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I've got a degree, I shouldn't be stacking shelves
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Original post by bestofyou
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 ****.
That's not the point; no-one is saying it's easy. It requires a lot of skill but so do a lot of things (for example juggling bricks). That doesn't mean they should be guaranteed a job if their skills are not useful to employers.
Original post by ckingalt
Someone receiving support from others because they deem any job to be beneath their merits deserves our contempt.
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?
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?
Haha trust me I applied to around 4 jobs a week for the entire 6 months. I live in a small, economically depressed town with high unemployment rates. Just how the cookie crumbles. I had been able to get jobs with no problem in the city I went to university in.
Plus most supermarkets are hesitant to employ a graduate as they clearly don't want to stick around too long.
(edited 10 years ago)
Original post by michaelhaych
That's not the point; no-one is saying it's easy. It requires a lot of skill but so do a lot of things (for example juggling bricks). That doesn't mean they should be guaranteed a job if their skills are not useful to employers.
it clearly is the point if he points out the irony in having a photography degree and complain about wasting talent.
It's a shame that some people manage to finish higher education without actually realising how life works afterwards. The sense of entitlement acquired by some people is quite surprising, even considering that a lot of people have it drilled into them by parents and teachers (as someone mentioned earlier, a lot of people are told that education is pretty much the key to a lifetime of open doors and opportunity). Life experience should be sufficient to tell them that this isn't the case, even before they finish university.
I wonder if they need to pop a little asterisk on the UCAS 'apply' button informing applicants that they aren't entitled to the job of their choice after finishing university. That way at least they won't feel misled at the end, and we can still maintain the peculiar spoonfeeding culture which created people like this in the first place.
I wonder if they need to pop a little asterisk on the UCAS 'apply' button informing applicants that they aren't entitled to the job of their choice after finishing university. That way at least they won't feel misled at the end, and we can still maintain the peculiar spoonfeeding culture which created people like this in the first place.
This kind of attitude really annoys me and just adds fuel to the fire that we are a selfish and entitled generation (untrue!). As students we just have to accept that yes, the unemployment situation is not fair, but work is work and a job like that never lasts forever anyway. It's very rare nowadays to get a 'proper' graduate job straight from uni, even with a vocational degree.
I've got one year left at uni, and I am under no impression that I will be able to get anything more than a low-paid job for a while after that. Strangely, however, my parents seem to think I will - for once I'm not the delusional one in the family!
I've got one year left at uni, and I am under no impression that I will be able to get anything more than a low-paid job for a while after that. Strangely, however, my parents seem to think I will - for once I'm not the delusional one in the family!
Original post by bestofyou
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'.
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'.
I would say that not listing my degree on the application and accepting less pay is preferable to being on benefits. Being overqualified is a reality sometimes, but people who consider themselves to be above menial jobs is more common.
Original post by LavenderBlueSky88
Haha trust me I applied to around 4 jobs a week for the entire 6 months. I live in a small, economically depressed town with high unemployment rates. Just how the cookie crumbles. I had been able to get jobs with no problem in the city I went to university in.
Plus most supermarkets are hesitant to employ a graduate as they clearly don't want to stick around too long.
Plus most supermarkets are hesitant to employ a graduate as they clearly don't want to stick around too long.
Fair enough. If someone walked into my office with high motivation, a will to embrace any opportunity, and a degree of respect, then I would find something for them to do. Unfortunately, not too many are actually like that.
Original post by ckingalt
I would say that not listing my degree on the application and accepting less pay is preferable to being on benefits. Being overqualified is a reality sometimes, but people who consider themselves to be above menial jobs is more common.
Not putting it on your CV would leave a 3 year hole, or at best, maybe 16 hours a week of work for 3 years. They'd assume you're either an ex-con or lazy, or they'd figure out you're a graduate who is hiding their degree.
As for accepting less pay, there are different minimum wages for different age groups. You can still be undercut even if you only accept the bare minimum they offer you.
Original post by Hopple
Not putting it on your CV would leave a 3 year hole, or at best, maybe 16 hours a week of work for 3 years. They'd assume you're either an ex-con or lazy, or they'd figure out you're a graduate who is hiding their degree.
As for accepting less pay, there are different minimum wages for different age groups. You can still be undercut even if you only accept the bare minimum they offer you.
As for accepting less pay, there are different minimum wages for different age groups. You can still be undercut even if you only accept the bare minimum they offer you.
Good points as well. I would say explaining the gap can be managed with a little creativity. I was not familiar with minimum wage regulations in the UK. I would say that this particular law has some unintended consequences.
Just take the dates off your CV. Low-level jobs don't really care, they just want to see your relevant experience.
I'm an unemployed graduate, leaving my degree off my CV for menial jobs, and my CV looks like this;
EXPERIENCE
Asda, customer service assistant (big block of textexplaining skills)
Jones Law Firm, Admin Assistant. Answering telephones..
Sainsbury's. Cashier. Handling money..
EDUCATION
London Marketing School; Marketing Certificate. Green Lane School; politics, media, French a-levels. Green Lane School; 10 gcses a-c
Asda aren't exactly going to say "where's the degree?" You've already outlined your experience, then fleshed out an education section (which they don't really care about anyway, except if you're overqualified- you won't be asked about it at interview, but if they do, just say you didn't think it was relevant to the job role
I'm an unemployed graduate, leaving my degree off my CV for menial jobs, and my CV looks like this;
EXPERIENCE
Asda, customer service assistant (big block of textexplaining skills)
Jones Law Firm, Admin Assistant. Answering telephones..
Sainsbury's. Cashier. Handling money..
EDUCATION
London Marketing School; Marketing Certificate. Green Lane School; politics, media, French a-levels. Green Lane School; 10 gcses a-c
Asda aren't exactly going to say "where's the degree?" You've already outlined your experience, then fleshed out an education section (which they don't really care about anyway, except if you're overqualified- you won't be asked about it at interview, but if they do, just say you didn't think it was relevant to the job role
A valid argument only if you have a traditional degree from a good university.
Original post by John Stuart Mill
To many degrees and too little jobs makes degrees worth much less.
It makes certain degrees worth much less. It makes my degree more valuable as I'm doing engineering and there is a shortage of engineers at the moment.
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!
what degree?
University is only 31ish weeks a year (if you are doing a normal course i.e not medicine, dentistry etc)... What are you doing the other 20ish weeks?
A degree is just a piece of paper that says you can research most of the time, it's what else you do with your time inbetween i.e. picking up work experience and making a network that counts.
A lot of the more vocational unis (i.e. Ex-poly's) are s**t hot under the collar about employability, each year I had a module on career skills where we were marked on our CV, turning upto networking events and things like internships etc we had pursued. It really makes you pull your finger out your ass to get work experience and further explore different careers.
Academics are often the bottom of most employers list when considering a candidate - I think I have proven that with what I have done and where I am now...
A degree is just a piece of paper that says you can research most of the time, it's what else you do with your time inbetween i.e. picking up work experience and making a network that counts.
A lot of the more vocational unis (i.e. Ex-poly's) are s**t hot under the collar about employability, each year I had a module on career skills where we were marked on our CV, turning upto networking events and things like internships etc we had pursued. It really makes you pull your finger out your ass to get work experience and further explore different careers.
Academics are often the bottom of most employers list when considering a candidate - I think I have proven that with what I have done and where I am now...
The harsh reality of it is, most employers don't want someone who has never had a job, degree or no degree. My older cousin got his degree and wasted 6 months trying to land his ideal job. He eventually went for and got a job in McDonalds. He then moved on to an admin role and is gradually climbing the ladder in the company, currently a Project Manager. He told me he'd learned some useful things at Uni that have helped him at work, but overall, spending so much time and money obtaining his degree was a waste.
tbh with you guys i think a lot of this news hits the aspirations of graduates. I have seen people applying for some really low paid poor jobs but in the end have got lucky and jumped on an amazing grad scheme. I think luck does come into play. Photography is more of a hobby unless you take it as a career, maybe set up your own business (pretty easy).
Original post by scrotgrot
Degrees are all a bunch of made-up twaddle. You learn no actual skills other than how to bull**** - which of course sets you up perfectly for a management position in a faceless corporation.
you go get them tiger!!
Original post by Apocrypha
what degree?
Psychology 2.1, I wasn't looking for a career at that point as I'd already applied to masters for the year later. I just wanted a job for the meantime.
Original post by bestofyou
it clearly is the point if he points out the irony in having a photography degree and complain about wasting talent.
What I was getting at was how few jobs there are in the photography field. If you're a student starting a degree in photography, surely most of them realise that their chances of getting a job in that field are slim to none.
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