Opinions, please.

[Shannacore]

I recently started a pretty great job. Pay is more than I've ever made, the job offers full benefits (to include paying for part of my tuition. I'll be starting a three years Masters Program in January.), paid time off, sick leave, etc. The job is also only part time, so I'm only committed to 20-28 hours a week - perfect since I am still a student / 40 hours a week are for suckas. It's an administrative job at the School of Nursing, which has absolutely nothing to do with my degree or career aspirations (Which is Urban Planning).

Today I discovered that Bernalillo County (where I live) is hiring two interns in the Zoning, Building, and Planning Department. This would be a part time (20 hours or less a week, I assume) position paying a flat rate of $5 less than what I am making now. No benefits. No paid time off. No tuition assistance.

Is it worth giving up the job I have now to get my foot in the door? Planning jobs that don't require "years of experience" are VERY rare, and up until now I virtually have no experience aside from my education. Is the severe drop in pay + benefits worth beginning my career? Or do I wait until my current job has paid for most of my Masters degree? Then start looking for Planning jobs? HELP

[Autotune]

go for the money if it's going to be available for as long as you are to it.

[Slave]

I think a lot of this can depend on how much less $5 less is.

[Lucky]

u r stuck between a rock n a hard place gorl

[Daldolma]

A) 40 hours a week isn't for suckers, it's for paupers. If you want to make money, get ready for a lot more.

B) Nobody gives a quarter of a fuck about internships. If anything, you'll probably be hurting yourself by thinking you have meaningful work experience due to the 15 hours a week you spend filing and copying.

C) I have no idea what your schooling is going to cost but assuming you're planning on working 40 hours a week in a local government job, you're going to be paying it off 50 cents at a time -- so less debt is probably the most important thing.

Also, you're one of like 14 people in America that would describe their job as "pretty great". Enjoy that while it lasts.

[TyroneBiggums]

what type of person asks for advice for real life matters from people who are still immersed in a 36 year old video game. i thought even tralina was smarter then this.

whats next im gonna text Harrison and ask him for the next hot stock picks?

[TyroneBiggums]

http://www.bernco.gov/alljobs/

im gonna app. and send pics of Vodka Sluts 3 , Staring
Tralina

[Klendathu]

Any chance you can do both jobs? I had two jobs while I was in school, one of them an internship. It sucked for the time I was doing it, but it paid off pretty good dividends. My situation is prolly markedly different from yours, but I know that experience is really hard to come by in the beginning. Taking that internship might suck in the short-term, but you'll prolly end up with a better job post-school.

[Zereh]

No contest ~ choose the option that leaves you with the least amount of debt at graduation time.

[Diggles]

I got inturnsherp in my degree's field and the supervisor said he pretty much could get me any job in Juneau so idk

[Heebo]

Take the internship. Not only for experience but to see if it's actually something you want to do with your life.

[Autotune]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fF2xY3rg0MY&t=1m33s


sage advice from youtube.

[LizardNecro]

I'd take the internship. Getting your foot in the door is huge.

I was an dev intern at a video game company my senior year of college, and thanks to that one internship I met senior devs and producers. Thanks to their letters of recommendation I could take my pick of work in the game industry. The president of nintendo called me about a job thanks to one of those letters. Obviously that's an exceptional case but it illustrates the point. It's all about connections.

Take the internship, and show passion. Reach out, take initiative, do a great job. Develop relationships with the people in the planning dept. Then when you graduate you'll have a job where you want to be.

[Sirken]

dont do the intern unless A) u want to work for that company, or B) thats the only way to get into the field u wanna work in. companies nowadays screw kids with internships half the time. so u really gotta be sure it can help u

[Visual]

do you have huge hangers now that youre a bigger girl. not trying to be offensive, im down with the bbw. just curious how thats working out for you, titty wise

[Misto]

If the the job you have now is enough to pay for an apartment and be independent. I'd say that's good enough.

[Ferok]

You'll still be able to get internships when you graduate. If another job will put you through school, take it.

[dragonfists]

You'll still be able to get internships when you graduate. If another job will put you through school, take it.

ya, you have a great gig going now, don't give it up till you get your #1 goal of getting your degree out of the way. you'd just be adding to your stress levels otherwise.

[Daldolma]

Look, it's a pretty simple situation. You have a good thing going that's paying you well and offering to cover part of your tuition, which you may as well tack onto your salary (in addition to interest rates on whatever portion they'd cover).

So let's say the difference in pay, benefits, and tuition coverage (plus interest) amounts to, what? $30k over the course of three years? Could easily be more -- again, I don't know what your schooling will cost or what percentage they'll cover.

Are you going to throw a bet of $30k on your < 20-hour-a-week internship getting you a job you couldn't otherwise get without the internship? Seems like a pretty awful gamble to me. The vast majority of internships don't serve as a foot in the door, they serve as slave labor and a largely useless line on a resume that just lets future employers know you didn't spend that time sitting around in your underwear.

[Everlove]

Agree with Sirken / Daldolma. I own a business and am involved in HR in another fairly large company as well which is semi-related to your desired field. I will say we don't give any real preference to interns. Generally the people with extensive intern experience are less dedicated and thus a bit less desirable as a full-time hire. Also, if you're looking at the private sector as an option... to make something of yourself you'll have to change your mind-set about the 40hr work week once you're finished with school unless you plan to work 2 jobs of course. Good luck!

[Alawen]

This is a really tough decision. Have you interviewed for the internship? You haven't mentioned anything about the environment and people there. Those are important things.

We're in similar positions--working toward competitive fields with not amazing pay scales. If it were me, I'd honestly check out the internship, but I am good at being poor and horribly impractical in general. I think the prudent thing here is to stay where you're at both because of the compensation and because they seem very supportive. Grad school is going to be rough even when you're just working 20-30 hours.

My approach would be to make a list of all the pros and cons of each, everything you can think of, then tack it up on the bathroom mirror or refrigerator door or somewhere you have to look at it several times a day. Then I'd impulsively take the internship in my field, but it would probably be better if you make a more reasoned decision.

[Autotune]

go for the money if it's going to be available for as long as you are to it.

No reason to listen to anything else, I'm telling you right now, that internship will not pay out like your current job will (if you're smart with your money)

If you're not smart with your money, well you're doomed to fail no matter which choice you make...

[Rais]

I did the same thing working for the county I lived in. I left my job at a private company with little benifits, and applied for a slum job with the county. After a year of hell, I was able to attain a job in a field that was pretty cool. I ended up making almost 15 dollars an hour over the job I had left. If I never had my foot in the door with the county, I would have never been able to get that job.

In your case, you are going from good job with benifits with good pay, to worse. You can network with people at the job at your school, just as much as with the job with the county you are thinking of applying for. A intern is pretty much slave labor with no promises.

[MonkeyHelper]

I'd stick with your admin job at the school of nursing. Also you might want to look into entering a Phd. program instead of a masters if you can. Many people don't know but, alot of schools will pay for your Phd. program. In which case you could switch to perhaps an internship while you are in the program and kill 2 birds with 1 stone.

Much luck