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 whilst I understand the fear your DD has to find her own path. She also has to have a few rubbish jobs to really decide what she wants to do.

I didn't get into any hint of a career until 5 years after I graduated. The banking disaster played a part in that but actually doing stop gap jobs made me realise what I did want to do. By 31 I reached the job I wanted.
7 years later still doing a job I love in STEM (environmental), 2 children and a house.

Josh Widdecombe recently gave a speech to Exeter uni students it's on Instagram I suggest watching it.

She might want to check out civil service jobs large range there but need to invest time in learning how to do the applications

'I feel that I am spiralling'

YOU are spiralling ?!!!
step back / back off

she is not you

your daughter is her own person.

good grief, are you considering filling in application forms for her, and attending her interviews on her behalf ?!!!

Try not to panic DS was looking last year and he has a grad job with a 2:2 in a construction related disapline from an ex poly! He didn't get work experience/ year in industry but has worked as bar / event staff for the same employer since he was 16. That's what impressed his interviewer more than the degree. They were looking for someone who stick with a company and knows how to talk to people so bar work and explaining to the groom why he won't give him another drink went down well. Pay is ok but not stellar for the 1st 12 months while he does initial rotation through diff areas on the grad scheme but he then should progress more ,job planed it's not a 12 month contract and comes with car.and health plus pension. As a nhs employee I'm still getting over the all expenses paid trip to London for induction and the Costa voucher for a coffee! Just ger her to cast her net wide and apply for anything even vaguely interesting

Can she do a masters with some kind of internship or work experience as part of it?

Well there you go - she doesn’t want a toxic workplace, so that rules out law and finance 🤭🤭

What about looking at graduate schemes, they are not all law/ banking.

I’m a business development manager in the city. Lots of interesting strategy, purchasing behaviour, messaging stuff. Currently recruiting for a business development assistant role with a salary of £33-42k, no experience necessary, 5 years in you can be a manager on £70-80k. I’d snap her hand off at the £40k level as a starting salary, would love to have a keen Anthropology grad from a RG (if of course it was something she was interested in!)

I graduated with a 2:1 from a RG and now nearing 6 figures at 35. There are plenty of routes out there - and I say that as someone who worried a lot about not being on a grad scheme 14 years ago.

What about looking at brand consultancies or qualitative research / cultural insight agencies? Some have grad schemes. Loads of ex anthropology students in this field.
Check out agencies like Space doctors, Kantar, Verian, Ipsos Mori… perhaps she could create a LinkedIn account and start following the above agencies and see if she’s interested in what they post. She could start listening to podcasts related to this.

Things people I know have done with a RG arts degree:

Law conversion course - doesn't have to lead to corporate law, could become government lawyer or small firm

Civil service - fast stream isn't the only route in, can also look at the Treasury grad scheme, just applying for a job

Consultancy - most consultants I know have humanities degrees but I know more on the social policy side

NHS grad scheme

Local government grad scheme

Retail management

Social/political research grad scheme - like Kantar or Ipsos

Yeah, me too, but that was 20 years ago. Given my background and uni, I would never have gotten my first job today. I didn’t have internships, but worked part time all the way through, mediocre uni, but back then people made decisions not AI algorithms (at screening). Once you got through to the first interview, it was all on you to perform and impress. Ow you have to jump through multiple hoops before you see the first human. This is freaking me out.

I went into bio anthropology masters, then genetics.
HR is a common pathway from anthropology, as is marketing,

I agree. I work with a woman whose degree is in Anthropology. We work for a charity, and she is something along the lines of (don't want to be too outing for her) podcast director. One of mine has a Masters in International Politics and works in tech.

OP there are many many more careers than the one you work in. Leave this to your DD, she's an adult now

Firstly - kindly - it’s time to the cut the cord. She’s an adult now and can manage her own career decisions.
secondly - there are many grad schemes that aren’t banking/ law/finance. She can look at joining these for a blue chip company - HR/ logistics/ etc.
she does need a plan though - even if she does ends up deviating from it. A plan more than ‘something that is not boring, non toxic that pays a mortgage’.

If DD is interested in marketing/creativity she could maybe look at ad agencies and marketing/PR agencies as they sometimes offer grad recruitment schemes. She'd need to do some research on London agencies or register with a relevant headhunter for advice, or ask her Uni for direction.
She could also try looking at industry jobs/recruitment online -- Campaign, Marketing Week or The Guardian Jobs (media section).
Employers would appreciate her logical thinking and proof she can retain and build on information (i.e. her Degree -- the subject of the degree itself is often irrelevant). Her work ethic is also a plus, holding down jobs while studying she would be seen as a self-starter.
Getting in at entry level for an Account Management/Marketing Executive role can be a springboard to building a really good and interesting career.

HTH - and try not to worry :) They often find themselves within a year or two of leaving Uni.

If she's thinking of another year of study she could consider teaching, an unpopular choice I know, especially on MN, but you said she wanted variety and every day to be different and teaching fits the bill.

FFS SHE IS NOT YOU AND DOES NOT WANT TO FOLLOW IN YOUR FOOTSTEPS. SHE DOESNT NEED TO HAVE HAD INTERNSHIPS.

YOUR EXPERIENCE IS NOT HERS. Your experience, advice and attitude are spectacularly unhelpful to her.

I'm sorry she's such a disappointment to you. Don't forget she has a massive leg up just from your social capital which so many others do not have.

that pays enough to have a semi-decent quality of life in London. There’s plenty of people earning enough to have a good quality of life outside London. Why the necessity to stay in London?

My nephew has a degree in archaeology. He’s currently at law school !!

I have 2:2 from a third rate uni and now have a highly paid career in public relations. Chill, let her find her way and don’t pile on the pressure.

I also did no work experience or internships. I just applied, applied, applied. It was during the credit crunch and it was very competitive finding junior positions.

Nothing focusses the mind on employment prospects more than getting a crap job and being skint.

Leave her to it. She can move to London, get a waitressing job and realise how rubbish it is! She sounds fairly capable though she’ll probably end up in a start up or marketing agency or something.

From experiences amongst my peers who attended top 10 universities, Oxford and Cambridge included, and studied arts subjects (English, languages, anthro) they did not typically quickly get full time jobs with zero work experience. Many had to do unpaid work experience or internships before landing a full time paid position after uni.

My learning has been that real life work experience (even if in an unrelated field to what you end up in) is essential, a great degree alone isn’t enough. I’d advise your daughter to seek work experience asap alongside applying for full time roles, if that is what she really wants. If anything, internships can be more appealing as they’re less of a commitment than a full time job if they don’t turn out to be the role you’re after. Good luck to her!

They will get there. Don’t let your stress make her strsssed.

Perhaps she could consider something like communications roles. Where is she based? If she has a LinkedIn profile sign up to internships or graduate schemes on there. There are many and varied ones that come up on there and they may inspire a route for her.

Really interesting thread

All the anthropology majors (approx 10) I know took a conversion course in law and work in magic circle law or M&A firms.