Prudent and Practical

So, I”m finishing up my bachelor’s degree in a couple weeks.  After seven years, three different majors, three different colleges, and quitting school once for six months, I will finally have my B.S. in Horticulture!  Horticulture is the study of cultivated plants, similar to botany, but a wider field.  Common jobs include working for major corporations doing research (think Monsanto, Syngenta, and Pioneer), landscape design, landscape/grounds maintenance, greenhouse or nursery management, or golf course superintendent.  I could also work at an arboretum, botanical garden, publisher, or for the USDA.  If I wanted to continue my education, I could be a professor.

See, I know my options and I have a general idea about the job outlook.  I’m nervous about the economy though.  I’ve been looking for jobs and from everybody I’ve gotten, “Well, we’re not hiring this year.”  Economy, I think they’re saying it’s your fault!

There are a few sites that I use to find jobs:

• Hort Jobs is for those seeking a horticulture type job
• Indeed.com is a comprehensive search.  They cover other websites such as (Career Builder and Monster) as well as online newspaper jobs.
• Workforce Development in my area lists a lot of cleaning, gas station, and metal fabrication jobs, but occasionally a hort-type job shows up.  Most jobs require little to no experience but frequently there are jobs that require an associates or bachelor’s degree.  I’ve found that employers in my area don’t want to hire someone who’s over qualified.

If you aren’t sure what you want to do when you “grow up,” there are a few different places where you can research a variety of college fields and the coresponding pay.

• The Bureau of Labor and Statistic’s Occupational Outlook Handbook allows you to search for many different fields.  They have very detailed explanations of occupations as well as salary information and future outlook.
• PayScale offers different options for checking salaries.  Jobseekers can check on pay rates depending on field and location.
• Salary.com is similar to Payscale.