To be worried about graduate prospects due to Brexit?

[malmom]

DD is on a gap year and is due to start at Oxbridge in October. She wants to go and work in the city once graduated.

Is anyone else worried that Brexit could turn really nasty and leave the country in a mess and so naturally no high wage jobs, or even more widespread, no jobs at all

[Lemoncakestrudel]

I think you’re looking at it in the wrong way. We are here, we have to deal with Brexit. I’m just about to graduate from a Master’s degree. I wondered if Brexit was going to make career hunting harder.

Career hunting for a graduate role is already hard. But once the Brexit thing gets rolling, people are going to be needed to put this country back together again

[theyellowjumper]

Yes, it worries me too, particularly as we have no idea what the situation will be, even for this year's graduates, never mind in a few years' time.

Hopefully your dd will be insulated somewhat by being at a top university and presumably having excellent A level results and some work experience from her gap year. I don't think there's really anything else young people can do, short of getting the best qualifications and experience they can manage in order to be competitive in what is likely to be a difficult job market.

[TonTonMacoute]

The city has existed and thrived for hundreds of years before the EU, it will go on after Brexit.

The money markets operate throughout the whole world, not just in Europe.

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

I think it's going to be a real problem that it is already proving difficult to secure funding for graduate research because of Brexit and that worries me on a personal level and a UK wide level.

It's going to have a knock on effect for universities who use post grads to teach undergrads. I know that universities are very worried about this.

[BubblesBuddy]

I think there will be problems for uk grads. They may well need to work elsewhere in the world but are they equipped to do this? Are they able to gain employment abroad straight from a uk university? Grad jobs may well become more difficult to secure here.

We all know we need to keep our best grads in jobs here but if companies pull out due to adverse trading conditions, there won’t be jobs. What we need and what we will get are two different things. It’s not up to employers to sort out Brexit. They won’t. They will exit! We cannot afford for everyone to be employed in public service so need employers to stay here. At the moment it’s difficult to see why they would. Shareholders tend to take a short term view and hanging around for Brexit to come good may be untenable. I think, therefore, there will be reduced opportunities and, unfortunately, the young will get screwed over this policy largely decided by older voters.

Learn a language or two and do your utmost to be employable!

[puppypower1]

This might be of use. It is a report about the graduate job market in 2018 and forecast for 2019 (so I realise does not go into the post Brexit future) but for people graduating this year, it shows there are opportunities out there.

I think the key is to work on your CV asap - placement years, holiday jobs, courses, languages. DC have got to make themselves standout and employable.

www.highfliers.co.uk/download/2019/graduate_market/GMReport19.pdf

[RomanyQueen1]

As mine is hoping to study in Germany from 2022, I'm not holding my breath.
It obviously won't be as cheap as it is whilst we are in the EU.

[ClashCityRocker]

I can see why you're worried, I really can - but with a good degree from oxbridge behind her she will be in a far better position than many.

Does she know what specifically she'd like to get into after?

[JocelynBell1]

It is extremely worrying as nearly all investment is being diverted elsewhere at the moment.

However, your DD has a world-class degree and, if worse comes to worse, she will find opportunities abroad.

[malmom]

She doesn't have any foreign languages, although she does have a strong basis in Classical languages, so maybe learning one nat some point would be ok.

Are there any graduate schemes for UK grads abroad though? She wouldn't have problem moving abroad, but surely most jobs will be for already trained/ local graduates if they do schemes.

[RainbowMum11]

Of course it will be a problem, at the very least there will be an awful lot more competition for 'lower paid grad jobs' from people with a huge amount more experience because the fewer industries/businesses in the UK.
However, I'm sure there will be some industries that will thrive in the UK post-Brexit, why else would so many business owners be so pro-Brexit (obviously apart from the ones who have already moved there ops overseas).
If your DC is currently on their gap year though, and has a 3-4 yr degree ahead of them, I wouldn't worry about it yet, loads can & will happen in the next few years.

[Saracha]

@oh you bad kitten. My dd wants to go into university research and do a studentship Phd. Im quite worried for her. With all this funding getting stretched. Is this a bad career move. How can she make herself stand out as it looks like it's going to get even more competitive. TIA

[errorofjudgement]

My DS started a grad role last September in STEM within manufacturing. The prospects are not good, and are much worse if we crash out of EU without a deal.
I really cannot express how angry I am at those who supported brexit.

[ZenNudist]

Well it is unfortunate timing for her. But I actually look at it this way brexit is guaranteeing recession but she is just about to start uni so actually she's I'll be studying through the worst of it. It's the ones graduating this year that I'd be a lot more worried for.

The problem is you come out of University your hot property you want to be getting something secured so that you can sit through last year of uni know you got a good job going especially for City firms. Hopefully it won't affect the placements that she can do during her summer holidays she really needs to be on it about securing one of those.

Most of the people I recruit (accountancy) have had placements through several summer holidays since their A Levels.

You could encourage her to learn a language and be focused on gaining job offers in European countries or or further afield: China Singapore Hong Kong. now that would be exciting and very good for a career in the city.

[ZenNudist]

Ugh typos "you are", not your!

[GlacindaTheTroll]

'Are there any graduate schemes for UK grads abroad though?'

Yes and no. There are none which are exclusively for British graduates (ditto in UK at present, except for a few vetted government roles where you have to be British but can have graduated from anywhere). Schemes (across the globe) are already open to anyone, but you need to be as good as or better than the local applicants, who may know more about the local conditions and language.

You need to be fluent in the destination language, and if not then stick to Anglophone countries. Doing a masters at university in the target country can help enormously in securing a first work visa, if sponsored by a reputable company it is possible without that too.

[NeverSayFreelance]

I graduate in June and I'm really afraid of what the job market will look like by then.

[NotAnotherJaffaCake]

It depends.

At the moment there is a real difficulty recruiting in my area (Silicon Fen/Cambridge) because many of our traditional EU applicants are just not applying (for obvious reasons). The funding for these posts is not going away in the short term, so organisations either have to drift up salaries or improve their T&Cs. It’s very much an employees market at the moment, if you have the right skills.

How long that will last I don’t know - but the majority of funders here (University/biotech/US funds/UK govt) have not drastically cut budgets.

[cestlavielife]

No point looking too far ahead. She should go get a good degree and see where options are in 2 or 3 years time. There will still be a city of some kind....

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

Saracha, I don't know the answer as we are in the same position probably. But I am not going to steer my dd away from doing what she would like to do because of fears. They still need to follow their hearts.

[BubblesBuddy]

I agree that it will be harder for grads from universities lower down the league tables and the Govt is looking at the value of theee degrees and the Augar report will be interesting. There seems to be recognition that not all grads are equal and there certainly isn’t grad employment for everyone. Certain grads will always be ok but not necessarily ones with slightly off beat niche subjects from Oxbridge. (Not that I am suggesting that the op’s DD is doing this).

I think there also needs to be recognition that it’s a minority of business leaders who are pro Brexit. Dyson has already partially pulled out so no one can be trusted! The vast majority of businesses, and that includes nearly all City firms, are against it. Brexit risks the position of the City as a world centre of trade and finance etc. Frankfurt and Paris are primed to take over. I too am furious about Brexit.