From student union to staff room

Former Member

Hi guys
I'm after some opinions for an article I'm writing again... we're planning a new section for new graduates. One article will be about coping with the transition from studying to work. So how did you cope? From having to get on with new colleagues and adjust to a 'boss' to getting up at 7am for a full days' work everyday and put on smart clothes. Did you have to move away from your university town and settle in somewhere new for your job - or move back home again?

How did you feel when you left uni - were you ready for the world of work or did it take time to adjust? What did you find hardest/most exciting about the transition?

Would be great to hear your views here....

Thanks everyone :thumb:

Former Member

I had to go shopping for a smart bag and shoes and a suit. Not easy when you have no money.



And was completely exhausted for the first few months just getting used to working full time, and not able to go out on Thursday nights.

Moved to a new flat which was unfurnished and had to sleep on the floor for 2 weeks

You should put stuff in about having to pay off student overdraft and graduate loans and things.

Former Member

I went back home after uni. The intention was always to move to Manchester or Birmingham in 2006, but I figured I could use a year or so at home to save a bit of money up before I go and learn to drive (the nature of TV work is that you'll often have periods where you might not have much work, then other times when you've got tonnes, so you need something else to live off). I live in the middle of nowhere, and so it's hard to get any experience in the type of jobs that would interest me, so it's pretty much inevitable.

I think a common misconception, particularly among parents and other relatives who've never done one, is that when you finish your degree, you can walk straight into a job related to your degree, which is kinda frustrating at family get togethers and the like. A lot of people seem to think that you can leave uni and just walk into a graduate job paying a fortune, which isn't true for the majority on my course at least. Most of the people on my course are wanting to get into television-based work (for which there is almost zero graduate opportunities). Those that live in the city are just getting into their first proper jobs and work experience in the last few months (we graduated last summer), and I'm moving to Manchester in September or October, so I expect a good six months doing work which perhaps isn't the type of work that I did my degree for.

As for my personal life, I've gotta say the first couple of months were pretty crap and I really missed my uni friends, especially since I didn't have a job straight out of uni, so had a lot of time on my hands. I hadn't kept in touch with a lot of my old friends, a lot had moved away, or were still at uni, or had jobs so were working all the time. I made the effort to go out with other groups of people, like my cousins, or my brother and their friends. But when I got my new job, I made a lot of new friends, and so everything is hunky dory again (well until I move to Manchester and I have one friend again). Living with my parents wasn't a problem for me, since I get on well with them, and I did appreciate there always being food in the fridge and clean clothes in my room.

I'm quite lucky to have a friend who's just done the whole moving to Manchester alone thing, and now he's buying a flat, and has offered me a room to rent. So not only will I know someone down there, I will be able to live with a friend and use his contacts to get me a job.

ETA: Oh and as for student debt, well my parents and grandparents set up a trust fund when I was a kid which just happened to mature in time to wipe out my overdraft with a bit left over. I know, you all hate me now.

Former Member

In all honesty I found the first few months of post-uni life pretty awful.

First there was the jobhunting, which, as been mentioned, is not as straightforward as you'd been led to believe. At first you're a bit cocky, and you're all, 'but I've got a DEGREE!', and it's hard when all the employers are like, 'So?'.

Once you get the job I found the hardest thing was thinking 'ok, now 40 straight years of work, and then I can retire', and just the feeling of having no free time. Of course I had evenings and weekends, but compared to the student life, I felt like I never got anything done.

Former Member

.

Former Member

Tell them to stay in uni as long as possible, even though you may be poor there you dont really realise what a charmed life it is till you leave.

Former Member

In all honesty I found the first few months of post-uni life pretty awful.

First there was the jobhunting, which, as been mentioned, is not as straightforward as you'd been led to believe. At first you're a bit cocky, and you're all, 'but I've got a DEGREE!', and it's hard when all the employers are like, 'So?'.

Once you get the job I found the hardest thing was thinking 'ok, now 40 straight years of work, and then I can retire', and just the feeling of having no free time. Of course I had evenings and weekends, but compared to the student life, I felt like I never got anything done.

Couldn't agree with you more. I spent nearly six months looking for a job using my degree (with a 95% graduate employment rate, apparantly). After a while, I simply got so disheartened I basically gave up searching for a 'career' and started looking for any old work. I took a job in a new Subway store that opened just down the road from me, and well, the rest now seems to be history!

I love my job! The money is absolutely crap, hardly even enough to get by on, but in four months I've made more friends at work than I have in the last four years and I've been made a team leader, meaning I get a whopping extra quid an hour! I start at 7am almost every morning and have just finished for the weekend having worked eleven days in a row for the second period running. It sounds absolutely crap, everyone I know criticises me for it, but I genuinly love going to work. Wouldn't change it for anything at the moment!

It goes beyond that too. In a few months time I will have my own Subway franchise opening, I've been given the OK from Subway today so all I have to do now is secure my lending in priciple and then I can buy the franchise number from them.

Somehow I've turned around what was fast becoming a disaster into the most exciting prospect of my life thus far. Can't believe I wasted four years at uni! :-)

Former Member

I'm feeling a bit stressed after leaving school. Luckily I am on course to go to uni. My mum got me a job (along with my weekend job) during the week with the company she works for and the hours are a killer. 8am - 4.30pm! Knowing that if I didn't make the most of education I could possibly be doing that for the rest of my working life has made me even more determined to go to uni and do well. (hopefully)

In the graduate dept. I am pretty lucky in the way that I've wanted to be a teacher for a couple of years so with the right amount of experience I should be able to go straight into a school (I think you get a years work anyway)

Former Member

Jazza wrote:

the hours are a killer. 8am - 4.)

oh dear!

Former Member

lucifer devil wrote:

oh dear!

I have to get up at half six, get a bus at half seven. It's one every hour so i have to leave really early and even if it's gonna be a nice day it's always freezing in the morning. Then I don't get home until about 5.15

Thank God it's just temporary.

Former Member

Jazza wrote:

I have to get up at half six, get a bus at half seven. It's one every hour so i have to leave really early and even if it's gonna be a nice day it's always freezing in the morning. Then I don't get home until about 5.15

Thank God it's just temporary.

i was being sarcastic. welcome to the world of full-time work.