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I've got a degree, I shouldn't be stacking shelves

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/23686814

This kind of thing annoys me personally, as some people seem to think getting a degree should automatically give them an amazing job and they will therefore reject any job that they do not deem worthy of themselves.

I also find it hilariously ironic that one of the people in the article has just completed a degree in photography and yet is moaning about wasted talent.

Reply 1

Ash5678

That makes me want to vomit; taxpayers giving him a sum every week because he's a lazy prat.

Reply 2

LavenderBlueSky88

20

Ha when I graduated I'd have given anything for a job staking shelves! 6 months of jobseekers allowance and volunteering awaited me!

Reply 3

Mockery

17

I really do disapprove of this attitude, especially when it is coming from people with degrees that are less mentally, academically challenging and applicable to the working world as my General Studies qualification

I have recently graduated and am in the process of lining up voluntary work in the field I wish to pursue, for the next few months. By the end of this I'll be picking up any job I can find as the chances are I'll need to be able to finance more voluntary work to gain the experience needed to make me a credible candidate. My degree certainly doesn't take me all the way.

Reply 4

fallen_acorns

20

he has a job in photography.. and thinks he deserves a job in his field, just due to his degree?

Pshh.. some people have no idea..

And I say this as someone who worked part time as a photographer for a number of years, and is well educated/up to date with the field/job market.

Lesson for everyone studying a creative subject (which includes me)

Your degree is NOT enough to get you a job.

If your doing a creative degree, and want to end with a job in your field you need:

Experiance, Talent, Good buisness skills, a ton of motivation etc. etc.

Just having a degree will get you no where, without these.

And the degree alone is not enough to get them, or prove them to anyone else.

Reply 5

John Stuart Mill

3

To many degrees and too little jobs makes degrees worth much less.

Reply 6

ChocoCoatedLemons

17

This attitude annoys me when it's a less academically demanding degree, but I understand if it the person in question has done one of the more "traditional" degrees. We were all told as children that if we worked hard and went to uni, we'd have a good job earning lots of money. Then you get out of uni, which you paid an extortionate amount for, and find there's no jobs and everyone expects you to be fine with wasting three years of your life.

Reply 7

Ham22

15

I cba to read the article. Shouldn't they be setting up a professional profile of some kind? i.e- online portfolio etc, and getting on with it?

Reply 8

WhereDidIPutMyCar

6

This disgusts me, and shows why we shouldn't pay as much in benefits, as to encourage people to find work. I am on £6.86 an hour, working full time and 12 hour shifts, and a single person with no children can claim double my yearly salary with no tax. Why do I need to work when I get significantly more money for doing nothing?!
Recently the BBC spoke to some people who thought they weren't going to get their a-level grades, and instead of saying that they expected that they would find a job, these kids said that they expected to be on benefits. Something needs to be done to get rid of this culture of thinking that we deserve things without working for them.
I understand where this person is coming from, but they can at least stack shelves until they find a job which corresponds to their degree instead of being totally dependent on the taxpayer.

Reply 9

Hopple

18

Original post by ChocoCoatedLemons

This attitude annoys me when it's a less academically demanding degree, but I understand if it the person in question has done one of the more "traditional" degrees. We were all told as children that if we worked hard and went to uni, we'd have a good job earning lots of money. Then you get out of uni, which you paid an extortionate amount for, and find there's no jobs and everyone expects you to be fine with wasting three years of your life.

Yeah, for the degrees which are meant to lead to a job rather than one done for personal interest, I have a lot more sympathy. You listen to your parents, teachers, government and so on to go and spend 2 years doing A Levels, 3 years and (for these people) £9000 doing a degree, yet are sent back to do stuff you could have at 16?

Reply 10

bloomblaze

17

Original post by c_al

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/23686814

This kind of thing annoys me personally, as some people seem to think getting a degree should automatically give them an amazing job and they will therefore reject any job that they do not deem worthy of themselves.

I also find it hilariously ironic that one of the people in the article has just completed a degree in photography and yet is moaning about wasted talent.

I think he should be willing to take a job that is ''below him'' on a temporary basis, and I emphasize temporary whilst he looks for a job which makes use of his degree.

Although, to be honest, I imagine getting a job related to photography is difficult and super competitive.

However, I can sort of understand his frustrations, does any one else here?

Also, I imagine he may not get job offers from some places as on paper, he be seen as 'overqualfied' for the role (ie shelf stacking jobs)

EDIT: I also blame schools they often make young people beleive that a degree will let them walk into their dream job, I think some people who do weird degrees would be better off learning a trade/going into work after school (this is a controversial opinion, I know)

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 11

ckingalt

14

Someone receiving support from others because they deem any job to be beneath their merits deserves our contempt.

Original post by LavenderBlueSky88

Ha when I graduated I'd have given anything for a job staking shelves! 6 months of jobseekers allowance and volunteering awaited me!

How is it possible to not be able to get a job stacking shelves? That was my first job when I was 15. I had long hair, poor hygiene, and a lackadaisical attitude. Did you forget to wear trousers to your interview or something?

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 12

ChocoCoatedLemons

17

Original post by Hopple

Yeah, for the degrees which are meant to lead to a job rather than one done for personal interest, I have a lot more sympathy. You listen to your parents, teachers, government and so on to go and spend 2 years doing A Levels, 3 years and (for these people) £9000 doing a degree, yet are sent back to do stuff you could have at 16?

Definately. If you've done a law degree or an engineering degree and then have to work in a supermarket asking "Would you like a hand with your packing?" two hundred times a day, it's understandable to feel cheated.

Reply 13

michaelhaych

15

If you can't demonstrate any skills that an employer would find useful in his organisation then why should he give you a job? It's his business and he's the one losing money if you're inadequate. A graduate without useful skills is no better than an unskilled labourer, in fact an unskilled labourer has at least 3 years of work experience more than the graduate.

If your degree is in a subject where the number of graduates massively outnumber the amount of jobs available in that sector then you'll struggle to find work unless you're the best of the best and even then it can be difficult to properly advertise yourself.

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 14

Caedus

15

Original post by ChocoCoatedLemons

This attitude annoys me when it's a less academically demanding degree, but I understand if it the person in question has done one of the more "traditional" degrees. We were all told as children that if we worked hard and went to uni, we'd have a good job earning lots of money. Then you get out of uni, which you paid an extortionate amount for, and find there's no jobs and everyone expects you to be fine with wasting three years of your life.

Exactly. People who embark on non-academic degrees should understand the situation in which they voluntarily get themselves into - they should NOT suddenly find themselves, after graduating, in a slight perplexity owing to an event which did not enter into their calculations.

Reply 15

bestofyou

18

photography isn't as simple as pressing a button you know. I'd wonder who many front covers you'd get if someone deployed you to Cairo the other day with nothing but a helmet and a camera, probably none cause you wouldn't know ****.

Original post by ckingalt

How is it possible to not be able to get a job stacking shelves? That was my first job when I was 15. I had long hair, poor hygiene, and a lackadaisical attitude. Did you forget to wear trousers to your interview or something?

So tell me this, why would they hire a 21+ year old graduate, who will need to be paid £6+ an hour, who is clearly over qualified for the job and will leave at the first chance they get as the obviously have bigger ambitions and they do not want to be working at Asda or wherever for very long, when they could hire a 15 year old, pay them £3+ an hour and they will likely stay for a few years before they head to university or might even not stay at school at stay at Asda long-term...

You must not be familiar with the term 'over-qualified'.

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 16

SillyEddy

18

What I think he fails to realise is that while he was at uni for 3 years studying photography... Someone else bought a camera and was taking photos professionally 3-4 days a week and spending the rest of the time working their arses off doing publicity, editing and selling their works.

This is why I am heavily against doing a degree in a non-degree-required subject such as photography. Most of the successful photographers out there have no formal qualifications, they spend time working in that trade and getting good at it. A piece of paper saying you can do photography is no match for experience and a stunning portfolio from a professional with as many years of "experience".

While you should always do what you enjoy, you must seriously consider what you're going to do after you graduate or get your qualifications. If people are incredibly successful in a particular field without a degree, you should be asking yourself why you suddenly need a degree when there is already a working formula without one. At the very least, schools and colleges need to be teaching students to research that degree and see what the job market is like. Currently there is a culture of "you do what you like because that's what will make you happy and you will succeed at it". This is far from the truth and not enough is being done to fix these problems and to encourage other career routes.

Reply 17

Llamageddon

18

Thinly veiled attempt to vilify the young and unemployed. Many graduates DO take underemployment, many more can't because the idea that you can walk into menial, unskilled jobs is at best pure myth. Unemployed graduate job snobs are either very confident of their chances elsewhere or too rich to care about min wage. Either way, they are a tiny minority.

...and resenting underemployment is ok.

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 18