Graduate salary

bigchez said:
I'm a sales recruiter (and I appreciate the love for sales in this thread :p) so take my comments with a pinch of salt or disdain if you like.

You have a 2nd class degree in colouring-in from a massively second rate uni. However my parents met, graduated and married after going to Plymouth so they must be doing something right. :eek::p

You need to find an excellent recruiter from the industry you are interested in getting into. You need to impress and motivate them into working for you (and this means they must view you as someone they can make some money from placing - its that simple!!), not be limp wristed about the "r" word. You need to go to all the interviews you get FULLY prepped which doesn't mean an hour on the company's website on the morning of the interview ;). You have to WANT what you say you do and demonstrate this to those you meet from potential companies. If your CV is as good as you claim above then you are doing something wrong at interview, because all a CV does is open the door to get an interview - from there on its up to you. Fix this.

Yes its a harsh climate. The cream always rises to the top however, and many companies have used the climate as an excuse to get rid of weak people. Prove you are better.

Harsh but fair I'm afraid.
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So going by what you think (Geography being a colouring in subject..?) what degrees do you like to see?
 
Graduated, looked for job for 6 months, got one, £15k. Not the best of money but the company is bloody good so it should help cv/portfolio wise for the future
 
MattandJet said:
So going by what you think (Geography being a colouring in subject..?) what degrees do you like to see?
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TBH, Mech eng never goes out of fashion, even at the moment. Its not necessarily what I want to see, its what clients want. And at the moment, tbh, they can be more picky than ever. Most want Jesus's brother, with a laptop.

Having said that in my line of work (sales), a degree is not the be all and end all - its more about the person and the figures they've achieved.

Edit - Oh, and I'm merely poking fun that geography is colouring in.
 
Im a Computer Programing Hons graduate. Got my job within a month of graduating and get 18k for this 1st year, this will go up to 20k for the 2nd year (2year training scheme). This is working for NHS so I know more money can be had in the private sector if I wanted. But giving that I live in Dundee which has very low wages (and relatively low cost of living compared to other places) I'm happy with what I have got just now.

If I can get up the ladder quick enough after my training then it will be time to move.
 
Graduated from De Montfort with a first in Computer Science last June and started working in Financial IT for £32k (I had done a placement year there so it would have been less if I hadn't). Got made redundant at Christmas and now work for a defence contractor for £25k in Hertfordshire. Lucky to get the job to be honest, the market is so saturated with people who were in exactly the same situation as me. Was also lucky to have 2 years commercial experience with the placement year. Doubt I would be in such a good situation without it!
 
TheCrow said:
Im a Computer Programing Hons graduate. Got my job within a month of graduating and get 18k for this 1st year, this will go up to 20k for the 2nd year (2year training scheme). This is working for NHS so I know more money can be had in the private sector if I wanted. .
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no it cant

speaking as private sector contractor to the NHS, i can categorically state the NHS IT staff are vastly overpiad for what they do

Leicestershire PCT pay their first line support desk analysts starting salary of £20,000 which is about pay grade 6 iirc ?

Starting salary for 1st line support desk analyst in the private sector is more like £13,000
 
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Liefrich said:
Getting a high end training contract in a commercial firm is going to be damn nigh impossible; even in regional firms the competition is so fierce that you need something really special on your CV not just a great education.

I take it you're doing your LPC, I am too and after last year applying to the top end firms with only 2 interviews out of about 16 applications (not enough) this year I've really been brought down a level and am sending out applications to a lot smaller firms. Nevertheless, I’d much rather work in a larger firm, not only for the benefits but just for the sheer challenging and high pressure stuff you get to do. Oh well I’d probably take anything at the moment …well apart from crime.
Like you Nix I’m **** scared of June as I probably won’t have a training contract and really do not want to be doing a job I’m not going to be happy in just to make ends meet.
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I feel for you guys, having to apply in this climate. The worst apart about applying to city law firms at the moment isn't exactly the lack of jobs generally - it's the fact that up to 50% of trainees are being asked to defer for 6 months or a year. So not only are times harder than ever before but you've also got 50% less places on offer on top of that from the deferees.

Was speaking about it with my supervising partner today. He doesn't think the deferral is a good idea exactly beacuse of this - a lot of talent will be missed over the next year or so.
 
The jobs I had been offered varied between £16 and £18 p/h, although that was contract work - usually 12 months then obviously the chance for renewal or integration with the company itself :)
 
Johnny Girth said:
I feel for you guys, having to apply in this climate. The worst apart about applying to city law firms at the moment isn't exactly the lack of jobs generally - it's the fact that up to 50% of trainees are being asked to defer for 6 months or a year. So not only are times harder than ever before but you've also got 50% less places on offer on top of that from the deferees.

Was speaking about it with my supervising partner today. He doesn't think the deferral is a good idea exactly beacuse of this - a lot of talent will be missed over the next year or so.
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Yea is hard :( I'm starting the GDL in sept. on my own and just worried now about finishing that and the LPC without a TC to show for it :s

Planning to finish with exams and just go on a TC applying binge. I've so far been unsuccessful in the few vac schemes i've applied for, but not tried TC yet.
 
MrLOL said:
no it cant

speaking as private sector contractor to the NHS, i can categorically state the NHS IT staff are vastly overpiad for what they do

Leicestershire PCT pay their first line support desk analysts starting salary of £20,000 which is about pay grade 6 iirc ?

Starting salary for 1st line support desk analyst in the private sector is more like £13,000
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Doesn't it depend on what they support though?

'1st line support' is a pretty generic term - if its very basic trouble shooting then I guess 13k might be the case but you can also get '1st line support roles' paying say 40k albeit very different ones
 
Sudden said:
Yea is hard :( I'm starting the GDL in sept. on my own and just worried now about finishing that and the LPC without a TC to show for it :s

Planning to finish with exams and just go on a TC applying binge. I've so far been unsuccessful in the few vac schemes i've applied for, but not tried TC yet.
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Bit late for me to ask but are you absolutely sure you want to do law? Because the LPC will cost you another £20k ish in living expenses and course fees. No problem with backing out now and looking to other avenues!
 
Johnny Girth said:
Bit late for me to ask but are you absolutely sure you want to do law? Because the LPC will cost you another £20k ish in living expenses and course fees. No problem with backing out now and looking to other avenues!
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Thanks, but yes, am sure :) I don't have full vac schemes as such, but I do have work experience in various law firms and some more getting lined up for this summer. It's not as good, but it's still legal experience which is always useful.

Also, i'm an international student. So if I get the LLB, worst comes to worst and I don't have a TC at the end of it, can just go back home and practice after taking an exam.

Just a bit disheartening to get rejections, thats all.But as someone either here, or on RoF said, given the current situation, do need to aim a bit lower.

Given that I am going ahead with it, any advice? :)
 
Working in smaller firms, even the seemingly dreaded "highstreet" is hardly a **** career though, you will be well paid and your working hours will be vastly decreased. If I were you I wouldn't hang around on RoF as they are so blinkered to what a lawyer is; many posters will stick thier noses up at firms which are not top20.

Besides once you make partner in a smaller firm, your going to be earning hundreds of thousands as well as spending your afternoons playing golf with clients...perfect :)
 
I never understood the appeal of the Magic Circle. All that money, but no time to spend it. A qualification salary of £30,000 still isn't a bad salary by any means!

Saying that, I imagine I'll be applying for absolutely everything in June.
 
I was going to start a thread, but since there are a lot of graduates here. I thought i'd ask you guys. Those of you that are on around £30,000 or more in the north (maybe £40,000 inner London) how many hours do you generally put in, into work?

I joined a bank about 18 months ago, not a high street bank. The base pay was rather iffy but due to my first child being around the corner I could not turn it down. The thing with this job at the moment is, the overtime adds around £600-1000 to my salary each month. To get £600 a month all I need to do is work 2hrs extra a day on a base of 7hrs a day. Is 9hrs a day pretty standard for people working on around £30-40k a year? Or is that too much? My base salary is £19,250 and last year I cleared around £37,000.00+ with bonuses and the likes. I work harder hours during the weeks after quarter / tax year ends.

The overtime is never going to drop because there are so many projects going on, and they have stopped hiring new people. But there is a part of me that thinks doing this overtime is eating into my normal life. But I don't think I am going to start a grauduate scheme with anymore money and expect to work a bog standard 40hrs a week. Last year I worked 670hrs overtime around 3.00hrs a day. Is that too much?

I do have a decent degree, it was just at the time I was looking for a job things didnt look good financially and there was no one to bail me out. There is room for progression in this job in addition to 38 paid holidays a year, so I don't think its best to leave in the current climate.. But the working hours does make me question myself..
 
waspy88 - I was just going to say " a 21 yr old on £37k! " - (assuming 88 meant 1988 lol). Obviously I then checked your profile! Still a really awesome amount @ 27.

What is your degree in?
 
I work on average 1-2 hours overtime a day and normally only take a 30 min lunch so work basically a 45-50 hour week.

sometimes have to do out of hours if stuff comes up.

dont find it eats into social life too much, my weelends are generally my own and a lot of my friends are in a similar boat so they are free at about the same time on 'school' nights.

oh and i get paid nada for overtime. (hopefully the bonus covers it but you can never tell)
 
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