She Works Hard For The Money

I’ve been chatting a lot about the wonders of Twitter. I feel everyone should have a Twitter account. If you’re not into celebrities and do not like following everything they do in a given day like yours truly, Twitter can still be very useful. An example is that I follow numerous New York City twitter accounts that give me information such as shopping tips (there was a Manolo Blahnik sample sale last week selling shoes from as low as 100 dollars). I also get updates on filming sights, top eateries, and specials throughout the city. I was able to buy tickets to see Broadway star Jonathan Groff because a Twitter account announced he would be playing at Joe’s Pub. I was one of the first to purchase tickets and got them for 23 dollars a piece – they sold out not long afterwards. Most companies have now hopped on the Twitter bandwagon as well, and job searching and gaining information has become much easier. I’m a firm believer in being well versed in the next big thing. It’s one of the reasons I want an IPad and it’s why I read the WSJ on a daily basis. New social media sights are always popping up, and in this tough market, if you are slow at discovering new information, you will be left behind.

Most news sources have Twitter accounts as well, and all of the top stories of the day often become “trending topics” – stick with me reader who is unfamiliar with twitter terminology. A trending topic is a word or phrase that is mentioned quite often in posts by twitter users. For example, many people were posting about the Times Square bomber the other day, and his name (once discovered) became a trending topic. I follow topics in the NYC region, and today at the top of the list was “Worst-Paying College Degrees.” Usually, trending topics (TTs) are not this stiff. “MyFirstKiss” was trending at a close second. I was intrigued, so I clicked on the TT and found that it stemmed from a Huffington Post article posted today in their college section.

I found this article interesting (and not too shocking). Obviously, Finance is not on the list and Drama is, but I was focusing more on people’s interest in making money. We all want to make money, or at least I do, but how far do people go in order to make money? Social work was on this list (sorry E!), and I couldn’t help thinking about how we need social workers, and what a valiant decision it is to go into such a field and deal with so much heartbreak. Elementary Ed was also on the list (not sure if this counts for N, but if it does, sorry for you too!) I’m interested to know how many people decide every year to step away from the Elementary Education field because the pay is too low. My major (shockingly!) was not on the list. I see two reasons for this. One, English majors go into so many different fields that some of them actually do make money, or two, English majors usually can never find jobs, not even making it on to the list, since they are all sitting in a Starbucks somewhere writing that next big thing that never becomes big. On a cynical day I would go with two, but I’m having a good day, so I’m going to think some of us actually will be able to afford terribly over-priced apartments and nice shoes someday.

I don’t really have a conclusion to my thought process – I just found this information interesting. If popular sites, such as the Huffington Post, are posting articles about the worst paying degrees, we have to assume people will walk away from these fields even if they find them interesting, challenging, and have a passion for them. I don’t necessarily think that’s a good thing since many of these positions are needed. Topics like this always make me do some soul searching of my own. I never was a brilliant actress but I always thought theatre was something I could have excelled at if I would have taken more time to hone my skills. I decided it was too unstable of a career choice for me to take on. Was I selling out the same way others may after reading this article? And what about all of those jobs that need to be filled? I guess someone will do them, but will they be the best of the best? Probably not. I would love to hear your thoughts.

PS Mom started writing about job searching/career etiquette on her blog. Check it out.