Silly question but what are the advantages and disadvantages of a Masters??

[drivinmecrazy]

DD1 is in her final year of a joint honours English lit and Spanish degree.
She's been pretty certain until recently that she wouldn't go down the masters route as she wanted to jump straight into looking for post graduate jobs in her chosen field.
She has worked for the same company since going to uni and has progressed well. The job has suited her and helped to fund her own way through uni so has been largely self sufficient.
Recently her boss has offered her a year long contract in a managerial position for £24000 if she were to stay on and do her masters.
She's now in a spiral and completely confused.
Her mind was set on taking her chances and lunging into the world of applying for post grad positions that would offer her the experience on the long term. This would mean her moving back home and commuting (with all the costs incurred) to get the relevant experience. We've said we'd subsidise her costs during that year.
Now her current employer (on uni campus) has offered her a managerial role for £24000 if she wants to stay on to do her masters.
We're all at a loss as to what to advise her.

DD1 only has a week to decide if she wants the role and subsequently to do a masters.

She was originally against a masters because she wanted to jump straight in to getting experience.
So many of her friends are doing masters it's mind boggling!!

Forgot to say her masters would be in international business and she's hoping to go into the world of publishing (in an ideal world!)

In my world (not publishing) the vast majority of graduate roles are now level 7 apprenticeships, which is the equivalent of a masters. Employers use the apprenticeship levy to fund 3 years of training. The only ones with a masters took a 4 year integrated degree in something like maths or physics. I would suggest your DD tries to find out if employers are doing the same within the publishing world or if an extra year of study would be valued by employers.

It depends. £24k is what my son makes full time PAYE driving a van to deliver groceries for a big company so I would not be seduced by £24k as some kind of golden ticket. It is not very much money. However if this is the only job she is likely to get because of the connection with that employer then it might be tempting and plenty want another year as a student. As covid hit and my son's gap year plans went wrong in 2020 quite a few of his friends did a masters (and he did a year's law conversion course (and now another year's Legal Practice Course for solicitors)). Sometimes that is to fill time or remain a student a bit longer and sometimes it is really useful for your career.

I agree with the poster above - try to find out what other publishers are asking of graduates to see if masters are being required for the jobs the daughter wants these days.

Is that £24k plus they pay masters fees? How long will masters take? Is she obliged to pay anything back if she leaves immediately on getting masters. Can masters options including diss be tailored to publishing or do they need to reflect other business.

What are the working hours for £24k. My DS2 who worked substantial term time and holidays during his undergrad can only manage holiday work during his current full time business masters.

Agree with others about checking out whether publishers care about masters in general and international business in particular. I would have thought such a masters would be viewed positively but don't know the industry.

I'm a bit confused- can you say more about what she's doing for her current employer and how that fits into doing a masters? If I'm reading it correctly, the current employer has been employing her while at uni and is saying that, if she stayed at uni (eg doing a masters) she could carry on working for them at £24k a year, but this employer is not in publishing which is what she wants to do in the longer term. Is that right? Or is the current employer offering her a job for after uni at £24k conditional on her having a masters in international business?

I’m assuming this is an annual salary of 24K to work whilst doing her Master’s. On the face of it that is pretty good, so the questions are (1) of how much benefit is qualification for her career goals, and (2) what obligation will she incur (such as a requirement to stay with the employer for X years or pay some money back)? Also, can she negotiate for any study time?

I would think the qualification useful but have no knowledge. Then it comes down to the obligations and support.

If she’s already in a job and being sponsored by an employer then I’d do it. It’s only a problem if she’s not yet in a job, because that’s when employers start saying you’re overqualified for an entry level position and they aren’t interested.

@Alayalaya
So many students are doing masters these days because they cannot get a job as a grad recruit! If employers then think they are over qualified, it’s an utter waste of time and money.

@drivinmecrazy
We are now in January and DD hasn’t got a job with a publisher. She’s presumably in her 4th if she’s done Spanish. However jobs are being advertised but has she even applied for one in publishing? It’s quite a competitive area and she has, I assume, no idea if she would be successful or not.

From my point of view “bird in the hand is worth two in the bush”. She should find out the details of the job and the masters. £24,000 is not a great starting salary. Lower than a teacher would get. But she should look at prospects and management structure. Is everyone a manager or does this role grow and is promotion likely?

‘ So many students are doing masters these days because they cannot get a job as a grad recruit! ’

There simply aren’t enough graduate jobs to go round. Employers prefer people with an undergraduate degree because people with a masters would have higher expectations. Graduates who are unsuccessful in getting hired do a masters in the mistaken belief that it’ll give them more chance of getting a job, when in fact the opposite is true. It just makes them even more unsuitable for the non-graduate jobs which are all that’s available to them.

@Alayalaya
I think some targeted Masters are worth it. But some clearly are not. I’m not sure applicants think they would leap from mere grads but it depends on what they studied and where. Some masters are hugely self indulgent.

I know there are not enough grad jobs to go round and getting a better cv with relevant work experience is often more advantageous than a masters. My friend’s DS has a masters and no job. Didn’t bother to do any work experience or volunteering at all. Very competitive area of work so he offers nothing extra to employers.

Lots of students do masters because they are genuinely interested in the subject and want to pursue it. They don’t do it because they think it’ll give them more of a chance at getting a job. Does the OP’s DD want to study international business? On the face of it, 24k plus management experience plus a masters seems a good deal to me - better than the very limited opportunities and little pay in publishing.

Agree with @TizerorFizz some targeted masters are worth it. I think OP needs to get advice from those who know the publishing industry whether the business masters will make her a more attractive candidate or not.

Agree also about work experience. DS2 has been lucky to get a well paying graduate job. He thinks it was his work experience that swung it for him in the final set of interviews as he used examples from work to answer lots of the scenario type questions. Out of his friendship group of four (all 2:1 degrees in same subject) it is the two who have substantial work experience who have secured graduate jobs.

Well there’s two ways to look at it, one is if you view education as an economic lever only in the short term and the other is if you want to develop further higher order thinking and analytical skills.

As she doesn’t currently have any other offers on the table I’m not sure there’s a massive choice right now - but 24k salary and I’m assuming a funded masters is a gift.

OP, I don't thnk a Masters is terribly relevant to a career in publishing (DH was in publishing for many years so I have some knowledge of it).

That doesn't mean a Masters isn't worth doing, of course, higher level study can bring non work-related benefits. But I don't think your DD should go into it thinking it will give her an advantage in her chosen career.

Can’t help with the substantive query, I’m afraid.

But, just for future reference to avoid confusion, where you say she wanted to jump straight into looking for post graduate jobs in her chosen field - following graduation she will actually be looking for graduate jobs. (Until she gains a ‘postgraduate’ qualification.)

Recently her boss has offered her a year long contract in a managerial position for £24000 if she were to stay on and do her masters.

Also @drivinmecrazy does this mean combining full time work with study? I'm not sure that would be possible, a one-year Masters is intended to be full-time. DD did one last year and started off thinking she would do paid work alongside – complete non-starter, the Masters required her to study every evening and at weekends, it was nothing like her under-grad. That was STEM, maybe it's different for Business, but worth looking into closely to see the demands of the course.

@Snowiscold
Most people who graduate need to work! It’s economic. It’s nice to follow your interests but if employers are not interested, all that’s left is teaching. My DD was asked to consider a masters in a niche aspect of a MFL she studied. The alternative was doing the GDL and becoming a barrister. No guarantees she would become a barrister but studying a niche subject wasn’t on her radar. If is for some, but then what? Rent to pay etc!

I would also say that students should at least volunteer if relevant work is difficult to get. I think work/volunteering can trump masters for grad employment.

I think work/volunteering can trump masters for grad employment.

Honestly I think this depends so much on what field you want to be in. It's definitely true for DC1, but not at all true for DC2, where pretty much everyone has a Masters and a large percentage have PhDs.

In OP's case, I think for publishing, qualifications beyond an under-graduate degree are not really of huge benefit, career-wise.

I clearly said in an earlier post that career makes a difference. There are some where people need to study academically to a higher level. Some scientists obviously. There are some careers where you would hardly ever find a PhD. Why would M&S seek to recruit people with a PhD in history, philosophy or Latin? This is largely true for very many of the professions where professional qualifications mean everything and not academic study in a niche area. A MLaw isn’t held by many solicitors. MEng is more common as it’s undergrad but few need a PhD because professional competence is needed for CEng and most choose the work route. Few accountants are PhDs.

PhDs and masters are necessary where “experts” are needed. Otherwise if you need professional qualifications and you are not going to be in academia or aspire to be a leading expert, you just need the training job. To get this, work experience or volunteering really help. A PhD/Masters cannot be required by a majority of jobs because applicants simply don’t have them! What Masters? What research for PhD? Its never ever a majority or even close to it for most professions.

Unless she wants to be an academic, or has a genuine love for her subject, the vast majority of Masters degrees are a waste of time from an employment perspective

I disagree about a masters. As more and more people have degrees, I’ve seen an increase in jobs wanting post grad qualifications. It’s most certainly not something that makes you an academic.

@RJnomore1
A poster was talking about PHDs. What jobs are advertised where applicants should have a masters? I’m genuinely interested. Not STEM ones.

So a masters in History is required by which employers?

There’s a bit of conflation between doctorates and masters going on and they’re a long way apart in reality.

Lots of seniors public sector and charity jobs I look at, the one I’m in included, say at least masters preferred. Hands up I do not work in publishing but it’s very unhelpful in general to say a masters only prepares you for academia, most are actually vocational including MBAs.

A masters in history and a masters in international business will give you very different career options.