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What will you do when you graduate, considering the lack of recruitment?

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
edited March 27 in Work & Study
I wrote a long post, but realised I waffled a bit. The economy has gone tits up, by the time I graduate there won't be any jobs. What should I do? I don't want to do a PhD to be honest, I only wanted a degree to jump up higher in the career ladder. (And of course, for the experience of going to university)

Are there any countries that still have a very healthy / active graduate recruitment market? I would not be averse to moving for a few years; from what I've heard English tends to be the business language anyway and finally if I start looking now I can start to learn a language part time at university for something stupidly cheap like £50 a year.

France? Germany? Zimbabwe?

John Denham, Secretary opf State for Innovation, Universities and Skills
"A rise in recruitment of UK students 2009-2010 is highly unlikely."
- John Denham after announcing to UK Universities that we have too many graduates and there is a national cap now on the amount of new UK students.
Post edited by JustV on
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Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    i may end up in the states. infact its highly likely i will with my prospective jobs, or germany.

    I want to stay here, but the new laws coming in are pushing both live music and my art out of the country...

    its a difficult one..
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    i may end up in the states. infact its highly likely i will with my prospective jobs, or germany.

    I want to stay here, but the new laws coming in are pushing both live music and my art out of the country...

    its a difficult one..

    What new laws?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Get a graduate engineering job, and be damn glad I did an engineering degree, nice stable industry.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Luckily the NHS hasn't been affected so there are quite a few nursing positions looking for newly qualified nurses. Unlike the last few years when it's been horrible finding a nursing job! Glad I'm qualifying when I am.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I'm hoping that things will be better when I graduate (2012) however the following possibilities have occured to me:

    - Do a Masters, which I guess I wouldn't mind apart from the financial aspect.
    - Go back to America/Canada/Australia/New Zealand (wherever I end up lol) and use the contacts I will have made during my year abroad to hopefully get a job.
    - Train to be an English teacher (this option fills me with dread.)
    - Possibly do a law conversion degree.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    new licencing laws meaning its harder to get a live music licence, the law about the loudness of music- i don't fully understand that one, section 64 of the criminal justice bill...there are quite a few which is making life harder

    But i am thinking about going to do a PhD...but i'd have to see how that goes, because there is not usefull MA program for me to do before my PhD...
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Get a graduate engineering job, and be damn glad I did an engineering degree, nice stable industry.

    Good for you :razz: lol. My friend is about to graduate with a MEng in computer science and is a bit annoyed atm because technology / IT seems to be one of the sectors that has been hit badly.

    Have to say though SM, car industry isn't faring too well atm which I would assume a fair amount of engineers go into. (A friend tried to apply lol, on the application form it said what degree do you have: Engineering - electronics / Engineering - aeronautical / etc. :p she had Management Studies lol)

    I just feel a bit betrayed by the government. It pushes people into education by making it an attractive option and telling us we need the qualifications for the careers of tomorrow, and we'll get lots of money, and otherwise we will be bin men with no future.... so we dutifully head off to university, only to find out after 3/4 years of hard graft that the jobs we were enticed with don't exist, or that there are nowhere near enough and they only want people with experience anyway.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I expect there are going to be a lot of people feeling like you do, it's rapidly becoming apparent that the supply of graduates massively exceeds the avaliability of graduate jobs so people are having to look to other places where th'd be better off with experience than the degree.

    Car manufacture is fortunately a relatively small industry from the point of employing engineers. Process engineers deal with everything from oil to food and pharmaceuticals :D
  • JsTJsT Posts: 18,268 Skive's The Limit
    Well I finish Uni in June and I know full well that I'm fucked! :thumb:
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    So nobody has a plan? :p

    I really think the government should be proactive about this and try to either create jobs for this highly skilled work force (the alternative is deskilling) or to create some route for them. Atm they are basically ignoring them and saying if the market slumps free market economics dictates we will take a lower wage and a shitter job. That may be true but then the 'investment' in education that the government and we have made will go to waste.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I finish my BSc Computing for Medical and Health Science degree in Leeds this year. I still have no job.

    At the moment (my plan!) I have applications pending at 4 or 5 different places, but many have either refused me or said that they just wont be employing graduates. I feel lucky to have contacts, and even then I may be struggling.

    I thought my CV was so solid, averaging a 2.1/first through all the semesters I've done and got a shit load of experience- but jobless still.

    It's crazy. It really is.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Get a graduate engineering job, and be damn glad I did an engineering degree, nice stable industry.

    Depends what engineering you're talking about. You can't just say it's a stable industry when so many areas of it aren't. I know for a fact electrical is fucked at the moment, as I'm sure is civil. Mechanical probably isn't doing great either.

    If someone wants a stable industry they should do medicine (or nursing). We'll still need doctors and nurses in a recession.

    As for me, I'll probably leave the country. A few months ago Canada were advertising for graduates. Don't know if that's still case.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    If someone wants a stable industry they should do medicine (or nursing). We'll still need doctors and nurses in a recession.

    :yes:

    I think it will be a while before some of my friends bitch about MTAS again!

    I graduate next year (WTF!) if/where I get a job depends on the foundation school I apply to I suppose. Don't really want to work in the deanary where I trained, I've been told so long as I pass finals then I pretty much have a job.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Well I'm hoping they'll still need nurses when I qualify!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I don't know. I have loads of work experience, transferrable skills, etc. but none of the graduate schemes appeal to me so I'm just hoping that a "normal" job will open up. I have to wait until about May before I can apply, though, as I'm not free until August.

    I want to work in the third sector or the public sector, I think I'd like to do research or social policy.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    xsazx wrote: »
    Should hopefully be ok as don't graduate for just over 6 yrs and when I do the uni garentees you FY1/FY2 employment :)
    I know, for all that it's tremendously hard work and the government is making it harder by the year for FY1/2 students, sometimes I wish I had done medicine...
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    While I knew I was going to pursue my PhD following my undergrad degree, about a month ago I was shitting it because my PhD funding had dried up, I had no income to speak of, and very little in the way of job prospects given the state of the economy. I had applied for a bunch of jobs and got about 10 'thanks but no thanks' letters from nearly all of them. I did, however, also get two interviews, and out of those two interviews I got offered one job. So although the economy is going down the drains at the moment, parts of academia are still going ok-ish.

    I would say that the benefit of doing a (funded) PhD is that it's an income for the next 3-4 years, and hopefully by that time the economy will have settled down. What I'm now shitting myself for is funding cutbacks in my department or university... Don't really want to move all the way down to Birmingham to be 'last in, first out'..... :nervous:
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I graduated in July and I'm still temping at the moment, I'm in the application process for a job I want but it's not a graduate job, just a normal one. I never expected myself to go for a graduate job though, and we only planned for me to work for 2-3 years until we start a family. My aim is to earn £15,000 a year by the time this year is out, I don't know if that's a practical or modest aim or aiming low but we'll see.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Join the civil service.

    It is what I am trying to do... So I can work a few years, save up and maybe do an evening course and learn some hands on skills.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    ive already graduated, but seeing as im travelling before getting a job i guess im included in this

    uhrm, i got a degree in 'film set design' so ideally when I get home Id like to get a job doing that.. or doing anything in film production really!!

    Im guessing that will probably be quite hard to do though, so in all liklihood ill probably end up working for my dad for a while before i can find a job i really want :chin:
    id either work for him as his personal assitant at his law firm OR theres the possibilty of working as a editor/designer at his glass-making factory :yeees: neither really my thing
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    yeah but at least you have the security of a job either way :)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Namaste wrote: »
    Join the civil service.

    It is what I am trying to do... So I can work a few years, save up and maybe do an evening course and learn some hands on skills.

    Yea this is the kicker - getting a degree basically sets you up on a foundation for further learning imo. So you can get a job and start learning those really high order skills. I am really tempted to become a MCSE when I graduate, even though it's not directly related to my degree, I think if I did well in that then my degree would allow to get past the glass ceilings and into management.

    For the time being any job would be nice though lol.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    ShyBoy wrote: »
    Good for you :razz: lol. My friend is about to graduate with a MEng in computer science and is a bit annoyed atm because technology / IT seems to be one of the sectors that has been hit badly.

    Have to say though SM, car industry isn't faring too well atm which I would assume a fair amount of engineers go into. (A friend tried to apply lol, on the application form it said what degree do you have: Engineering - electronics / Engineering - aeronautical / etc. :p she had Management Studies lol)

    I just feel a bit betrayed by the government. It pushes people into education by making it an attractive option and telling us we need the qualifications for the careers of tomorrow, and we'll get lots of money, and otherwise we will be bin men with no future.... so we dutifully head off to university, only to find out after 3/4 years of hard graft that the jobs we were enticed with don't exist, or that there are nowhere near enough and they only want people with experience anyway.

    You'll probably have to do crap jobs for a bit, but I graduated during the last recession and within a couple of years the vast majority of my contemparies were working in graduate level jobs. However it doesn't kill you to do shitty dead jobs for a bit, if only to see how the other half lives.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    You'll probably have to do crap jobs for a bit, but I graduated during the last recession and within a couple of years the vast majority of my contemparies were working in graduate level jobs. However it doesn't kill you to do shitty dead jobs for a bit, if only to see how the other half lives.

    Yea, did some warehouse work for a bit and the management thought I was a) queer and b) some kind of genius because I went uni. They treated the staff shit tho and I really didn't like the attitude of management against the staff and the work culture in general so left after not too long.

    I guess the difference now is we as a nation have been pumping out graduates at a higher and higher rate recently, aiming to get something daft like 50% of people through uni.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    ShyBoy wrote: »
    Yea this is the kicker - getting a degree basically sets you up on a foundation for further learning imo. So you can get a job and start learning those really high order skills. I am really tempted to become a MCSE when I graduate, even though it's not directly related to my degree, I think if I did well in that then my degree would allow to get past the glass ceilings and into management.

    For the time being any job would be nice though lol.
    Yeah... I know for me, I just gotta get a new job and relocate to somewhere a bit closer in.

    I plan to learn a new language and start understanding sustainable development... Also a permaculture course. Right now, working in sales and getting in around 7pm shattered is melting my brain.

    I have recently started pondering an Msc in the Environment and Development and maybe one day a PGCE. As somebody who wants to get in to the not for profit sector, the aforementioned degree will hopefully give me better headway in both the environmental and justice/human rights/development sector. I am competing now for jobs against people with masters and above and it's tough.

    Don't give up though, it's gonna be tough and you may end up in shit paid work at first (I am lol!).

    The Department for Work and Pensions will always have jobs in this climate.

    I guess never stop learning? Get yourself a job and keep at it, keep volunteering, picking up new skills, learning. You'll get there then... I think, if you go the extra mile.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Finish my degree next January, hopefully gonna do a Masters and stay working for my current employer.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I'm so incredibly happy to have jumped ship to pursue another job rather than finish my business degree and get sacked with the bankers last October. I know of a few kids I was supposed to graduate with if I hadn't quit that lost their jobs, one of them was a girl who had received scholarships which isn't a common thing in Iceland.

    I feel so lucky today as I'm now in a secure job and am working on finishing my business degree and can then consider whether I'd like to do what I wanted and specialise in something. There's no way I'm quitting my current job to try to get a job with my degree, that's for sure. ;)

    My friend graduated with a BA last September and she's had to make do with a front desk job, it's the only thing she's been offered so far.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I hope to work in Government. I drink in the same local as my MP and he would be friends with the family, offered to take me to Stormont for work experience in the summer, hopefully I'll get a foot in the door that way.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Curvy_lass wrote: »
    Well I'm hoping they'll still need nurses when I qualify!

    Things are actually looking quite good for nurses. Before christmas there was hardley anything but things are picking up even in paediatrics.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Well this summer, if I don't get a job, I'm going to spam posters everywhere advertising myself as a cheap no-fix-no-fee local PC repairman. I know lots are going to say it's pointless but it's better than doing nothing like last summer (I did 3/4 weeks in a warehouse in total). Students can't get job seeker's allowance over the summer either so money can get very tight. I'm already saving up in anticipation :(
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