Does your Graduate child have a job?

[Karma2023]

The volume of advertised jobs for Graduates is apparentely at a historical low which is obviously worrying for students and their parents.

Just interested in sharing experience and perhaps offering assistance to those going through the job hunting process.

Has your young person secured a job? If so what subject did they do and how did they find the role?

I have a dc who secured an internship this summer, he is studying STEM and found the job directly from the company site. He is hoping to get a return job offer however he hasn't loved the job so will be looking for other opportunities. He may take a year out and improve his language skills as it might add to his CV.

Yes. My biology graduate daughter started working in the cafe of a national garden. She has now been accepted as a horticultural apprentice for a two year apprenticeship. She could have done this without a degree but she isn't particularly interested in a graduate job pathway if you know what I mean. She may do an MSc in the future. I'm hoping her employer might pay for it. I would advise graduates to work absolutely anywhere - cafe, pub, delivery driver, Amazon warehouse - while applying for jobs. Volunteer in areas that interest them and make it known to real people what work they want to do.

Yes, but not in the area she studied. She just finished her degree (or rather is finishing soon but all the work has been submitted) and it doesn’t seem like she’s particularly interested in the area, I suspect she just did it at the time because it was either that or FT work.

However it’s a job in an area she likes and it seems like she’s keen to pursue it further. A degree is still helpful.

DS is starting a funded PHD in October- does that count ? He will do tutoring as well which he gets paid for....

Yes DD finished her archeology course and got a graduate job in archeology.

But she finished top of her year and said yes to every opportunity which resulted in her going on 3 digs (2 overseas). She had to work very hard to stand out.

Yup. Graduated last year in ComSci and was offered a job by the firm he interned with. He was super organised and got himself an internship every summer, including the first year which isn’t easy. By the time I was saying ‘what about internships’ in April, he was already sorted - I hadn’t realised that all the applications for them start the previous Nov/Dec. Every one he applied for had a minimum three-stage, usually four- or five-stage, application and interview process.

My very unevidenced impression is that AI means that we are swinging back to more jobs being got through personal connection. This is a huge downside and reduction in open application routes. I’d tell any undergraduate now to suck up relentlessly to their tutors, tell everyone they’ve ever met that they’re looking for work, do the Linked In shite, all of that. Still no guarantees.

Yes, DS starts his job in September for a development consultancy. His degree was Property Development & Planning. He was going to do his
masters but decided against it

Love this! I think it shows that there may be novel pathways to jobs.

Well done him! I haven't heard of that degree but obviously going to be a growth area so what a great choice he made.

My DD is doing a maternity cover role at her church in her university city. It was advertised externally and she was asked to apply. She studied languages but has been accepted to train for ministry. However, she was working as a tour guide and was prepared to work in hospitality or do an admin job to pay the rent.

A close friend of hers had a graduate job directly relevant to her STEM degree with one of the water companies. She didn't like it at all (broken promises, only graduate in small office poor line manager) it and is now working in retail in the shop floor for a luxe label sportswear brand and loving it.

Before she graduated, my DD and I talked about signing up with recruitment agencies and cold approaches to organisations she was interested in, in her case Christian charities.

Keeping an open mind and seeing all work as an opportunity to learn something interesting are key.

Yes! Mine did Cybersecurity but hated it and only got a 2:2 last year. Got a job with an IT repair place but only for 2 weeks. Then a minimum wage role as IT support which was ok and had some prospects. He researched other types of roles and has just secured a job as a graduate systems engineer.
They all involved multiple interview online and face to face though. Massive rigmarole for pretty basic jobs.

All three of mine went straight into jobs at the end of uni. They planned ahead and started looking and applying from the beginning of their final year. One of them had to do multiple rounds of interviews that took nearly the whole year.

I've seen quite a few children of friends who waited until they had finished their degrees before looking and ended up unemployed for long stretches of time. A lot of the ones who struggled were finding uni and exams etc tough and couldn't cope with the additional pressure of job-hunting. Ultimately the point of the degree is to get a job (in most cases), so maybe a little less focus on grades and more on finding employment may be a better strategy.

Don't say "only" to his face though 😞

I’d tell any undergraduate now to suck up relentlessly to their tutors, tell everyone they’ve ever met that they’re looking for work, do the Linked In shite, all of that

This might be the way to go. There is some discussion that the official Grad job vacancy rate is low because employers are seeking less formal routes, due to AI overwhelming their application processes. My son was told his internship job was closed after they received 1000 applications, in one day!

You must be very proud 👏

Yes, he applied for a summer internship whilst studying comp sci degree. He underwent several rounds of the interview process with the first one only being asked for his GCSE and A level results, then he was contacted again for which uni he was studying at and expected degree classification, then zoom interview then a technical skills test for several hours whilst monitored. He then got the summer internship which was in his second year summer.

That whole process is a way to cut through the graduate job application, they can get you in for 8 weeks and see how you think and your approach to work. Off the back of that internship he was offered a job outright.

That job my son landed was never advertised, in fact none of them were and it is a national company who recruit in several locations. They pretty much all got their graduate job after a successful summer internship.

Another way to network before a job is to attend any local meet ups for anything related to your field of work. Ds had this on his personal statement for uni, seeing how companies use technology, coding etc in the real world.

Yes. My team recently advertised 3 non graduate jobs which are attractive to a wide range of people. They got 3 x the usual number of applications, most of which were pages of unreadable shite, and had to spend a full week shortlisting (usually a few hours max). Then obviously employers start using AI too and it just is utterly dysfunctional.

I can think of ways to fix it but HR is a tanker that may take a while to turn.

Yes. DD studied Business with Law, graduated last summer, and has a sales and marketing job. I spotted it in the science park newsletter (I work for a different company) and encouraged her to apply. It was an online interview, followed by a F2F interview. There were 4 people in the final round. She’s really enjoying it. She passed her probation period with flying colours, and even got a 5% pay rise.

Yes but it's not a graduate job, it's working in a garden centre, but he is doing lots of relevant volunteering, some self-employed gardening and networking, he'e getting interviews but not quite got over the line yet.

My DS graduated in an Engineering subject this summer. Hasn't managed to get a grad job so has had to come back home to live. He's attending the jobcentre plus for help and has just managed to get a 12 hour supermarket role at minimum wage. There aren't many grad roles out there at the moment for him so he's going to do this for a few months and then re-evaluate his options.

No. Graduated last summer and has applied for many grad schemes, only got one interview. Now has 6 month job, nothing to do with his degree, on the back of a presentation for a role he has zero experience of.
I think the key was having the opportunity to sell himself to the boss of the company.
His sibling graduated 2 years previously, the difference is enormous.

My DS graduates next year and has already started the Graduate job search and has already done a couple of AI interviews. He spent the last year on placement at a company in London doing work unrelated to his degree. Now he is going back for his final year. The company want to give him a job when he graduates, but in the current market, he is not counting on it, so he has decided to start the search elsewhere as well

My two graduated last last year.

One graduated BA, worked in min wage jobs to save for travelling. had a couple of final round graduate scheme interviews, but no offers, went to SE Asia and was approached by a company asking her to interview, initially declined, but they kept asking, so did a facetime interview and got offered a job while on the beach. Unbelievable.

The other one has stellar results, Oxbridge, has a masters, tons of sporty and heavyweight accomplishments and experiences on her CV got absolutely nowhere, with >80 graduate applications and 50 min wage jobs. Absolutely heartbreaking to watch. Job centre humiliation, the lot. Trained herself in some kind of management finance thing, using books and the internet and youtube, had 11 interviews for one job and is about to start working abroad, earning more than me. Thank Heavens for the EU passport by virtue of European grandparent, or she would be unemployed in the UK.

Labour have ruined the job market for young people and I will never vote for them again.

DS graduated in film making and is working freelance in corporate editing. It was never a field he would walk into a great job in making films, lol, but I am impressed he is working in the field.

He got the role through making local contacts in the film industry by attending everything...

@CinnamonJellyBeans I'm genuinely not understanding why this is Labour's fault. Can you explain?

DD2 graduated last summer and got a temp contract in her relevant area. She was made permanent within a few weeks.

DD1 starts work in her relevant area next week after a masters and then further study.

DD2 handed in her final uni work today and has an internship for 12 months.

labour raised the NI contributions that employers must pay. Labour raised the minimum wage for young people.

No nobody can afford to employ them.

I am very grateful that both my kids have managed to get grad schemes, with good pay and progression and am aware that this is not the norm. BBC article today says grad jobs in 2026 are 1/6 of the 2017 figures.