After college, how long did it take you to get a job?

One you applied your degree towards.

I found a job teaching English a few months after I graduated, but that's not particularly good since it was right before school started and the only job I could find was at a horrible school three counties away from my home. I found teaching was awful, so I quit the field.

It's tough getting into a new field. You usually have to start at the bottom and work your way up. If you want to increase your chances, doing well in school helps, but personal connections are at least as important. Try to make contacts with other people in your same field of study who look likely to be successful for they can often offer you new connections (some have family with connections and some will become successful on their own and make their own connections). For the same reason, it's often a good idea to talk to people in the field and get some insight into the best way to be successful. If there are any prestigious internships available for your field, apply for them. Success means a great stepping stone, and even if you fail, you still made contacts.

I take these lessons from people who have been successful in various fields. I suck, but take a lesson from my successful acquaintances.

I'm African American (e.g. mixed with Native American and Caucasian, more precisely) and it took me approximately 11 months between school and an explicit job offer in my field of study, chemistry. But, in terms of focused effort, it took 4-5 months. I used a temp service to get by and tried to get any job I could find, in between school and work; during this period, I briefly worked on the night shift for K-Mart; hurting efforts was lack of personal transporting and being homeless during this time.

Now, due to long standing employment litigation and associated blacklisting, I'm unable to find a job, until I get my job back, after the resolution of my case, likely in my favor, despite how long it's taking; I'm using my entrepreneurial efforts now to survive, increase my net income through a business, and, I'll likely get an employment attorney to take my case out of suspended ether status and into my favor; now, it's a little about the job, mostly about justice, a little about getting back my stolen dreams, and just getting the position back; time has taught me that life can have more for you, even after something as precious as fulfilling your childhood dreams. I liked science; I'm also mapping out a possible plan for graduate school; I also got a BS degree in physics, so, graduate school is likely to be in physics (e.g. being a chemist, probably, something related to particle physics). From there, might be in a life science field like bio-organic chemistry; I might become a professional graduate student for a bit, than work in university research, write scientific papers, and hopefully get at least one Nobel Prize; I know, I know, that sounds dreamy, but, I had everyone tell me that all the way up until I actually became a chemist on the earlier occasion. During that time, I should also be an established business owner

I dropped out of college not due to bad grades but due to the fact I practically had a mental breakdown, but I'm going back there soon (to study a different course).

I graduated on July but I was already starting to look for a job back in December before graduation. Still took me till September --> NINE months - to get a job with a somewhat decent salary and relevant to my area of study.

Might be digressing a bit, but after university I realized how irrelevant I am to the actual industry, on hindsight I shouldn't have concentrated all my efforts on theory (And hence school grades) so much but give some of my attention to what is in practice for the industry I am in. Became cynical and sick of my work and environment over time (For various reasons), that I recently got a job that is almost completely irrelevant to my area of work despite all my investments into my university studies. The offered salary isn't groundbreaking, but at least I don't need to hear cynical complaints from my colleagues about how terrible their salaries are compared to their counterparts in the same industries.

Hehe I've finished my studies I still haven't gotten one. Well at least not a full time one, just working on random projects.

But hey hehe it does have its upsides. I get loads of free time =)

I graduated, got a decent job about 3 months later completely unrelated to my field.

Still doing nothing related to my field.

Go to trade school for practical skills or get certified in networking or programming or web design. I would make a lot more if I had just done that and I wouldnt be in debt for student loans.

There's a reason they want everyone to go to college and have sales pitches. It's a business. It isn't necessary for many people to go, you can still make a good or great living getting actual practical experience without being in debt.

2 months.

Still in college, but it took eight years between graduating high school and getting a job.

This for me too.

I agree completely.

Still in college, but with the career I want, I won't really be able to get a job related to my degree right after college wooo...

@claymore1998: thats sad :-( i hope you will get a job soon.

That's alright hehe. I am not fussed. I like being lazy :D

5 years.

A year. I only got it because of someone I knew.

It is a literal war out there for everything, including jobs.

The 6000 Global elite people who hold close to 60 percent of the world's wealth, acting as hoarders of wealth, are a major force against anyone looking for a job.

The global economy is going into collapse. The economy is shrinking and someday soon a bag of coli-flour or rice will cost a literal arm and leg.

It also doesn't help that some major Corporations are largely tax exempt and ship most of their jobs overseas, away from the country.

Total economic, political and military war is being waged. The world is tough.

I spent my last year in an internship (required) and was offered a full time position as soon as I graduated.

About 10 months, but I was very picky of what kind of job I wanted to do.

1 year

Your school did you a great service by forcing you to do an internship for a year; you should be grateful; a couple of months into applying for a job in my career (my major), right after school, I was wishing that I had taken it slightly more seriously, even though I did do a couple of summer long internships; however, I did intend to do a co-op, if I would have gotten one more semester, as it was offered to me by Argonne National Laboratory, the prior summer of having interned with them, but, I was involuntarily ejected from school (Washington University in St. Louis), depriving of that extra semester; I blamed myself, as it was mostly my doing, but, based on my plea, the school still should have given me a break and let me have that one extra semester; they just took advantage of my momentary display of vulnerability, to take the opposite action that I was intending; now, they seemed scared to let me back in, when I tried in 2012, to finish that degree and resolve a regret (between the time they'd ejected me from school and the time I requested reentry, I'd worked 5 years as a chemist, clearly proving any necessary changes in maturity had transpired; they say they will consider my plea, after I cover a back loan). Right now, just to resolve that regret, I may be the first graduate student to reenter undergraduate school to resolve a regret, as I need it to move forward.

I still don't have a job pertaining to my career. Two years later.

What was your major? Did you do an internship or a co-op?

Still in college. But I know someone who has almost a year without starting her career(Criminal Justice)

@dshipp17: Communications with a minor in film. I probably have to go to a bigger city to take advantage of it.

Did you do an internship or a co-op, while you were in college? Maybe you can go back to your school as an alumni and see what job they'd recommend that you pursue; at this state, you might want to consider more school or maybe even graduate school for financial aid, since you got your BS diploma, right?

@dshipp17: I am grateful, but then again, interning being a requisite for graduation was a big part of why I attended the school I did. I believe more colleges and the like should have a heavy focus on internship as part of their curriculum. It helps with several issues all at once; lack of practical experience hindering a person's employment prospects and assisting students who couldn't afford taking an internship in the first place, as most are unpaid and student loans come into affect within months of graduation.

What's the name of the school that requires at least a year in internship in order to graduate? Just to help future students to know a school with good, real world, practical training for its students.

@dshipp17: Actually, there are several colleges that require an internship to graduate where I am but it's mostly for trades where an apprenticeship is expected or in areas of parallel professions like law clerking or technicians in the medical field. For me, I liked where the internship was going to be in my final year rather than the internship itself in choosing my school. The program is offered everywhere in my province (Ontario, Canada) through various accredited colleges, although things are getting stricter now. In my case, I transferred out of university to go into a college that offered a program for the career I have now and completed my bachelor degree in tandem with my internship by returning to university in my last year of college. Things are done differently in Canada, in terms of what people call university and college. It can be confusing if you don't live here. Heck, it's still confusing.

As for an actual under graduate bachelor degree requiring internship to graduate in the area studied, there is only one university I am aware of that has gone in this direction and that is the University of Toronto, but their Scarborough campus, specifically. I have a few friends there now who are finishing up their degrees and who expect to have an easier time of getting jobs because of their required co op placements.

Oh, had to be in Canada. This is as very good idea for colleges and universities in the United States to consider.

I interned with a Big 4 accounting firm after junior year and was offered a job at the end of it so I had a job lined up before going into my final year.

Yes, that's what benefits interns can lead, under the optimal conditions. Under different circumstances, this looks like where I was heading with Argonne National Laboratory (e.g. but, when offered a 1 year co-op, I still had one more year of school in the engineering program, possibly 2, and, of course, it wasn't to be, since I had an early exit from school; but, I would have shined in trying to land my career at Argonne National Laboratory).