Still unemployed after nearly a year graduating!!

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If you have a degree that doesn't mean they will pay you high salary. Every job is a job and your ignorant attitude towards low paid jobs is pathetic. So, you prefer being unemployed instead of having at least low paid job while trying to get through and move on? Money is money, it doesn't matter where they come from as long as it is money. Also, who knows, if you work good and you show that you're a good employee, you might be promoted.

My colleague has the same degree as me (Business Admin with Translation) and she started as a room attendant, worked hard and now she's a supervisor at the same workplace.

Reply 41

jamesmiguel

Oh sorry no I meant http://www.michaelpage.co.uk/

From what you've said it sounds like you'd be a pretty decent candidate for a lot of jobs (not just finance) :smile:

I can't really comment about other industries, but in financial services I honestly don't think it would matter if you were "working class"; one of the really good thing about the world of financial services (know it gets a fair bit of bad press :redface:

) is that it's more or less a meritocracy - the only real thing that matters is how good you are.

Ok that's a bit idealistic, and yes of course it would help going to Eton etc. but (speaking personally) my colleagues, bosses, clients are from all sorts of backgrounds - some went to a top private school then Oxford, many others are solid middle-class and went to Oxbridge/top redbrick.

Yet many others came from pretty poor backgrounds, fought their way into top unis, and are really good at what they do - and, if anything, they can sometimes get more respect from employers, as they often come across as hungrier and more ambitious.

What kind of jobs have you been applying for? One thing I would warn about finance though is you have to be passionate about it. People either love hedge funds, derivatives, interest rate swaps; or they hate it/find it uninteresting - if you're in the latter category, then financial services probably isn't for you.

(Of course, "finance" is a huge field - it covers everything from vanilla day-to-day retail banking at a bank branch, to being a highly-paid chartered accountant at PWC or E&Y, to exotic ETF trading desks at a firm like Goldman Sachs, so there's a lot of stuff to choose from!)

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 42

Uni=RipOff

1) I didnt say I am expecting a "fat" manager's wage.

2) Like I said before, I am not saying "because I got a degree I should be given a job" - the fact is on experience.

3) I didnt say I dont have experience I have SOME but not vast amounts. It is from self employment (for the last 4-5 years).

Employers dont want to take someone on who has graduated. They take someone on who didnt even go uni and worked in the field for the last 5-7years full on.

I recently applied for a job, it had 3 vacancies for the same role. I got a rejection email and they said "we had our 80 applicants and cannot offer feedback as to why your application wasn't successful".

Now from experience there are at least 60+ apps for each job. Now what I am thinking is, its not due to my side having lack of experience or whatever, but if you think from an employers point of view:

1) It is all online and they can see how many applications they got without physically counting them as to 1990s!

2) Once they found 10 or 12 or whatever their short listing number is they would not even bother going through the rest 50+ apps!!!

I might be wrong in thinking that but I MAY well be right!

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 43

LexiswasmyNexis

Hate to be the pedant but isn't 6 month fixed term with option still a temporary contract?

Regardless- congrats.

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Reply 44

Bill_Gates

Original post by StuckInCoventry

He isn't being snobbish.. just unrealistic (due to no fault of his own). Todays economy is designed to demand youth become highly efficient, low paid robots to slave away for companies making giant profits, controlled and owned by the elite. Our society epitomises serfdom. The rich get richer, the poor well they'll stave. To some extent, it might have always been this way, but now the contrast is greater than ever and the gap is only growing.

Nailed it.

Reply 45

LexiswasmyNexis

Haha well bloody good luck for tomorrow!

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Reply 46

alexh42

Out of interest what university did you go to and what grade did you achieve?

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Reply 47

pmc:producer

Original post by Uni=RipOff

2) Once they found 10 or 12 or whatever their short listing number is they would not even bother going through the rest 50+ apps!!!

I might be wrong in thinking that but I MAY well be right!

Firstly, you're assuming they found 12 candidates to shortlist within their first 15 applications - this is not the case.

Secondly, most companies - promoting equal opportunities anyway - will wait until the job is closed and then look at the applications, much like most universities. This is so everyone is given a fair shot at getting the job.

Lastly, why would you stop at 12 and not look at the next 50 applications when there is every chance they'll find someone that will 'wow' them in the next application. This and the fact that most companies have a people bank where they can save CVs/applications from attractive candidates and if need be, pull them up later on down the line e.g. if someone starts, doesn't like it and leaves.

You sound so bitter at not being able to get a job, it's unreal. Whenever you get a rejection - keep pestering for constructive feedback and change your approach. You'll be much more successful this way. Of course companies want to employ graduates - the vast amount of reputable organisations that invest heavily in Graduate Schemes backs this up. Keep trying. Good luck.

Reply 48

evantej

Original post by Uni=RipOff

[...] Employers dont want to take someone on who has graduated. They take someone on who didnt even go uni and worked in the field for the last 5-7years full on. [...]

While I do not know the ins and outs of your field, surely you should be applying for graduate roles with local councils, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), or the Environment Agency? These sorts of jobs require specialist knowledge which cannot be obtained unless you have a degree, making the experience issue largely irrelevant.

I had a look on my local council website and found this job. It explicitly asks for degree-level education 'and knowledge of the Cleaner Neighbourhoods Act 200 and legislation relating to Waste Management, Litter, Fly tipping, Graffiti, Abandoned cars and Dog Fouling'. This sort of thing matches your degree knowledge, right?

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 49

Londonpie72

Original post by jamesmiguel

With all due respect to the OP, I agree with what most posters have said - you need to perhaps set your (initial) sights lower. This doesn't mean necessarily accepting a life of drudgery, but rather just working harder to get through the ranks.

I'll give myself as a good example -

Graduated in 2010 with a 2:2 in Law from a redbrick uni (no excuse for the degree classification, sadly just didn't work hard enough.) Went travelling for 3 months, then came back expecting to roll into a high-paying grad job - didn't happen, of course.

But, rather than getting despondent, I networked to the max. and - after 2 months of job-hunting - managed to secure a job at a big financial services firm in London. The job itself was far from amazing - £18k pa, and I was basically the dealers/traders b*tch, answering their phones and getting shouted at. But at the time I was ecstatic to get a job, especially one related to the field I was interested in (finance)

I applied 110% effort every single day, continued networking, and helped my colleagues/the company out beyond my job role as much as I could.

Now, 2 years later, I'm 24 years old, still with the same company, except I'm now an Analyst earning £32k pa (basic) working in the City.
All the people I work with are graduates, pHDs etc - ok, top grads probably get into these kind of roles straight away, whereas it's taken me an extra 2 years' of grind. But I'm there now - and it all started with that initial non-ideal job

So, my advice would be - find the field you're interested in, get the best entry-level (with prospects) job you can find, slog your guts out for a long a it takes, impress as many people as you can, and go from there. Of course you need luck etc. along the way, but that's the same for anything in life!

Good luck :smile:

Excellent post similar to my situation started with not such a great job and now working my way up.

What I will say to OP

Do not be so fixed on graduate schemes. I tried so hard went to a redbrick uni studied Accounting and finance, achieved a 2:1 but did not get a graduate scheme. Instead I also applied to non-graduate scheme jobs improving and tailoring my application. My first job after uni was not so great dealing with insurance claims highly target driven.

1 year 9 months working for a major bank with people that have over 5 years work experience and guess what looking to work my way up to my perfect role through networking and some luck.

You have to keep applying and not give up I got rejections but that just made me more eager.

Do not surround yourself with negative people

Keep busy and research know what is going on so when you have interviews for instance in the financial services industry they might ask about the economy etc

Reply 50

jamesmiguel

Sorry to hear that, but again, you need to look at it constructively - you got to the final round for a £32k hedge fund job (that's basically my role and I've been working for 2+ yrs.) So there must've been a lot they liked about you - did they specify where exactly you didn't show sufficient enthusiasm?

I know from experience that these hedgies love people who can come into an interview and know a ton about the industry - maybe you should get researching derivatives, options, futures, shorting etc. and then re-apply for a similar role?

Reply 51

Kage

Going to university doesn't always guarantee you a job in the field you want.
I'm doing tonnes better in the 3D sector than my foes who actually finished uni.

You will get somewhere, but it may take time. No idea what your choice would have allowed you to get into though. Only a small amount of uni's doing it doesn't really say much about it.

Reply 52

gijops

Original post by Uni=RipOff

Hello all, time for a rant :angry:

!! lol

Is there anyone else who finished uni in 2012 and is still looking for work? Or am I the only one??

I graduated in Environmental Health, and am aware only about 8 unis do that couse in the UK! So you would think the prospect of getting a job is high!

I have sort of given up in that field and looking at any job now (not minimum wage, call me arrogant but I aint working for min wage after spending 4 years at uni - then being stuck there for the rest of my life!)

Am not restricting myself, am happy to move anywhere in the world as long as the pay can support me.

I offically finished in May 2012, so yeah its nearly a year and am 25 soon too! :frown:

As my name says - uni is a rip off - they have even increased the fees to £9k (total joke) yet you cant get job. Why? Because we dont have experience.

Anyone in this boat feels ripped off?

People I went school with are far better off by not going college or uni!

Darn thing now is I cant even do an apprentaship!

Rant over (or commerical :P)

What did you expect to happen after doing a non-vocational course? Courses like environmental health have no guarantee for a job and there's probably no job in the country that requires your specific degree. It's obviously too late to go back and change your course but I think you should just do a teacher training course and teach science in secondary school or something? just a suggestion

Reply 53

blank_smile

Original post by Uni=RipOff

Hello all, time for a rant :angry:

This is exactly why I said uni is for self fulfillment, when doing non vocational courses.

Reply 54

Macabre

Original post by Uni=RipOff

Hello all, time for a rant :angry:

Unfortunately its a case of theres huge competition for jobs so your going to be quite often out competed im afraid.

The only thing i can say is the attitude of not taking low earning jobs im afraid is going to have to change. I know it sucks but to get anywhere in the current climate your going to have to take whatever you can get.

Im coming to the end of my final year in biology and even im sweating at the prospect of the current market but im also going to take any job that can get me cash. Reserve forces is going to be one of the part time career jobs for me that will help fund me while i find full time work.

One thing you dont mention i your degree class, could that be a factor?

Dont sweat things dude, im also 25, so chin up and take whatever you can get your hands on, because anythin is better than dole :smile:

Reply 55

perth

er... I thought environmental health is a vocational course, as you can't be a environmental health officer without a BSc in Environmental Health?
Also, I thought there was a big shortage of environmental health officers and there are quite a few jobs floating around, am I wrong or are you applying for non-environmental health jobs.

I was actually thinking of quitting my job and doing a masters in environmental health, would you not recommend that?

Reply 56

El Torres

Is there more chance of a job if you look outside of the country? What do people think? Is it worth the extra expenses and what not?

I guess at the very least I should be fine with accepting outside on London. I don't think I'll have any issue moving to other parts of the country. Don't care about what field it's in either, take what I can get.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 57

username985376

Original post by StuckInCoventry

You sound like a true revolutionary,
I don't think it is quite as bad as you make out

Reply 58

member9876

To the op you studied a poor degree what do you expect

Reply 59

perth

Original post by member9876

To the op you studied a poor degree what do you expect

Middlesex uni claims for people who studies environmental health "typically achieve a remarkable 100% graduate employment rate"
http://www.mdx.ac.uk/courses/postgraduate/public_health/Environmental_Health_MSc.aspx

so surely environmental health is not a poor degree!