Worried about how I’m going to support myself

[wifibox]

I’m 21 and in my final year of university. As it’s all online this year I’m living at home with my mum and younger brother. I’m starting to get quite worried about what I’m going to do when I graduate in July. I’m doing a humanities degree and I don’t know what I want to do afterwards.

I’ve never had a clear job in mind, just enjoy my subject. It’s the first time I will have to completely support myself as I won’t get any more student finance and my mum can’t afford to (nor would I expect or want her to!) support me. I’m worried because I keep hearing that there are no jobs, and because I don’t even know what job I want to do, but also because my mum is vulnerable to covid and I would hate if I brought anything home to her from work. I also don’t know where I’m going to live. I don’t particularly want to continue living with my family long term but how could I move anywhere else? I don’t know what the situation will be like in July - everything feels so uncertain and it’s really hard not to worry. It’s just really scary properly going into the “adult world” for the first time in the middle of all this.

And
www.brightnetwork.co.uk/

Quite a lots of webinars and online events going.
You can also try stuff on
www.theforage.com/

I Second grad schemes. I also did a humanities degree, applied for a grad scheme in accounting, got it (despite my arty background) and now earn 90k, have a good standard of living and ..the job is no where near as boring as reputation would have! I work with great people, solve interesting problems and get satisfaction from a job well done. My friends prob think my job is boring but it's really not. Don't feel pressure to be pigeon holed by a humanities degree.

Coming into the new year, I think there will be lots of entry level civil service positions advertised for customs and immigration. It could be a good way into the civil service with a view to later upward movement.

you would be extremely lucky to be in your position (not sure what you want to do) and step into your dream job when you graduate. Most people (including those who chose their degree to suit their ideal career path) work any job to pay the bills for a few years at least before getting the ideal job

@SchrodingersImmigrant

Also, since you are in your final year, do have a look a targetjobs etc because some of the grad schemes are already open.

Some are already closed!

Don’t hang about OP. Applying can’t do any harm at all.

This might not be you- but I work with the Careers Service at our university, and they put on tonnes of events all the time, including for those who are unsure of what they want to do. They have programmes of events specifically for humanities students, for teaching, HR, PR, social research, all kinds of things. They also address how to get internships or work experience in corona times.

Many students just delete the emails and then panic at the end of the third year! You are ahead of the game, I'd start going to some online events, even ones you are unsure about and start learning about the various options for you. Masters study may also be an option which is more debt but is funded. Good luck!

@TheLastStarfighter I didn't want to mention the closed ones to not stress more🙈

There is plenty of great ones left and plenty of rolling ones

Teaching?

@MidnightSwim out of interest what do you do and how did you get there?

I'm also graduating this year (well in May), there are a few careers I have a decent chance of getting into with my degree as it's in sciences but I'm still not dead set on what I want long term. I'd definitely like something with chances to travel even if it is much further down the line when my son is older.

Also, since you are young one. Maybe you could look into doing an aupair for a year to work on a language. Solid language skills are always wanted and it gives you extra time😉

@Iggypoppie

Apply for apprenticeships and graduate programs and entry level jobs. Take anything going then use any position you get as a stepping stone to something better. Alternatively, work and do a master's in something vocational eg teaching or accountancy.

This.

I would advise against taking ‘any job’, as Ive known too many people do this, and then lose confidence, have bills and then Ten years later still have a their ‘any job’ or one of a similar level.

I have a humanities degree and worked for two years in a professional but boring job for two years after graduating. Then I finally worked out what to do, got a masters and pursued my dreams. Sometimes you need to do the wrong job to realise there’s another one you want.
Don’t panic. What kinds of things interest you? Teaching, media, civil service?

I'd definitely be applying for graduate schemes in your position. I'd ask the University to give you a list of the graduate schemes they regularly get involved in. Has the university held any virtual career fairs?

I'm a software engineer and we're already holding interviews for the next graduate intake that will start in September 2021. We take on graduates with zero coding experience. Currently, I have a BioChem grad and a Physics grad on my team. Personally, I hold an MSci in Genetics so we're not exactly what you think of when you think of software engineers.

The graduate schemes I've seen often involve rotations into different parts of the business. This means you don't necessarily have to choose a role on day 1. It's more about getting to know the company and working out your strengths and weaknesses in the workplace.

I remember feeling terrified about supporting myself when I was about to graduate. I ended up working in a boarding school as an assistant house mistress for three years, and that was a great job. It was long hours and wasn't amazing pay on paper (c. £13,000 - this was thirteen years ago), but my flat, food, and bills were included with the job, so that was pure profit. It allowed me to save up really quickly. I used the money to pay for graduate study.

By the way - I had no idea what the job was when I applied for it, as I wasn't from that sort of background myself. I assumed it was a cleaning / housekeeping sort of role! It was a good lesson in just going for things and seeing where it took me

It would be worth speaking to your university careers advisor. Sometimes an outside perspective can show you avenues you didn’t know existed.

You decided to do a degree without any clear job in mind at the end of it

Firstly, don’t be like some of my friends who turned down any and every decent work because it wasn’t a “grad job” and then ended up unemployed for 2 years as they had nothing on their CV!

If you let go of the idea of a “grad job” this opens up many opportunities. It took me 2 years to decide what I wanted to do after uni and get a job reflecting the degree I had done. In the meantime I turned my part time waitressing job full time and became a supervisor. Wasn’t the dream but kept money coming and wasn’t too stressful whilst I worked out what I wanted.

Do you currently have a part time role that you could continue on with? Most grad schemes need you to apply now for a role for next summer. If you don’t know the industry/role well, you might not get in so I wouldn’t panic about this. Get something sorted to get you some money coming in and then start to think about career.

Then I would work backwards. What does your dream life look like? Not as in, you’ve won the lottery but what kind of “normal” lifestyle would you like to achieve? Do you want to stay in your area or are you happy to relocate? If you want to buy a house/flat, how much would you need to earn to achieve this? Do you want a low stress role or are you more ambitious/would like a career focussed challenge? Do you want a role that gives opportunity to travel? Would you be happy with shift work or are you looking for a 9-5?

This gives you a goal. Then you need to find a role/industry that would provide the kind of lifestyle you’re aiming for. I’d get researching a list of every industry that provides what you’re looking for.

Once you have that, then think about what you’re looking for in a job. Creative? Numbers based? With people? More solo work? Business/commercial or something more specific like teaching? Once you have this, compare it to the list of industries/roles you have written out and see which are the best match/have the most appeal. Then you can research what you have left more intensively and maybe get some work experience.

@Halliehallie9828

You decided to do a degree without any clear job in mind at the end of it

Ah come off it Hallie, there's no need to be sarcastic, surely the majority of 18-21 year olds do a degree without a very clear /solid idea or indeed any idea at all what career they want, of course they don't, they're 18!

Our whole university system pretty much is predicated on the idea that higher education has an inherent value without it having to be linked directly to a career. You can disagree with that in principle but there's no question that that is factually how it works - not just in this country but pretty much the world over. That's why the vast majority of undergraduate degree courses are not directly vocational (with the exception of medicine and a few other health/social care related courses) - even things like law or engineering if taken as a first degree can lead to multiple different jobs, and the majority of courses aren't directly about workplace preparation at all but that doesn't mean they have no value. You gain a lot of skills from even doing a reviled 'pointless' humanities degree, and there is plenty to be said for gaining deep knowledge of something which interests you for it's own sake. The experience of academic study can in itself can be a real help in understanding what you actually want to do in life (plus the experience of going off to uni is really important life skills preparation/learning for many).

As many have commented on this thread, it's not at all uncommon for students to emerge from university without a clear direction (even if they started off with one when they first went to uni) and there shouldn't be any shame in that. It would be a miserable world indeed where you were funnelled into a career pathway aged 18 or 21 with no opportunity to just enjoy learning for its own sake, take some time to think about what you really want, change direction, do further study, take time out altogether etc etc- but thankfully we don't live in that world. It's not as though OP is planning on scrounging on the state or her parents either and she'll be paying for her degree herself ultimately so what's the harm even if she ends up doing something totally unrelated to the degree?

The good news OP is that you are thinking about it NOW, rather than in June when all graduates will think 'whst am I going to do next month'.

Your priority is to look for any job now because you will always be in a better position to look for a job you want if you already work.

Don't worry about your mum. You can have a routine of showering as soon as you get home and wash your clothes.

Of course now is a more difficult time to find a job but it isn't impossible and Xmas jobs will start to be advertised soon.

Start to look everyday and apply to anything PT. Be ready to many rejections but you will most likely strike lucky with persistence.

If you let go of the idea of a “grad job” this opens up many opportunities.

Yes and no.
Go for graduate entry schemes
Apply for several which wullgive you broad experience.
Better to be an aldi graduate trainee on the shop floor than an aldi shop floor only. given you will have a degree. You will still do shop floor but as part of programne of training.

If you dont get accepted to any grad scheme then yes go fir any job to get experience

Better than panicking and taking the wrong job. At 21 I had 0 idea of where I would fit in.

By the time I was 23 I knew I wanted to get into banking. I took a junior role in Bank A and used it to grow my confidence. That got me far enough to move to Bank B, who paid better and had better progression. At 28 I’m working my way up the ladder in investment banking. I would never have consider this could be me when I left uni at 21 but it’s 100% the right place for me, it just took me some time to work it out. I had my fair share of being miserable in the wrong job whilst I was working it out and I cannot think of anything worse than being tied in to something I hated for 2 years!

What sort of humanities, that must cover a huge spectrum?
The big corporate graduate schemes tend to start advertising around now for next year's intake so if that sort of thing interests you you'll need to move quite fast. Competition will be fierce and you'll probably need a predicted 2:1 or above to even be considered.
People generally know if they want to be teachers or not, but that might be an option at primary or secondary level.
People I know with humanities degrees have gone on to work in law (via law school), grad schemes in retail management, accountancy, banking and business consultancy, HR, events management, charity fundraisers / events planning, training and development, publishing, social work......
There there's also the emergency services, armed forces, councils and local authority administration.