To be panicking about DC’s employability post uni?

[NeedXanaxPlease]

DD is going into the final year of an Anthropology degree (might get a first but probably a 2:1) from a top RG uni. Has done a Fine Art foundation year. Always worked part time since finishing A-levels (Maths, English Lit, Art), first as a barista/front of house/waitressing, then as an after-school nanny during uni.
She loves working, is highly responsible, great people skills (and people judgement) and quite numerate/commercially savvy. She is a great kid and would be an asset to any team. But… she hasn’t had a single internship so no “relevant” work experience (didn’t get her act together after first year and a long recovery post an operation for a sporting injury after second year) nor does she really know what she wants to do after graduation. She is definitely not pursuing the classic investment banking, Bain/BCG/McKinsey, accountancy, law routes.
I am now feeling highly anxious and helpless as I don’t know how to support/guide her. I did the classic Tier 1 strategy consulting, MBA, corporate M&A so I am spending hours each week helping my friends’ kids who want to pursue this path (mock case studies, mock interviews, CV reviews) but am at a complete loss re how to help my own. I feel that I am spiralling. This is not helped by my being involved in graduate recruitment at my work – CVs I see are all full of Economics/Management/Sciences degrees, multiple internships/work experiences/summer schools – they are highly structured and tick all the boxes (to an extent where I can’t differentiate between them). My DD wouldn’t stand a chance on paper.
Sage mumsnetters, please reassure me that she can get a job without internships and with a “soft” degree? Does she stand a chance with graduate schemes? Should she even bother applying? What potential career routes she could explore?

OP your daughter sounds great and facing completely normal post-graduation life.

If she's interested in marketing but has no experience, and likes "doing" and "seeing results" then events/event management is a good entry point. It also segues nicely into project management which is an interesting and growing field.

I'm sorry that the university careers service is poor. To be fair to them, the possibilities are endless so she can help them by narrowing down her interests.

Could look into educational psychology. Long path to qualification but rewarding, lucrative and never be without a job. And seriously worth doing. Alternative is social care but that's hard graft for lower pay.

I’m not completely sure where the line is but I think you’re well over it. I kind of hoped your first post was a parody.

I've had multiple career crises. I've never found the thing that makes me tick. Maybe most people never do. I like transformation consulting because I get to nose around in other people's jobs for a few months and then tell them how to do it better. If you get a job with one of the big firms, or specialise, it can be high earning.

I've worked in public sector for a long time and the only way to earn big there is senior management. You can't walk into that, you start at the bottom and move up. You might get an assistant director role on 70 to 90k by the time you are in your 40s if you are good at your job and can play the politics. The benefit of this sector is the massive variety of types of project you can work on. If you're someone who gets bored easily then it's great. Downside - got to get good at surviving restrctures. Continually retrain. Embrace technology.

The only other industry I have experience in is tech, and I would say anyone could go that route if they have an interest. Just do a python bootcamp and get a data science apprenticeship.

I've worked with educational psychologists and it is one of those fields that there is never enough people to fill the positions and will never be replaced by AI. Whether she is interested in children or persuing/funding a psychology masters and EP PhD is another matter!

Educational Psychologist is an idea I floated with her during A levels and didn’t get any traction - don’t remember why. May be something to revisit, it’s something I would have liked to do.

Data science tech is a good shout but would need to be something not purely technical/solitary - something to think about as a concept. It resonates what wan earlier poster said about forensic/cyber computing where hard skills combine with behavioral analysis. Something along those lines could be explored.

DD printed off NICE guidance, went with her to GP, strong armed an urgent pathway referral, the girl is now diagnosed, on treatment and getting PIP. DD is big into social justice.

An employer would kill to have this on their workforce. If she were mine, I’d be advising her to find out what area of social justice she wants to work in, and go for it. She has the ability and real life skills to make the impact she’s seeking to make, and if she chooses something that motivates her, she’ll be amazing.

HOWEVER (and I say this as one of the women you refer to as having been chewed in and spat out by the City), like a PP I too will be advising my DD that (1) she will likely be working for many years, so it’s a marathon and not a sprint (2) life is about more than work, and it’s a fact that it’s women who take maternity leave and bear the brunt of family obligations (3) she has a biological clock (4) she needs to make her own decisions, and be responsible for them (5) she would be very ill-advised to rely on a man/woman (partner) for anything (6) happiness is elusive and not the end goal, it’s an occasional by product of a life lived well. I couldn’t care less what my DD does, as long as it does no harm to her or others. She must do what interests her and whatever she’s good at. I’m willing to support her on a sliding scale while she finds her feet - it’s tough out there. But the tap will be turned off eventually, because she needs to search for fulfilment and satisfaction in the hope of finding it at some point.

Sorry but you do sound very pushy.
My mother was and is the same and it has really had a massively negative impact on me.
Your daughter sounds like a very sorted kind of person. She will be fine. Please stop projecting your fears onto her as trust me, she will not thank you for it.

Her analytical and problem solving skills will be very good. Had she tried many online career quiz suggestions that match your personality traits and the things you enjoy doing to career suggestions?

Because her degree will give her awareness and understanding of ethnic and cultural differences, so many big firms will need someone like her to solve problems. eg like a job of a problem solver.

Anything non standard??? There are more than four job options out there. What does she want, has she shown any kind of interest in obtaining the types of jobs you are terrified she isn't qualified for? Given the advent of AI I think anthropology and being versed in that sort of knowledge base will serve her well as there is less likelihood of that kind of nuanced understand being churned out by AI, many of the analytical, numerical jobs you refer to may not exist within her career span.

The employment world is changing so fast. Dd is doing a job which she started immediately after uni) that didn’t exist when she started uni.
like the old quote “ plan are useless, planning is everything”.
I think our role as parents is to support, encourage, maybe research a bit, act as a sounding board- and a safely net, and let them find their own ways. She is not you. Your path is no longer relevant. Encouraging skills development, taking risks, finding out…. And spot opportunities.
the uni careers service should have access to paid for psychometric /personality tests etc which she may find helpful- the sort of ones employers use.

Sorry but it's nothing to do with you. It's good she's working. I have a "soft" degree and no internships, but I worked since I was 15 and during uni. I never had plans for career, still don't in my mid-30s, but I've tried different jobs, travelled, did a Masters, and now work at a university in a good job. Thank god, my parents have had zero input. They let me get on with my life as an adult - as you should for your DD. You sound very pushy and overly invested.

A long way back from where you are now. You're there to support and give advice when she asks - nothing more. She's probably going to be working til she's 70. Let her have fun and find her own way.

Bloody hell, that is impressive. With an attitude like that I'd be tempted to suggest a law conversion course if she is interested, heading towards becoming a barrister, not a solicitor.

I think your key issue OP is that your background is in a very organised track of recruitment and hers isn't. So her method of finding a job is likely to be down to luck, contacts and tenacity.

She needs to start by getting some experience in a field that interests her. Ask to shadow someone for a week, volunteer for a month, intern for six months, do PT work etc - to build up her CV. Any self-starter stuff she can do will help build up her CV, from writing a blog/substack/articles forspecialist journals, creating videos relevant to her field of interest and expertise, tutoring in related subjects at A level

She could investigate small firms and charities that interest her and approach them for internships, voluntary roles or to see if they have any entry level vacancies coming up. DS and other grads I know got their breaks by writing on spec when companies weren't advertising but did need someone. That way her CV is not landing in a heap of hundreds of others, but stands out for her initiative. But she'll need a bit of related experience first, so if she has to volunteer at first by day and earn a living waitressing at night for a year, that's a start.

What kinds of careers can the civil service lead to afterwards if someone gets fed up of it? Sorry to hijack your thread but OP but would be interested in people’s experiences!

Ed Psych would require another 4 years training/(study plus a year of direct work with children before starting the training.
https://www.aep.org.uk/EPFT#entry

OP I feel the same about my son. He has recently graduated and is going to do a Masters as he doesn't know what to do. He did have a mini internship set up for this month but sadly it's fallen through/been postponed, we're hoping he might be able to do it in the semester break early next year instead.

I've suggested he looks at the Forage work simulations which give you something to put on your CV and talk about at interview. There are lots of them and they might well spark something.

It is really hard at the moment, you seem to need an internship to get an internship and most internships I've seen advertised are aimed at people from socially mobile backgrounds, my son is white, (male, obvs) and we live in an affluent postcode, so he isn't eligible to apply.

Also if you have contacts, use them! That was how my son was offered the mini internship in the first place.

A lot of MNers suggest the Civil Service but that is super-hard to get into!

My pet theory, which DS refuses to embrace, is that if you want security you go self-employed into an industry where AI can't readily make you redundant eg plumber

Absolutely true. You need the skills for that though. There's no way I would be able to do an electrician or plumber job, I just don't have the manual skills. I could learn the theory but actually getting awkward pipework done would be beyond me! It was a very good thing that I could get an academic job because my practical "bent" is non-existent!

And all of those schemes will expect you to have relevant work experience, have done at least one internship and have evidence to show "passion" for the sector concerned.

Smaller companies that employ graduates generally won't take them without some sort of relevant experience.

UK employers are awful at training people and want someone else to have done it for them.

People on this thread have no idea how hard it has got!

I try to reassure myself that there aren't a load of unemployed 30 year old graduates, and that they've all found work they can live with eventually, but I don't think the job market was this bad about 8 years ago (hmm I wonder what happened 8 years ago but we'll leave that topic alone).

And all of those schemes will expect you to have relevant work experience, have done at least one internship and have evidence to show "passion" for the sector concerned.

No they won't. As I said earlier in the thread dc has landed a very competitive one with the sum total of zero work experience and internships.

I eventually decided to leave the country - went to work abroad and had a great time

and thanks to Brexit, that is no longer an option for most young people. And they are unlikely to qualify to go to Australia or Canada or wherever either.

The youth mobility scheme that the EU has mooted could be really helpful but query if this Labour government will be brave enough to agree to it

With an anthropology degree has she considered the police.

She'll be fine!
My husband did what he will admit was a nonsense degree (following his passion - nothing as sensible as anthropology!) at an ex poly. He works very hard though, found employment, worked his way up with no help or connections and now earns good money and has good future prospects, too.
I work in conservation and it's brilliant. A joy to go to work each day and do something I enjoy even though the wage isn't brilliant.
Graduate schemes aren't the be all and end all.

I think you're way too involved. Your daughter is an adult and more than capable of doing her own research and finding her own passions. Your role is to support and be interested in whatever she comes up with.
Looking for jobs and choosing a career are part of the journey towards being a functioning member of the working population. She'll learn from the process and figure out what she wants. Too many people are pushed towards possibly unsuitable jobs by parents so it's important to let her make her own decisions, and own them.

She is definitely not pursuing the classic investment banking, Bain/BCG/McKinsey, accountancy, law routes

Classic for whom? Anthropology graduates? The 'great and wonderful RG' graduates?
How snobbish some are about schools and universities. Most employers require someome with the knowledge to do the job they have applied for, who is able to work in a team (where appropriate), have ideas, and be keen.
No-one really gives a flying f### about the university attended, 'RG' or otherwise.
I worked in an area relevant to my degree for a while, but have had an eclectic, interesting and happy career, ending in a completely different field. So yes, your child is very likely to get a job she wants/likes, even if it is with a 'soft' degree. Please don't compare her to others, or just because you are immersed in this post-grad world.