FRUSTRATED! I have a B.A. in biology yet I want to work in the business world. How can I get hired??

Question

I graduated from college with a B.A. in biology and I didn't know what I want to do with that degree. I don't really want to work in labs and I don't want to go into a pre-health field like medicine or dentistry or pharmacy. Instead I want to work in the business field. The only reason why I even got a biology degree was because my parents pressured me into studying science and I thought I wanted to be a pharmacist. However, after working at a pharmacy for quite some time now as a tech, I knew that pharmacy was not what I wanted to do. Soooo, I decided to just continue with a bio degree since it was my junior year and all of my classes were bio and chem at that time (because of the pre-pharmacy required courses). I didn't want to start over from scratch studying something else...

Anyways, now I find myself in a bind because I don't want to work in anything related with science. I want to work in a business type enviornment. I was thinking of areas such as HR or even starting as a client associate with a company and then work my way up over the years. The only problem is that I don't have ANY prior business-related experience or education. When I search for job opening on all of the internet job sites, they all ask for at least 1 experience and a B.A. in some kind of business field, like marketing, finance, or even economics.

I don't know what to do...I'm 24 years old and sooo frustrated that I still don't have a career job. Does anyone know how I can get myself into the business world without having any prior experience or knowledge. I was thinking about maybe even getting an intern position somehwere but I don't know. Will they give someone with a biology degree an internship? What do you guys think?

Also, if I wanted to go into HR, what entry level job positions would I need to get in order to work myself up into that field.

So sorry that this is so long! Thank you for taking the time to read this. Any advice would be appreciated!!

Answer 1

HR can be difficult to get into without any business classes. Consider being an HR assistant or an admin assistant for a while to build up business skills. (And be sure to FULLY explain why you want to go for these positions in your cover letters and interviews, otherwise they will toss your resume aside, figuring that you are going to leave them in a few months when you get a "real" job in your field.)

Also look into taking classes to get an HR certificate (or another more general certificate in business), or getting your MBA. I know the last thing you want to do is go back to school! These are certificates offered by UCI, as an example of what you should look for. I did the HR certificate program several years ago and I find this certificate very valuable. http://unex.uci.edu/certificates/busines...

Also consider a consulting career; environmental consultants utilize biologists to conduct environmental surveys. However, since you have a BA in bio instead of a BS, you may run into difficulties with finding a postition at the entry level. Consultants typically want someone with a "hard science" background. Here is an example of one company http://www.chambersgroupinc.com/

Answer 2

You are right that most companies are looking for at least a year's work experience for an entry-level job these days, and it will be harder to convince them that this is really what you want to do if your degree is in biology, unless you can find something in a biotech firm.  

Unfortunately, you hit the market at a difficult time.  A couple of years ago you would have had far less trouble with this, but as companies have cut back, they have become more specific about what they want.

You could certainly try to get an internship, if you can wait long enough to get paid for that.  You might try talking to the career center at the school from which you graduated.  They often provide services to alumni.

Answer 3

1] You can do an external course from a private institution or do a bacheolar degree course from an open university.

2]Do a certificate course in the field you want to excel.

eg. Diploma in Retaill Management etc.