appreciate any advice anyone has for what I could do in my situation. I know that if I were an employer hiring for clerical or customer service work etc, I would be hesitant to hire someone whose only successful job experiences were tutoring and assisting teachers. But maybe I could make it work somehow.

I am sorry for rambling on a little bit, and thank you again for any and all advice!

[jeter4982]

Well in the interim, you may want to consider a job as a freelance writer. This will not only be a good thing to add on to your resume, and possibly even help get you a teaching job, but it will also bring in some cash while you look to build your career. You could also work as a substute teacher while you are doing this, helping build your management skills, but still giving you free time to work on the writing. Best of luck with your career!

Tom

[VaRu]

Thanks a lot, Tom. I will start thinking about both of your suggestions!