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?

She may not want to live in London, she may travel overseas or in the UK.

She could work at professional qualifications in project management via the APM or asset management (of things not money) with IAM. Or at number of other professional qualifications.

She may work in a museum, HR, a diplomat. Plenty of CS or public sector careers don't require a specific degree.

She may not end up on six figures but most people don't.

A lot of her classmates are thinking masters/PhD/conservation/charities

So you do know some of the routes available to her! Does she want to do any of those things?

A research or policy job in the Civil Service or going into the grad scheme also a good shout.

I completely understand how you feel. I am not in a dissimilar position. I could have everybody in the world telling me that my child is as an adult and they will find their own way and it is not up to me to get involved etc and it would not make me feel less anxious.

The only way I console myself is by telling myself that they are young and there are so many different ways to live life. They will eventually find their way and I should not compare to the high flying kids of my peers. It is hard though so you have my sympathy.

having said that, I would not want my kid to go through the early graduate life in the city. I know it pays well but I do not want them to have to cancel holiday plans and work all hours. I don’t believe that good mental health lies that way. Ironically, one of my other kids may be going down that route and that also makes me anxious!

You need to chill out

If she chose a degree in anthropology it’s unlikely she will earn a lot of money in the beginning, but there must have been something about it that has interested her and kept her motivated?

maybe she will travel or pursue a higher degree or find an internship … let her explore her options without pressure from you

she may have ideas of what she wants but the reality of what she will need to do to achieve this and whether she’s prepared to make sacrifices and put in the work to do so is now a test that she has to endure herself. This is all part of growing up. she’ll be fine she’ll be resilient. She’ll find her place. She’ll find her space.

OP there are literally tens of thousands of grad scheme vacancies open for application in Autumn that aren't the sort of cut throat area you work in. Ive suggested three big recruiting schemes. There are many others - inc marketing if that's an area she'd like to work in.

You do know about the grad scheme websites yes? Your dd will if you don't.

If I was starting again with my RG soft subject 2:1 and wanted to stay in London I'd look at the Civil Service. There are lots of options to move around and try new things and even if she decides after a few years it's not for her it never hurts in life to have a good understanding of how public sector bureaucracy works.

She might also do what I did which is drift around trying new things in her 20s and eventually land in a not spectacularly well paying but deeply satisfying public sector job, living comfortably in a place which - the horror - isn't London. There are worse things in life than not going onto a graduate scheme at 21.

My ex is an academic - it’s more hunger games than investment banking. The whole “publish or perish”, non-existent full time tenure posts, and in humanities it’s even more brutal than STEM. But in an ideal world, yes, she’d do a PhD and study monkeys in Borneo.

Shes not going to be unemployed though is she

Isn’t the CS grad scheme super-competitive? How easy is it to get in?

I’d advise a masters in literally anything other than anthropology.

https://www.graduate-jobs.com/?gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAADv_kVVte-MpleAHcBN39tArlb7Yx&gclid=CjwKCAjwqre1BhAqEiwA7g9QhpSU4BOeB0-QTyK49x_J9hB8yXdUhvqCQayG9UKSbAE-v4UYKvKgHBoCuKMQAvD_BwE]]

graduate jobs

I know several graduates who have taken months to find a job, and some have gone backward (eg. School leaver apprenticeship) to go forward, or got jobs in completely different fields.

I'm a secondary and sixth form teacher, and I see lots of students head off to do 'soft' degrees each year. We always follow up and see where they end up; this includes graduate roles in local authorities or other public sector services, top up courses (like a PGCE) that puts them in-line for specific roles, and higher level apprenticeships are quite popular at the mo as well.

This is good advice @NeedXanaxPlease

The first step is always the most difficult and market forces are quite challenging for everyone right now as Winterjoy has pointed out.

Encourage her to keep going with looking the job boards at both 'work your way up roles' as well as various Grad Schemes coming up to keep her options open.

I understand how you feel, as in the same position as you doing recruitment, so understand what you are seeing and realise the competition is really stiff.

With the positive work ethic she has already shown, it will be a matter of just getting her foot in the door

Keep open minded , she's still a recent graduate and with a 2:1 she will find a way with persistence. Best of Wishes

I know someone who has a degree in anthropolgy and went into careers guidance. She works at one of the universites in Oxford and is on good money. She did a post grad MA in Careers Development.

An 18 year old?

Is she feeling anxious/helpless/spiralling?

If not, I'd leave her to it to find her own way as an adult.

Yup. As an adult you reap the benefits of your personal decisions.

Or not.

Grad scheme is competitive but a lot is about knowing how to do the application and perform at the assessments.

She could also just apply for a job in the Civil Service. She will progress less quickly but it’s much easier to get in that way - again understanding the format for the application and interviews is key though.

Yes it is. You don’t need to join the grad scheme though, come in at a lower grade and work your way up. My ex was rejected from a fast track scheme but made it faster to the grade they were working to anyway.

Has she thought about things like civil service, or local government graduate schemes? Also... In my experience 'grad schemes' can be no better than just looking for an entry level graduate role in a large organisation or something like local govt, higher education sector, charities and third sector, big corporates that have large marketing/communications/HR/sales/recruitment departments.

If that's the sort of thing she wants to do, what about applying for VSO or another similar scheme when she finishes, to actually go to the parts of the world she is interested in and work for a bit?

If she is clear she doesn't want to go down the corporate route, corporate internships won't add much. Relevant other work and volunteering might. But something like a local government entry level job or apprenticeship where she can be involved in aspects of social policy etc might be more up her street. You don't have to go to civil service just because you're clever! RG and Oxbridge are very linear-focussed on a certain type of career, which is overwhelmingly with a corporate focus, and if it's not corporate, it's the Bar or the Civil Service or it's management consultancy or academia. These careers in reality are the minority of jobs, even for very clever people!

I did a languages degree at a RG uni and didn’t do any internships or graduate schemes, just took one interviewer to see potential and I had my first job 2 months post uni as an account manager for a large manufacturing company.

She will be absolutely fine, might not get her dream job straight out of uni but it really doesn’t matter.

CS Fast Track turned down my Oxford educated DC as the computer said they didn't display a willingness to learn! Super competitive. There are many alternative routes to greatness (or simply having a nice life)

Plenty of other places to live than London - and most people don’t earn enough to live an affluent life there. The anthropology grads I know word for an education company and a local solicitor company. Many other jobs out there can give her a nice life

No, and I guess she is too relaxed which makes me even more anxious. If she hadn’t been so relaxed she’d have secured an internship (or at least tried).