400,000 graduate jobs

[Strife212]

Aldi starts their grad programme on £40,000 a year apparently :S

Aldi graduate trainees learn their trade from the shop floor and will start with stacking shelves. The salary is £40000, rising to £60000 after three years

 

[Simon]

60 hour weeks though

 

[yantorsen]

Plymouth.



True, you build pretty models with cardboard, plastic straws and matchsticks!

(really, that's all architects seem to do! Well at least my housemate)

I know Sounds like fun to me

 

[yantorsen]

I have a mate that works as an architectural technologist and he says its sometimes a nightmare the dealings between architects and engineers, also that a lot of architects are way to alternative, or try to be edgy.

Fair enough there are some amazing concepts and shapes when it comes to new buildings, but at the end of the day things should be designed for what they do.

I think you should know what the buildings purpose is by looking at it or being in it.

on another note i am really interested in designing around and within the local environment and not plonking something thats out of place in that location,
not sure who but there are a few architects that love that and they are amazing

P.S. i was in welcome team for uni this year and we were all in groups doing team building tasks and whatnot, one lad who was in his 3rd year architecture was in my team and we got a task to build a little bridge to support the weight of a person with only newspapers and tape... it took him ages to think of how to go about it, before we eventually agreed tubes and triangles... he didnt have much of an imagination tbh

is an architectural technologist the same as an architect?

I disagree though that the purpose of the building should be obvious. In fact I think it's better if it's really obscure, as long as it still serves it's purpose just as well. For example I think a Nuclear power plant would look better if it looked like a really cool sculpture of some kind, rather than a load of giant chimneys.

 

[Jonnycoupe]

If it's any help, my uncle did a business degree and is now self employed and earning well over £1m just for his personal salary.

He needs a better accountant. No one would give themselves a salary that high

 

[lemonkettaz]

is an architectural technologist the same as an architect?

I disagree though that the purpose of the building should be obvious. In fact I think it's better if it's really obscure, as long as it still serves it's purpose just as well. For example I think a Nuclear power plant would look better if it looked like a really cool sculpture of some kind, rather than a load of giant chimneys.

Architectural technologist work with the architects and offer advice on types of material etc. My mate works for ryder architecture, check them out they have a few good projects at the moment, he is working on the grimsby project with a new school (educational building).

This is where we will disagree I guess i prefer function rather than form, i guess a pretty nuclear power station would be good, but they will be designed with nothing else in mind but performance and function id imagine.

 

[BigglesPiP]

Aldi starts their grad programme on £40,000 a year apparently :S

What‽

No way on earth does Aldi have Uni grads stacking shelves, and no way on earth do they pay shelf stackers £40k.

 

[Cobertizo]

What‽

No way on earth does Aldi have Uni grads stacking shelves, and no way on earth do they pay shelf stackers £40k.

I thought the point of these schemes (I'm fairly sure at least one other supermarket does the same) is that the graduates spend a couple of days/week working in each of the lower positions (like shelf stacking), to give them an "insight" into the people and roles they will end up managing. They don't spend long in those menial positions, for obvious reasons (like it's a very expensive way of getting those shelves filled...).

 

[DB_SamX]

What‽

No way on earth does Aldi have Uni grads stacking shelves, and no way on earth do they pay shelf stackers £40k.

No, that's right. It's a management program but it is very silly hours.

 

[yantorsen]

He needs a better accountant. No one would give themselves a salary that high

Heh, well I'm not really going to give details. TBH I don't know his exact salary, but I know he owns several pretty successful companies, and he has a lot of nice stuff, a penthouse in sandbanks, nice cars etc. always goin on holiday...

 

[yantorsen]

Architectural technologist work with the architects and offer advice on types of material etc. My mate works for ryder architecture, check them out they have a few good projects at the moment, he is working on the grimsby project with a new school (educational building).

This is where we will disagree I guess i prefer function rather than form, i guess a pretty nuclear power station would be good, but they will be designed with nothing else in mind but performance and function id imagine.

Cool, sounds quite interesting, I had seen a few degrees on "Architecture Technology" and just discounted it because it didn't seem to be the **official** RIBA course to do.

I don't mind function over form if the design that makes it functional also has a nice form

 

[[TW]Fox]

Plymouth.

I take it you are talking about the multi story carpark, no wait sorry, the Roland Levinsky building?

 

[Alex_L]

Perhaps, but it seems a lot of people (including me) didn't know, in actual fact I thought the big 4 were the 4 main banks not accountants.

It's just at the moment there are a small number of people who keep bringing everything back to the "Big Four", "most companies don't care about your UCAS points"... "Ah but the big four do!", Well newsflash, most people don't care about the "big four" and would rather work in other/bigger companies.

For graduate positions, virtually all companies including your supposedly 'bigger' companies also won't give you the time of day without the right UCAS points.

 

[Amp34]

As ever, you can get a job whatever your academic qualifications. For "graduate" positions, by their very nature, academic qualifications are an important part of the criteria, as they are aimed at graduates. But in the end, for many jobs the academic qualification itself doesn't define how good the person will be, and so the real test comes in the interviews/assessment centres, as which point the academic achievements are almost irrelevant (except in the sense that they may give a sense of lack of drive/ability to focus on a task etc). And being good academically doesn't always help. Had a guy in an assessment centre yesterday who was clearly very focussed academically, but he struggled to demonstrate an awareness of the business world or to express what non-academic skills he might be able to bring to the role (which was unrelated to his degree). He was also a bit overpowering towards others in group situations, so despite the fact that I'm sure he's doing excellently in a tough degree subject at a decent university, he wasn't what we were looking for.

I can't quite remember where this whole UCAS point discussion thing started, but here's my view on it, from a business angle. If you are still in a position to earn UCAS points, get the best you can, as it will open more doors for you later in life. If you already have your UCAS points, and you don't have a great score, then there will still be good opportunities available for you, so go for those instead. But once you are past the application form stage for most of these jobs, remember that it's not about exam grades any more. You need to show that you can adapt your life experience (which, yes, may involve challenges that you've faced in your academic work, as long as you can show what business skills you displayed) to the role that you are applying for, and that you have decent social/group interaction/teamwork skills.

And of course further down the line, once you have a couple of years of experience behind you, UCAS/degree results become less important than the fact that you can demonstrate strong performance in a business scenario, so the company you are applying to doesn't have to gamble on how you might adapt any more...

As for why the Big Four might be relevant, take a look here: http://www.top100graduateemployers.com/employers/
You may not want to work for any of them, but considering the top three positions are taken by members of the Big Four professional services firms (and Accenture at number 4 grew out of one of the Big Five (when they were that), it is notable. But, of course, not the be-all-and-end-all.

The first part was pretty much what I was aiming at, far more important than UCAS points for most companies are your degree and your "life experience", your ability to work with others etc.

Interesting to note that most of those companies are finance based, which is a bit confusing, as there are far bigger employers out there (most included in the list). I guess a lot of it is that they want only graduates and don't want people with experience or apprenticeships etc.

 

[Amp34]

I take it you are talking about the multi story carpark, no wait sorry, the Roland Levinsky building?

Yeah, I still get lost in that damn building (generally trying to get to floors).

 

[Amp34]

For graduate positions, virtually all companies including your supposedly 'bigger' companies also won't give you the time of day without the right UCAS points.

Luckily it seems they don't care in the field I want to go into (although it is more practical based, not sitting in an office), they are only really interested in degrees.

 

[tntcoder]

Say you have a first BSc degree from an average uni (Hull), then an MSc from a very good uni (UCL) and a seriously poor number of ucas points (~120 i think), is that going to effect work in the future?

 

[Kemik]

Say you have a first BSc degree from an average uni (Hull), then an MSc from a very good uni (UCL) and a seriously poor number of ucas points (~120 i think), is that going to effect work in the future?

Probably. If it was only a few points below 260-300 then you might have been able to ring them and give them a heads up but I'd imagine with those UCAS points the auto-filter will get you during the application process.

Try and find employers who don't look at the UCAS points. There should be a fair number.

 

[Simon]

For graduate positions, virtually all companies including your supposedly 'bigger' companies also won't give you the time of day without the right UCAS points.

Rubbish, as I've already said in my previous posts

 

[HangTime]

In my opinion there's simply 'too many' people going to uni.
Tony Blair stated he wanted 50% of people going to uni, but the reality is, 50% of jobs don't require a degree, let alone there being enough to go round for 50% of the workforce. Of course you could argue that going to uni teaches you things which are useful even if you are not going into a 'graduate job', but IMO that should still be the primary focus behind doing a degree.

Bottom line is if you want to get a decent placement then ideally as a good foundation you need good UCAS points and achieve/be on course for a good degree (preferably from a 'red brick' uni). Which is as it should be. I got 28 UCAS points (AAB on the old system where you just did 3 straight A-levels, dunno what that works out as now) and went to a top20 uni, but a rubbish Honours degree, so that ruled me out.

One thing I do resent is that some employers seem to only target recent graduates (within the last 3 years). I used to harbour hopes of getting onto a graduate scheme somewhere once I'd gained some experience in industry, but realistically, I can't see that happening now. I'm now studying at postgraduate level with the OU, but I suspect the majority of graduate recruiters will dismiss me out of hand (understandable, given the large number of people graduating these days).