I see all kinds of figures thrown around in newspapers and such, for example that after 6mo the average graduate salary is 25k or so. I find that hard to believe and it must surely be taken from a sample of top graduates. Maybe it's just my friends but after six months most people I knew from uni (left in 2008) were unemployed or working in a supermarket. I took a first in a bioscience from a well-regarded university, but had no work experience or connections in industry and so on. I also didn't realise (poor guidance at school, imo) how there's really no work in biosciences at all, and it offers little or no access to other disciplines.
It took me over 3 years to land a job, and now I earn 15k (gross), working as a lab technician in an unrelated science. That's several thousand £ less than a typical PhD student earns, taking tax into account. I've applied for other jobs but now that I'm several years past graduating I've been told in interviews that they worry I have lapsed a bit, drifted away, mentally - and it's true, I have. My current job doesn't let me use my brain very much and I've forgotten everything I did at uni, so I'm really back at square one, but rapidly ageing and becoming less valuable to an employer with each passing year.
I have no idea what to do - this job is pretty boring but has some positive aspects. It's a complete dead end and my pay scale tops out at 17.5k I think, which I would reach over a number of years if I perform well. I'm closer to 30 than 20 and am still living in a shared student house, no chance at all that I could afford anything better.
I'd be interested to hear from others who were perhaps a bit naiive about their choice of subject, or didn't realise what one has to do to get a decent job, or can't find anything worth doing for reasonable money, etc.
I'm a bit confused by it all, and disillusioned. In my case, university made it harder for me, by letting me live like a child for even longer and shielding me from the real world. People who left school at 16 and started work can do much better for themselves than someone like me.
Let's discuss this situation, increasingly common with jobs as scarce as they are today. I don't like being in this awkward middle-ground. I either want a decent, engaging job earning a wage appropriate for someone my age, or I should just drop out entirely and go and live in a cave somewhere. I could maintain my current lifestyle on benefits alone so I'm not sure why I bother.