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, top 20 university though and top class A’levels and degree, applied during final year and got a professional training contract. The applications and recruitment process was very time consuming. Applied for 6 jobs as applications took so long and had to be specific to each law firm. Got one and took it, withdrew from the other recruitment processes.

I think it does depend on if the student is an old school type university grad or if just went for something to do. Also with grade inflation it seems anything lower than a 2:1 is often filtered out.

DD graduated last summer in Social Policy and currently is completing 1st year of CS graduate scheme in social research. Found out about job thru uni department as they ran career seminars at beginning of penultimate year.

Had relevant work experience (took year out to do work placement and did an additional 12-week paid internship). Also worked in hospitality/student services/sports coaching alongside studying (during final year at school and throughout uni).

Found uni careers fair useful as showed her opportunities outside her degree area she hadn’t considered (or thought they’d not be interested in her). Benefitted by her classmates experiences (she was behind a year) so was organized in job hunting early on. Lucky too as she got an early offer in her final year she’d have been happy with so only targeted a few jobs from then on. Kept two offers right to the last minute as friend had a graduate scheme cancelled.

@Karma2023 I just think it delays entering the real world for many and continues a rather nice unpressured university life. I do agree some extended research is vital but it’s not more admirable than working or working and studying. Many uni staff with doctorates don’t earn much and it’s certainly following a personal
passion for many,. Would you not think all further study for professional qualifications whilst working is just as good or even more admirable? I can tell you it’s a lot more demanding! Each to their own though.

Yes - look at the grad outcomes for some Oxford courses and they are not as stellar as you might think. I know of Oxford grads with nothing but a cafe job but, frankly, they had no ambition for a job and didn’t bother. In fact some parents do indeed think Oxbridge degrees open all career doors and these dc walk through with not much effort, but this is not the case for many humanities degrees like English and Anthropology. Preparing for work is a must.

Yes both social sciences grads. First one (more academic, RG Uni) failed to get any of the many grad schemes applied for, but did get a relatively low paid entry level job in the field of interest just through a jobs website. It was a foot in the door and they have excelled and moved up through the ranks since (7 years post grad): lesson learned, don’t get hung up on “grad” jobs.

Second (good degree at “plate glass” level uni) again, entry level job directly connected to degree which has led to an “interesting” meander through various sectors and probably not found their path yet, but developing loads of skills and experience (3years post grad): lesson learned it’s no longer frowned upon to move jobs frequently until you find your niche, but it’s easier to find a job if you are in a job.

Labour? Are you on crack? Brexit = David Cameron Crash the economy = Liz Truss Students loans = Nick Clegg & David Cameron

@Enterthewolves I don't disagree that the state of the job market has been built on the past, mostly Conservative failures, however the recent NI increase which was applied across all income thresholds has been detrimental to early careers and part-time vacancies. Add in the Iran war and AI and it's had the effect of lowering businesses confidence.

Yes, working as is his partner. Job applications written to directly meet person spec. an area I have experience of due to my professional role.

One, yes, but not very happy with it but too disheartened by the application process to apply for anything else at the moment.

One just starting to apply. So far response from 3 of the 5 applications he has put asking him to do competence tests. Am hoping that is a good sign rather than them making everyone do the competence tests.

I also think our preference for online shopping for cheap, poor quality, fast fashion hasn’t helped. The high street has been destroyed.

More customers, more shops, more jobs rather than our money going to China.

@Enterthewolves the huge drop in grad jobs is Labour! It’s well documented. However the economy has taken a variety of hits for 15 plus years. The initial crash - Labour were in! Let’s at least get our history right.

However this fails to address the vast number of grads and too many expecting grad level work. The Conservatives lifted the cap on student admissions in 2013/14 and this also caused big problems in the grad market.

I have little sympathy with grads who go off travelling and don’t engage with getting a job at all. When dc have done what they can, it’s upsetting. But - high taxation on jobs cuts jobs. No easy way of saying that.

“The initial crash - Labour were in! Let’s at least get our history right.”. That was caused by the sub- prime mortgage collapse in the US and Gordon Brown and Alasdair Darling were instrumental and widely acknowledged in stopping it being even worse!
I think AI has caused some of the downward trend in recruitment in graduate jobs, some companies are waiting to see what is on the horizon that they can use instead of graduates, I got some insight into this as DS1 had lots of interviews because his Honours project was on AI automation, one company was developing AI for Law firms! It doesn’t account for all the drop but it doesn’t help.

Another one whose DS finished this year (doesn’t graduate until Nov) and has a job. It was another job on the back of his internship, which was a module of his degree. We thought it was a bit cheeky of the Uni at the time to claim tuition fees for no teaching, but it worked in DS’s favour. He studied business and marketing and is working in an industry he loves.

Yes, but in recruitment, which is a field his younger brother also works in & he doesn’t have a degree. DS1 chose a university that had 97% rating for its graduates getting jobs, which was top ranking the year he went. He earns very well and enjoys his work, so all good.

@Wbeezer It was a USA problem initially but we had banks and mortgage companies who lent to people they should not have done. The issues here were partly home grown and much tighter regulations came in afterwards. We could have implemented sensible lending rules much much sooner. They didn’t.

Interesting discussion on AI in a legal context on the radio today - it invented legal cases for precedent. No one checked. Like most systems, rubbish in, rubbish out! I think some firms dealing in complex work will be very wary.

Oh they both know the other one is my favourite ;)

Dd2 studied Economics . She has a job in a bulge bracket investment bank and is working in Canary Wharf
She applied for Spring Weeks , was given a return offer for the Summer and then received a Graduate role

DS1 got one after jumping through several hoops, assessments centres etc two years ago. Massively competitive and stressful.
My two nephews didn’t apply and focused on exams. They just graduated this summer, one has just secured a graduate job for an international bank (first interview) starting next month and the other a graduate job in his relevant field (second interview) - lab/Biology an hour from home.

Yes! Dd graduated this summer. She’s got a place on a 3 year grad scheme involving the 1st year working alongside completing a post-grad diploma. All uni fees are paid for her plus she gets a bursary for living expenses. She then continues working with a full salary for her second year, once she’s qualified, to gain experience. Then in her third year, she will work while also completing a funded Masters.

It’s a great scheme. It was a tough process, with application, written test, full day of interviews and aptitude tests etc.

It’s a scheme more usually done by people several years older than her, with direct experience in related field, so she’s done incredibly well to get a place. I’m ridiculously proud of her.

Eventually my ds did but it was sooooo stressful. Has a masters in history and now works for the nhs in mental health governance

Oh wow. What is an AI interview? Are you literally questioned by a bot? That sounds so futuristic and a bit creepy tbh.

DS has BA from Kings and Masters from Cambridge.

Earning £32k in central London in related role. Apparently over a thousand people applied for it.

Salaries for graduates are pitifully low in arts and media.

Having attended KCL and Cambridge he has the contacts to get a more lucrative role if he wanted to “sell his soul” as he puts it.

I recently helped two graduate relatives get jobs in my organisation (legal) which they wouldn’t have got past the sift for otherwise.

It is still very much who you know…

edited to add that sounds amazing @littlefish. Shame there aren’t more programmes like that.

We’re not at that stage quite yet but it’s very concerning. Plus casual jobs are shot too.

Yes Labour, who are currently in power.

Cameron had had enough of Farage shouting and euro sceptics in his own party who were a nightmare. He wanted to shut them up but the stupid British public ……..

We cannot have the vast number of universities we have and huge numbers of students and expect the tax payer to pay. For most there’s still a grad premium and they pay. The idea we could continue with £3000 fees is laughable. I’d rather cut back on university places, make many low ranking unis into colleges of HE again and start doing HNDs or HNCs again. Far more should go and train locally if possible. Most politicians have messed up HE but the current employment issue (not faced my MN offspring) is mostly Labours fault. Taxing employment is counter productive.

DS did a humanities degree but is working in transportation for now as jobs are like gold dust. He is saving to travel for a few months and then thinking he might join the RAF or the Navy because it offers a lot more opportunity for an interesting career. Not sure how i feel about this but totally understand the fear of getting stuck in a dead end job.