400,000 graduate jobs

Amp34 said:
Just what my sister did, after 3 years she's on £30k, just goes to show even with carp degree if you have some aptitude you can go reasonably far. I agree though in general it's pointless.
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She must be very clever and/or very good at what she does:)

A few people in their 30s and 40s at my local supermarket have dropped down to 1 day a week work and get £££'s in benefits to go and do some *urd criminology degree at staffordshire uni.
For the record they don't even have alevels.
 
Killa_ken said:
No problems finding my job, depends what you graduate in though tbh.

Can someone explain to me the logic behind why UK grads get paid such a crap wage? Median salary for an undergraduate major form my university last year was around $50,000, 19k seems a bit not-worthwhile to me?
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It's not all about landing huge bucks straight out of uni. That sets you up in life with bad expectations IMO. Companies that offer graduates around 18-20k have got it right.

You will be surprised how little you really know compared to your co-workers once you actually get through the first week/month of your graduate job. Only then will you understand why they are starting you off on a small salary.

Rest assured though that if you are any good you will climb the ladder quickly. And that's what it is all about. Most graduates get 6 month salary reviews too.
 
Lagmeister said:
I wouldn't say that Kent is even a slightly second rate university, it really depends on what you are doing at the university itself rather than just the university, if you are doing a course which the university is not great on, then you wont be getting anywhere.

Personally I did my degree there in Computer Science and have been accepted into a scholarship to a new graduate university in Saudi Arabia and that was on the back of a good 2:1. You just need to be the right sort of person to get into the perspective placements or job.

Back on topic though, I am going to have to agree that this is a case of several factors falling in on each other, one being the huge increase of **** degrees from **** universities, another being the downturn, leading to highly experienced people out of the job and looking for work for which they have years of experience in and are willing to do it for peanuts as long as they get the job, leading to graduates getting second place due to their inflated sense of worth.
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My degree is in English - I would say 80% or above of everyone on my course got a 2.1 or higher -is that good or bad??? I know Kent is fantastic for computer science.

TBH I dont' possess the right academic mind to be doing a science or a maths degree. It's no good people suggesting I should have done it, as I wouldn't have been able to do it. I did a degree in a core subject, it was the best I could have chosen, taking into account my academic strengths. I got the chance to go to uni, thanks to Labour - I'm not angry about the difficulty of getting a job, but with people assuming they'd walk straight into a decent one, which I always knew wouldn't be the case.
 
I guess I'm quite lucky then

I secured a job before I graduated last year (July), it didn't quite turn out how they implied it would, and I found another job a few weeks later which I enjoy.

So that's two graduate jobs in the space of 2 months :). Both of which close to home (where I'm at the mo)

If anyone's interested I got a 2:1 in Computing and Networks, currently working as a contracted Systems Administrator.
 
Speaking from a grad+1 pespective, our company (medium-sized engineering consultancy in the built environment) has put on hold recruitment unless someone with a specific set of skills is required. We even made over 50 ppl redundant recently and shuffled a lot of positions into foreign outfits or other departments. When I joined, our national grad intake was 50+, last year, it was no more than about 20. We only have 1 grad position in a new office atm, and even then, we are looking internally.
 
Killa_ken said:
What does everyone here class as decent degrees out of curiosity? Personally:

Accounting
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It's a bit pointless - you don't need it to get an ACA training contract as the firms will take anyone with a good degree and train them up, so it makes me wonder why you'd bother.
 
Moses99p said:
Medicine and history?
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We don't have a medicine degree here so I have not included it. We have Pre-med but taking chemistry or biology will still get you there.

I see no purpose for history.

[TW]Fox;13284179 said:
It's a bit pointless - you don't need it to get an ACA training contract as the firms will take anyone with a good degree and train them up, so it makes me wonder why you'd bother.
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Thats the thing, over here business courses are all the same bar about 20 hours of credit, taking an accounting course means you still know 75% of the same material as someone who has taken finance or economics just you've focused more on the accounting portion. Besides accounting has it's uses besides accountancy. Those wanting to go into security analysis or wealth management could probably benefit from a degree in accounting.
 
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Amp34 said:
Maths
Chemistry
Physics
Biology
Engineerings
Accounting
Earth Sciences
Teacher
Medicine

i.e. the (proper sciences) and engineering as well as specific courses such as Teaching and accounting if you are aiming to get into that sector.
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Computer Science, although that potentially falls under either Maths or Engineering.
 
[TW]Fox;13284179 said:
It's a bit pointless - you don't need it to get an ACA training contract as the firms will take anyone with a good degree and train them up, so it makes me wonder why you'd bother.
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You don't think that studying accounting shows an interest whilst also giving you an immediate advantage over other candidates who have no background of accounting?

Just because you can get ACA trained having not studied accounting doesn't means it's "a bit pointless." It stands you out from the crowd and develops your knowledge earlier so you have an easier time working your way through the (extremely difficult) ACA exams.
 
DB_SamX said:
History!?

Are you serious?
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I did history, many of my colleagues did history. It is probably the BEST subject for preparation to be a lawyer because:

1. It is highly respected by city employers
2. It is an inherently interesting subject that you are more likely to do well in than, say law.
3. 50 percent of those with traininc contracts come from a non-legal background - and given that nearly every law grad wants to do law, its actually easier to differentiate yourself as a non-law bod.
 
Mulder said:
Just because you can get ACA trained having not studied accounting doesn't means it's "a bit pointless." It stands you out from the crowd and develops your knowledge earlier so you have an easier time working your way through the (extremely difficult) ACA exams.
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I guess, but there are other courses with strong accountancy themes which teach you almost as much but give you grounding in other areas as well. I reckon probably half of my business degree was accountancy in the end, including my placement.
 
And possible more than any other subject, it encourages you to 'think' in an applied way.

Philosophy is very thought provovking, but its too abstract. History to me brings the thinking back down to earth.
 
Mulder said:
You don't think that studying accounting shows an interest whilst also giving you an immediate advantage over other candidates who have no background of accounting?

Just because you can get ACA trained having not studied accounting doesn't means it's "a bit pointless." It stands you out from the crowd and develops your knowledge earlier so you have an easier time working your way through the (extremely difficult) ACA exams.
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I agree with TW. Most of my friends I know doing ACA do strong academic subjects. Those who do do something maths like, either literally do maths, or MORSE(maths, statisitcs, economics).

They definately prefer traditional subjects.
 
And if you want to work for one of the Big 4 they care far more about what you did at school (ie, UCAS points) than your Degree. It's pretty much 'How many UCAS points did you get? Oh you've got a degree as well? yea whatever, now tell me, HOW MANY UCAS POINTS!'
 
NathanE said:
It's not all about landing huge bucks straight out of uni. That sets you up in life with bad expectations IMO. Companies that offer graduates around 18-20k have got it right.

You will be surprised how little you really know compared to your co-workers once you actually get through the first week/month of your graduate job. Only then will you understand why they are starting you off on a small salary.

Rest assured though that if you are any good you will climb the ladder quickly. And that's what it is all about. Most graduates get 6 month salary reviews too.
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And coupled with the fact that there are now so many people applying for places and it's not like the past where there were less graduates and they really needed them. It's easier for them to get away with paying people less because if you don't except it, someone else will be waiting in the wings for it.

My brother is case in point in that he has been to a good school, has a top Uni computer science degree and now a masters, yet he hasn't been able to find a job in nearly a year and a half. Part of the problem though I feel is that he refuses to drop down and just get some experience not getting paid much. Instead he feels its not worth his time unless he is getting paid a ridicolous wage.
 
[TW]Fox;13284297 said:
And if you want to work for one of the Big 4 they care far more about what you did at school (ie, UCAS points) than your Degree. It's pretty much 'How many UCAS points did you get? Oh you've got a degree as well? yea whatever, now tell me, HOW MANY UCAS POINTS!'
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Who wants to work for the big four though?
 
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