Graduate job prospects in this climate

[fluffythecat1]

With a son a couple of years away from university and starting to plan for retirement myself, I’m wondering if it’s worth him getting tens of thousands of pounds into debt and us spending thousands topping up his maintenance loan.

Even Russell Group graduates can’t get jobs, loan figures Even Russell Group graduates can’t get jobs, loan figures show

https://www.thetimes.com/article/dc0dfe40-d062-4518-adf1-13da1535cb72?shareToken=06012ef258709155beca93d5d1038d78

What subjects does he want to do?

The government seems to be pushing for apprenticeships so maybe that’s a better choice if he’s not very academic.

My son had 3 different offers for 3 different grad schemes for this September start. Yes it's very competitive but there are roles out there. I don't really know what the government expected when they set out to get 50%+ into higher education than to cause a bottle neck of applicants.

That article makes sobering reading. I have a DC in year 13 very set on university, but I do think that a graduate apprenticeship would make a lot more sense in financial terms.

My son graduated this year with a first class Masters in Computer Science from a Russell Group uni. He got a good graduate job (not great pay initially), but he applied for about 65 jobs to get it.

Apprenticeships, certainly the higher level ones are SUPER competitive, more so than getting into an RG/top 10 uni.

I know one boy in my DCs year that turned down his offer at Warwick for an apprenticeship with jaguar Land Rover. He’s due to finish in the next year I think- with a degree, no student debt, several years work experience and having been earning throughout.

An apprenticeship is not the consolation prize

What course and industry? A friend's son got 2 offers for large consultancy to do finance but I think it involved around 100 applications. He had a first in Economics from an RG

Most parents of graduates should at least be aware of the market so they are supportive as it must be disheartening

I saw an interesting piece recently which said that education cannot be a government priority if the economy isn’t. The economy needs to be growing in order for there to be jobs for those who have gone through higher education.

2 for finance (around 65 applications)

Change of direction 1 for law (around 70 applications)

2.1 history from an RG

Yes similarly know of a 4 x A* achieving young person on the Dyson engineering apprenticeship who turned down an engineering offer at Cambridge.

My DS went completely off piste (for our family!) and joined the forces as an officer post (very average ) a levels.
he is completing a degree with them - he had to pay £800 costs! More than compensated by earning £50k + after 4 years, and virtually no outgoings.
it wouldn’t have been something I would ever have thought of, but the opportunities are great, especially in engineering and technology.
though the entry tests were very demanding, especially physically.

My son who graduated with a 2.1 in cyber security got a job relatively easily but I think his year in industry made the difference. He has a friends with degrees in computer science but no work experience in the field who are really struggling.

DS wants to go into the military post A levels and I’m thinking it’s not a bad idea. If you decide to go to Uni later you’ve at least got some work and life experience and there are some good training opportunities if you decide Uni not for you.

These stats are not saying that graduates can't get jobs. They are saying that the number of recent graduates who reach the threshold to start repayments within 18 months of graduation has dropped. It's certainly a significant drop but that number doesn't take into account

• graduates who are pursuing a career that requires a longer buildup of experience at a low pay grade before things take off
• graduates choosing postgraduate study
• graduates getting jobs in careers that are never going to be highly paid eg social work and nursing.

Loads of graduates have employment that just means they don't have to start paying their loans back yet. That doesn't have a bad consequence.

If your DS loves learning and wants to study in greater depth than is done at school and is curious to dive in to academia and think really deeply then going to uni can't be a bad thing - if it doesn't propel him into a glowing career that's ok. It just means he doesn't owe a penny if his salary never breaches the threshold. If he is just thinking of uni as a way to spend 3 fun years before embarking on proper adulthood then yanbu, skip it. There are many cheaper ways to have fun.

If they want to go to uni do it. There will always be offerings civil service. nhs roles (non medical) . tfl eg Graduate roles - Transport for London share.google/atxSR60PK8GEwgCCB

I think it’s really personal, some seem to land on their feet and fly straight into decent graduate roles and others struggle to get going. Seems no rhyme or reason. My eldest had 4 good offers, defence engineering, actuarial role (level above graduate) in a mid size firm. Actuarial role in a start up, again one up from a grad role and a grad role at Goldman Sachs (not client facing). He opted for the start up. He has a first from RG and a Masters from Oxbridge. He has an enormous amount of student debt, I just hope he earns enough to pay it off quickly.

One thing I ve noticed is graduates have to be prepared to go wherever the jobs are, literally. Abroad, china, EU etc.

DD graduated in the summer and all of her friends are now in employment with roles directly linked to their degrees (CS, Politics, Maths). I was surprised as I thought it was take a long time for her to get a role in the area she wanted but no she was very lucky.

DS1 got a grad job last year. He recently found out there were 1200 applicants for two places.
Even for a three month summer internship this year, DS2 got an interview and later was told there were 750 applicants, 23 interviewed and two taken on.

From experience of dc and friends I would say it can take a year to get a graduate job.
I think its always been thus if you graduate into a recession or downturn - was in the early 90s.

Yeah but the threshold for repaying student loans now is basically full time minimum wage so if you aren’t even earning that, you aren’t working full time. Not great for a graduate.

The whole premise for student fees was the graduate premium. If that doesn’t exist, what’s the rationale?

It’s also not good for govt finances if people aren’t repaying their loans - they don’t disappear.

I don’t think all the ‘just get an apprenticeship’ talk is very helpful, it is very tough to get an apprenticeship. To me it’s more about carefully considering the degree choice and whether this is something which leads to employment, or is it a field which AI will be taking over? The benefits of life skills in going to university, even if just for the first year, are very worthwhile imo, but sadly not affordable for many.

“Freebus · Today 20:22

From experience of dc and friends I would say it can take a year to get a graduate job.
I think its always been thus if you graduate into a recession or downturn - was in the early 90s.”

Totally this. I graduated in 1992 (MFL) and couldn’t get any kind of job for love nor money for the first year even though i already had experience of working in shops, bars and factories, and some casual experience as a translator and interpreter. After a year, I ended up taking a job opportunity abroad which kickstarted me.

Well, I think it was tough to get grad jobs. But there were definitely jobs outside of that, for sure, and you certainly didn't need to apply for 60-100 jobs. In fact, most people - unless they stuck with the grad job scenario - probably only needed to apply to 5-10.
But now, to get ANY job is virtually impossible. It's very, very tough out there.
And IQ is going to be the main determinant of a lot of jobs what with AI and all these online tests.

Which is sad. I remember speaking to a VERY successful person 10 years ago. I mean they were insanely successful and good at their job. To get onto their job ladder they never had to do a single psychometric or aptitude test and they said if they'd had to do that, they would have failed miserably.

There are more ways to think than one. Sad world.

I agree. It's the same as all the people who state: "become a plumber, electrician, builder etc".

Sounds great in principle, but very hard to find an apprenticeship in a trade unless you "know someone"