To wonder why I bothered doing a degree?

[KrayKray00]

I graduated last month with a 2:1 and I feel stuck and can’t seem to move forward.

I’m a mother with two children one at school one at Nursery (one day a week) on that one day I volunteer in my local court with victims and witnesses.

I want a job! But all the jobs I have looked at want experience. I managed to get to the video interview on the civil service fast stream but failed

I want to work in a crime related job either probation, offender management, offenders families, victims of serious crimes ect ect but these areas want relevant experience work wise which I do not have.

Other graduate scheme I have looked at are based up north or mainly London, I live in the Midlands.

Does anyone have any advise at all. It is triggering my anxiety and I really feel like the debt and past 3 years at uni was a waste of time. My university career advisor told me to look at the council and housing but that’s not really what I want to do.

Does anyone have any help or advise. Please tell me what you did once you graduated!

What degree do you have?

I assume you're looking at civil service non fast stream
(slow stream?? Me too :o)

Don't give up hope ! It's only been a month and I'm sure this time of year is difficult to find work

Do you mind me being quite blunt? This is gonna come out all wrong. But here goes.

You have anxiety and you want to work with offenders and serious crimes etc?

What work experience do you have so far?

Local government training scheme is a 2 year graduate scheme and would give you a lot of general managerial experience in a variety of different areas - makes you very employable afterwards and is quite similar to civil service. Google NGDP. They have placements all over the country, including Midlands.

Well in the real world people are expected to do things that they don't really want to do.

Take any job at this point. It is easier to get a job when you have a job. References count even in a different field and if you can't get your field, if you can work in a related field.
But any job can show how effective you could be and what your work ethic is like.

Degrees on their own don't really get you far any more. I had to do another 4 years of study post degree to get into my career. Could you do a part time masters?

Volunteer with victim support for experience, that will really help you. They always need volunteers. The police will look favourably too.

I totally understand. I have a ds wanting to start a politics degree. His dad’s in commercial property and if he went to work for him he’d have it made. Only thing I’m thinking is that surely that level of study broadens your mind.

What’s the Degree in? What is your previous paid work in? Have you done any volunteering?

Helpful Splinters.....really helpful. I suffer from anxiety and depression and take high dose anti-depressants but hold down a job as a teacher with 2 kids.

Keep looking, applying. Get something to get you started. Nobody walks into their ideal job after graduating. Well I didn't. Then once you get working, start networking. It'll happen.

I got a degree for a specific NHS career, got a job right away as I had experience of previous NHS work (nursing) so for me a degree was essential to get that job otherwise I'd never have bothered.
NHS degrees were free when I did mine.
If you need experience in the field you may have to do voluntary work if you can afford to just for a while.

im in the same boat except i graduated 2 years ago, its seriously getting me down. i dont even think i could afford futher training/education. im late 20s so no one is willing to offer me any form of unpaid work experience because its usually given to school leavers/undergrads.

ive done crap minimum wage jobs since which doesnt mean anything on my professional CV

I think you have unrealistic expectations.

Unless you get into a graduate scheme you can’t expect to walk into a job 1 month after graduating

I was in your shoes five or six years ago. I had a bad time of it for a while, university had been my big focus for years, it was a battle to get through it and all of a sudden I didn't know what to do next.

Just work. Get into a job, any job, asap. I picked up bar work and cleaning jobs, which was good because it meant I could do a lot of voluntary work too. I just threw myself at everything hoping that something would stick. It worked out really well - I have two jobs now that aren't fancy, but I really enjoy them, they pay the bills, and they're a big step up to my ultimate goal. I can definitely see what path I'm following now, and how to get there, though it still won't happen overnight.

It's not unreasonable for them to want experience! It's useful for them to know that you do have an idea of what you'll be doing,and that you are committed to the sector, so they don't waste a fortune training and recruiting people who then leave. Unfortunately it's an employers market, with so many people now getting degrees and wanting work they can afford to be picky.

What sort of experience do they want? If it's just general experience in the 'criminal' sector can you look at doing a job like prison warden/PCSO or perhaps something like a charity that supports families of those in prison for a year or two? If it's more practical task based (e.g. admin/heavy use of specific software/logistics/public facing/whatever) then try and get a job where you can build those skills. Bear in mind that these sort of jobs might not be 'graduate' level ones, but think of them more as stepping stones to your ideal job. Most people don't just come out of uni and start straightaway in their dream job nowadays. A huge percentage of graduates are in non-graduate positions.

WRT grad-schemes, this is a bit of a funny time for them (and for recruitment in general). You might find that a lot more start their newest intake either in January or mid year.

I disagree with the poster who said look at Masters - if the issue is experience not qualifications then that will just off-put the same problem for another year or two while landing you in more debt.

Try volunteering with your local yot team

Everyone's known this about degrees since forever. Surely your tutors have advice about gaining experience? Work placement schemes or something?

Did they just give you the degree with no advice as to your next steps?

You'll probably be looking at unpaid internships, competing with the thousands of other graduates also desperately needing experience.

Don't throw money at a Master's. Without experience you're just chucking money down the drain.

Look at general Civil Service Jobs, joining as an Executive Officer which is the level that graduate fast streamers start as.

Its kind of irrelevant what you want to do. If you have two small children you just have to take whatever job you can get that will leave you some money left over once you have paid for childcare, if you can find a job that will do that at all.

What is your degree in. Is it relevant to the jobs you are applying for. And I agree that perhaps working with young offenders isn't the best idea for somebody who suffers from anxiety and stress. A month is nothing to be looking for a suitable job. But you'll need to widen the net eventually if nothing turns up within the next couple of months. Hope you find something suitable.

I graduated in 2012 and it took me over a year to get the job I wanted and it was only temporary. I've only had temporary jobs since then. I'm a teacher. The amount of jobs I've applied for is incredible. I hope you get something soon.

I have a degree and work in a call centre, there are lots and lots of graduates there working the same jobs as people who scraped a C in maths and English GCSE.

There are lots of jobs I want but I won't get because I don't have experience and I need part time hours.

Unless you can find yourself while you undertake lots and lots of work experience then you either need to get on a graduate scheme (very few spaces and loads of applicants) or take any job you can while still looking for that ideal opportunity.