To think people are overeducated in the UK?

[Watdidusay]

I am raging about this too be honest and I'm not sure why.

One of the mums at the school apparently lost her corporate job 8 months ago. Found this out today when I ran into her in Lidl in the next town - she was working as a manager there.
We ended up talking later in the day and turns out four of the staff there have masters degrees or above (one has a PhD). Apparently this is a common thing people are doing now as they cant get jobs in their fields
AIBU to think we are completely over educating people in this country now?

Feeling angry I think as DS (18) tried so hard over the summer to get a job like this but am finding out now they are all being taken up by people with lots of degrees!

The people who got Trump into power are not highly educated. Neither are the people who will get Reform into power.

Farage was privately educated but is as thick as two planks but all he needs is for the masses to not have had the benefit of spending 3 years in a diverse uni campus where critical thinking is encouraged. .

I really don't think that the OP meant her DD was expecting to get a management job at Lidl at 18.

I don't think people can be over educated tbh. Surely good education and study should be applauded? As has been said before it's the economy/job market. Going off on a tangent i would love to retire which must be true for thousands of older worker, but the bastard government put the retirement age up meaning there's even less job opportunities for youngsters.

I think 2 problems are:

-Not enough research or guidance info how graduates can use their degree for a good career path

-Too many people studying the wrong subject because they make the decision when they are 17.

I have a degree and never used it. I worked my way up in business instead, starting out in a call centre.

Totally - my son actually did get an apprenticeship at 16 in tech and telecoms with enthusiastic support from me and is now 27 and doing fine in London -he’s on his 4th job and was never once asked about degrees etc once he had his BTEC and 3 years post qual experience. One thing I’m really glad we did though, he was in a house share in Bristol a week before he was18 and in flat shares in London from 20. So he had that’ need to budget and understanding of other peoples mess, nicking your food etc’ that he didn’t get UNI - funnily enough he did go to London uni as a mature student at Birbeck for 18 months combined with a tech part time job but packed it in due to a less than great experience during Covid - he’s very very glad he had his tech and telecoms skills under his belt.

you are so right about these days telling people ‘you must go to Uni’ and then lots of places devaluing it if it’s not ‘top10 uni’ or a 1st etc . Honestly if I was 16 through to 20 I would push through getting an apprenticeship if you can or some work experience and then if you still feel that pull- go at 21!! Better allowances too and no call on parental contributions either if you’ve been self supporting.

I never expected to see highly educated and intelligent in the same sentence as Reform or Trump.

This!!!!

Mm. I grew up working class and spent almost 20 years educating myself and trying to get into my chosen field. When I found myself working in a sandwich shop and living in a rented room in my thirties I gave up, married a man with a good job and became a housewife.

I should have stayed in my lane, eh? Who did I think I was wasting my time trying to make a good life for myself?.

I don't think people are over-educated but I do think some people could use lessons in common sense and how to do or deal with things in their day to day lives. I've lost count of the number of people I have seen who have a string of certificates but make silly ridiculous errors because they can't transfer the basics of something learned to a similar situation or scenario. It like they have certain things in a metephorical box and it can and will only apply to that circumstance and not that it will work for something else too.

I'm really amazed at the number of posters who think the OP meant that her DC was applying for a management job at 18! She said her DC who is 18 "couldn't get a job there/" Seems blindingly obvious to me that she meant an entry-level job!

I don't think it is overeducated, it is educated in the wrong areas. Not enough trained in medicine, not enough apprenticeships, for example.

Obviously she meant an entry-level job!

There’s plenty trained in medicine. There’s no jobs for them.
Ds’s gf is training to be a consultant.

The nhs used to have jobs for all trainee consultants. Now they don’t. It’s a nightmare

I think the issues are coming from the other direction: lack of research and specialised job roles in this country

Graduates don’t choose this. The job market is a hellscape right now!

No. In comparison with lots of western economies I would say the opposite.

I do think quite a look of people look down on higher education, which I find quite strange. I can see it's not for everyone, but to approach it with active disdain is strange to me.

@cathome64 don’t forget Trump said ‘I love the poorly educated’ of course he does because they will just go along with and support him if it aligns with their prejudices and beliefs without too much critical analysis of whether something makes sense, is doable or where’s the money coming from - it’s like Farage saying he would make £20k a year tax free, but if that extra £7 k a year allowance ( which means around £100 a month more ) is then balanced off with other ‘cuts’ or paid in healthcare ( that may not even be any better) and possibly around £180 a month each minimum - it’s all rather pointless - but hey people just look at the headline figure .

I doubt you’ll ever see it again either.

My 19n year old was a duty manager at premier inn. This was 2.5 years ago

The US was a job while he was at uni

There's menial, badly paid work but few are willing to do it- understandably!
The consequence of steering large numbers of young people into university degrees (in order that they can be milked as cash cows) is that there are fewer people who can be railroaded into the shit jobs that no-one wants to do.

Based on the number or people who seem to think following the USA down the rabbit hole to the Far Right and Reform, no, people are not overeducated in the UK. Dim, dim, dim.

I don't think you can be over educated but do think that some companies ask for ridiculous qualifications for some routine jobs.

Example 1 - I used to work for a very large company as a PA. One boss left and another was not starting for 2 months so I didn't have much work to do. At the same time they were recruiting another job so asked me to fill in. All good. This job was to checked that what was delivered to the company was correct. Correct amount of goods relating to purchase order, had all been delivered and where we charged the price quoted. Simple. I am not a trained accountant. The person they wanted to recruit to do the same job was required to have some sort of accountancy or business studies degree. Why? It was a simple job and they couldn't understand why all these graduates kept leaving after about two months. They were bored rigid.

Example 2 - When I was 19 I worked in local government. I eventually worked my way up to running the maintenance and repairs for council properties and did most of the lettings. All without any specific qualifications and I was always being complimented on my efficiency. This same job is now being done by my friend's daughter who couldn't apply for the job without a degree. However, her degree is in art. Again, why? It is a simple task of getting the plumber or whatever to go round and do a repair or to let a property to the person with the most need/points.

In a country where people vote for Reform and are openly racist , homophobic, xenophobic and against vaccines of any kind , I seriously doubt overeducation is the problem.
Job market is pretty tight at the moment. Everyone who has financial responsibilities is desperate to either keep their own job or find any job that pays bills.

Less than 5% of the UK population have a masters and 1% a PhD. Try again OP.

The problem is the lack of expectations about people. We need to be more educated, not just formally, but, from an early age, we should be encouraging kids to learn about the world. Rather than celebrating celebrities, influencers, we should be celebrating people who have worked hard and have talent.

My son recently looked after a Chinese exchange student - he was so impressed with his attitude and intelligence. This is what we need to be aiming for with our young people, excellence.

instrad for years we’ve allowed bullying and ostracisation of individuals who think differently. Heck we keep trying to medicate. Out the individuality, the creative thinking. All the things which have made Britain great.

we should stop all migrant visas except for the most skilled jobs no one in the IK can possibly do. Young people should be able to pick up many of the jobs, learning skills. We need to get rid of this sense of entitlement many young people have. I’ve seen it in graduates we employ.