To be panicking about DC’s employability post uni?

https://www.local.gov.uk/our-support/councillor-and-officer-development/impact-local-government-graduate-programme

Local government offers everything from Finance to Parks & Leisure to Economic Development. A great place to find out what interests you as you dip into different departments.

• I am quoting you

‘I also doubt that being paid less than your male counterparts is actually true.’

@Aliciainwunderland No, that's fine. Thank you for the clarification. Although I don't believe I said anyone is lying.

OP your daughter sounds delightful. Has she considered an internship - initially - with a conservation NGO/charity?

PM me for my pay slips if you don’t believe I earn under 28k and want to call me a liar again.

omg - please READ!! I wasn’t earning above 100k when i complained about what my male colleagues were earning. Where did I say that? If you must know - I was on about 50k and they earnt double and over the next few years I doubled my salary. Jesus wept. You can argue all you want love, but is that fair? Are you saying that I should have just kept my trap shut? You are deluded.

and no - I don’t earn over 28k now. Are you happy now? Seriously - anything else you would like to attack me on?

Also - by male counterparts I meant my colleagues in the same team/ company I worked for. They told me their salary. I don’t understand why you are going on about national average salaries when clearly I worked in an industry and location paying well above national average.

I would argue that complaining about pay when you are above the £100,000 mark is a bit silly, regardless of what anyone else makes.

as I said I left that industry and now earn peanuts so that I can fit a job around children. I work as hard as I did before but am I bitter about those earning the big bucks in that industry. Nope - good on them, especially the women who have it extra hard. Do I think they are just ‘lucky’ - nope. I don’t.

What is meant by "peanuts"? Nothing above the £28k mark is "peanuts".

Also - by male counterparts I meant my colleagues in the same team/ company I worked for. They told me their salary. I don’t understand why you are going on about national average salaries when clearly I worked in an industry and location paying well above national average.

as I said I left that industry and now earn peanuts so that I can fit a job around children. I work as hard as I did before but am I bitter about those earning the big bucks in that industry. Nope - good on them, especially the women who have it extra hard. Do I think they are just ‘lucky’ - nope. I don’t.

If she’s not sure she’d like to pursue her degree academically, getting a masters in the same field is a waste - equally, she can return to her field after studying another field if she chooses to do so.

If interested in marketing, there are MANY courses and degrees that can help develop her in that area without the commitment of an MA. Id be more interested in knowing why a grad in interested in the role they’re pursuing and looking for proof of that interest, even if their degree is not aligned. Media agencies (WPP - GroupM, Omnicom, Publicis etc) could also be of interest although experiencing heavy distruption with AI.

Civil Service? Officer in a local authority? Paid role in the charity/voluntary sector? MSc in something relavent to her future?

Here you go!! I didn’t work for Google but a close competitor and salaries were comparable.

would you like to continue calling me a liar.

as for OPs daughter - targeting admin roles/ entry level roles in a large company like Google that provide good training opportunities is a great way to get your foot in the door.

Oh for gods sake!!! If you don’t know what you are talking about don’t comment!!

do you know the average salaries of large multi national tech companies based in London?? Do you understand their benefits and bonus structure?? If not - please stop calling me a liar. Please feel free to PM me and I’ll send you my P60. In the meantime I suggest looking up Director level salaries for tech companies on Glassdoor.

@Aliciainwunderland I don’t think they don’t apply to everyone else - I am talking about MY career ONLY

So why are only 1% of people earning above £100,000, even though all of us are educated, talented, dedicated, and work all hours of the day every day?

please don’t call me a liar - read the post!!! I said my male counterparts WERE earning higher than me and I fought my corner to earn the same.

But the average man only earns about £32k. So as I said, if you are earning 6 figures, you are massively outearning them.

I don’t think they don’t apply to everyone else - I am talking about MY career ONLY - of which apparently you are an expert. I am not the one making sweeping generalisations. You are the one saying my career is ‘just’ luck.

please don’t call me a liar - read the post!!! I said my male counterparts WERE earning higher than me and I fought my corner to earn the same. In case you are interested I had better yearly appraisals and longer service than my male counter parts.

also - my ‘luck’ ran out which I sure you will be thrilled to hear!! I gave this up when I had a baby as they refused to let me work 4 days a week and I took VR instead. So please please don’t comment on anyone’s life if you don’t know the facts.

my point was to say I was in the same position as OPs daughter and I did just fine by starting in admin roles.

@Aliciainwunderland Wow - to reduce someone’s career trajectory to just luck. Not talent, dedication, further study, fighting my corner in the face of being paid less than my male counterparts. Nope, it was just luck.

Why do you think "talent, dedication, and further study" are not applicable to the rest of us?

I also doubt that being paid less than your male counterparts is actually true. Your salary is 6 figures. The average salary is about £32k I believe, which is 5 figures. So statistically, your male counterparts are earning less.

Addendum: legal anthropology can lead to going into public interest law, civil and human rights law

If she were my daughter I would be immensely proud. She sounds so bright and talented. Please don’t worry or pressure her. The more varied experiences she gets, the better. It’s not a race!
Years ago I did an anthropology degree. My classmates did and do all sorts of things, including studying primates in Borneo. Some did fast-stream civil service . Museum. Journalism, ethnographic /documentary film, teaching, NGOs-domestic and international, salvage archaeology, charities/foundations. Many work with refugees in a variety of organisations
One became a novelist. A couple friends do graphic non-fiction, drawing from anthropology … just for starters.
Depending on where she is studying, there should be lots of ways to develop and focus on TRANSFERABLE SKILLS: ethnographic research, interview skills, analytic/critical writing. Depends if she’s just doing SOCIAL anthro or also material culture, archaeology, biological anthro etc. there are countless masters degrees that ARE VALUE ADDED: medical anthro, environmental anthro, media, biological/physical anthro, anthro/film, forensic, anthro/development studies, anthro and art, etc etc. check out the top several departments and browse through their offerings (e.g.,Cambridge, LSE, UCL).SOAS has a masters in anthro and food!!

Increasing numbers of businesses and corporations are hiring in-house anthropologists - see Gillian Tett’s book on anthrovision.
best to take a gap year or two before starting a masters - she’ll have a more focused idea of her interests and get more out of it. Get her out of her comfort zone and go abroad and volunteer, work, etc.

Everyone I know who has studied it feels it was hugely beneficial for whatever they did- as it taught critical reading/writing/thinking abilities, and a world view that tries to make the world safe for difference.

I have an anthropology degree from a Russell group uni 2:1. I did a conversion year to be a chartered surveyor then did a graduate scheme. Good money London based.

Wow - to reduce someone’s career trajectory to just luck. Not talent, dedication, further study, fighting my corner in the face of being paid less than my male counterparts. Nope, it was just luck.

@shuggles “As I said, the majority of full time employees work constantly during evenings and weekends, and also network constantly and try to look for opportunities.“

I'm really not sure that they do!

@Aliciainwunderland Couldn’t have possibly worked my butt off, Networked networked networked and made opportunities for myself. In the cut throat world of an American tech company - you don’t make it based on luck. Your performance is constantly monitored.

As I said, the majority of full time employees work constantly during evenings and weekends, and also network constantly and try to look for opportunities. And yet, most people only earn the average salary (hence why it's the average). To earn a 6 figure salary can only be the consequence of luck.

A friend who did an Anthropology and Archeology undergraduate degree now works in forensic computing.

As far as I can tell, this involves both technical and human behaviour analysis of how a security system was broached to advise on what could be done to prevent a repeat.

She fell into it by accident a few years after graduation (having gone traveling, done a bit of archeological digging and worked in retail while in Australia on youth work visa) . someone else from her Anthropology degree was doing it and suggested it - I suppose it uses their evidence analysis skills.

Seems a decent career in terms of pay and progression.

Another people & problem solving starter option would be in PALS for NHS.

Well that's in excess of 5,000 successful applicants to the big4 last year that you feel superior to. My point was that the comms training is remedial. People skills are a fantastic asset to the CV of a recent graduate and Op's DD has them.

OP, I think you'd have gotten a bit more understanding if you'd posted from this angle.

However, it was fundamentally your choice to work such a high powered job. And splurge on expensive niceties, such as holidays, competitive sport and private school. All that money could have gone towards a deposit.

The only thing that makes London unliveable on a 'low' salary is rent/property prices. Bills, food etc are broadly the same across the country. London boroughs have some of the lowest council tax rates and public transport is readily available and cheap, allowing for massive savings from not needing a car.

You need to decide to what extent you can support your daughter and be honest with her. You shouldn't be telling what to do. You should only tell her what your contribution will be. Since you've been bankrolling her all your her life , she's not wrong to expect it to continue.

What she does, armed with the knowledge of what you'll give, is up to her.

BTW even letting her live rent-free(or with a nominal rent) will be a massive help.