Oxbridge graduates in unemployment

i want to work at the goldman sachs

why doesn't she start trading for herself then?

sure, she wouldn't be making millions and it would take a while before she started making lots of money daily....

but if she has the ability, she could do it...

I'm Cambridge and I reckon I'd find a 'normal' job too boring and not intellectually challenging enough for me. However, out of necessity/wanting a good salary I might have to apply for one at some point in the future. However, compared to someone more down to earth I'm worried I'd be worse at the job. I reckon that, instead of doing what I'm told, I'd be perennially coming up with new ideas on how to improve the company and challenging my superiors on the best way to complete various objectives.

I just think that certain types of minds work better in different situations. Someone who's excellent at academic work in Oxbridge might not be able to find an outlet for that talent in a real job, making them appear mediocre.

Oh my god, shut up.

I'm Cambridge and I reckon I'd find a 'normal' job too boring and not intellectually challenging enough for me. However, out of necessity/wanting a good salary I might have to apply for one at some point in the future. However, compared to someone more down to earth I'm worried I'd be worse at the job. I reckon that, instead of doing what I'm told, I'd be perennially coming up with new ideas on how to improve the company and challenging my superiors on the best way to complete various objectives.

I just think that certain types of minds work better in different situations. Someone who's excellent at academic work in Oxbridge might not be able to find an outlet for that talent in a real job, making them appear mediocre.

hahahahahaha! My husband completed a doctorate in History from Oxford 4 years ago. He has applied for more than 700 academic jobs in that time, had FOUR (count 'em!) interviews, and if he had a fiver for every time he was told he was a 'strong candidate and bound to find something soon', we'd be millionnaires. But he doesn't and we aren't. Luckily my degree is numerate so I've got some part time stuff that just about pays the bills (may I point out my degree is also a doctorate from Oxford, and I can only find part time work making spreadsheets for a friend's business for a tenner an hour...).


The idea that an Oxbridge degree guarantees a job makes me want to vomit my bitter laughter all down the front of my threadbare 'interview' suit.

I realise many people have commented on your supposed arrogance, but can I just say, you're not alone, and you're absolutely correct. I got a job and was fired because instead of doing what I was told, I was coming up with new ideas on how to improve the company, and challenging my superiors on the best way to complete various objectives. What you imagine might happen... was EXACTLY what happened to me. What it was, was that the job did not challenge me intellectually. Sorry people, if that sounds arrogant, but why should I lie about being intelligent? If you are tall you're allowed to say so. Why should a certain brain configuration be different than a certain body configuration?

After all, it's not like being intelligent is something to boast about. It's more something you admit to, in a small voice, while looking ashamedly at your feet. It immediately makes employers run screaming for the hills, knowing that you are going to be a manager's nightmare. So less of the 'oh stop being so full of yourself', please; this person is NOT full of themself, they are admitting to a severe disability; the trait of being completely unemployable.

I completely agree and that's what I always tried to do but they said (I'm quoting here)I was too creative and that I thought outside the box while they needed an anal retentive (the boss's exact words!) I guess certain types of personalities just dont fit into an office environment... I really did try, and wasn't being an ass! They said I better go be a writer instead of using numbers as you need to be really detail oriented and I just wasn't.

So Oxbridge/intelligence/imagination/whatever it is(!) is not always an asset!

It is in research, and I'm surprised that your husband didn't find anything. However, if he's trying to get into teaching, most universities will want experienced (i.e. higher than postdoc) staff to do anything more than tutorials. What's his publication/employment history like?

Admittedly, now isn't the greatest time for Arts and Humanities funding.

You're so right. He's published a few articles and a book, and done lots of part time teaching. Are you in the UK? He had huge trouble finding anything above tutorials in the UK, but we now live in the US (he's american), where they are mostly hiring part time people to do lectures, because they can't afford the fulltime staff (they'd then have to pay for health insurance etc, and part time people do more work for much less money, so...) so he doesn't have a problem getting teaching work (so we're not starving!), but it would be nice if more places had the money to fund a fulltime position, as health insurance is ridiculously expensive when not subsidised by your employer.

My friends tell me that my experience with my post doc at Wash U was not normal, and that creativity/thinking outside the box SHOULD be an asset! So I'll keep trying! Thanks for your comment

I would like to know what the numbers would be like with oxbridge unemployment, when UNDERemployment was taken into consideration, ie people who can only get part time stuff. It's been my experience that two parttime jobs does not equal one fulltime job in terms of PAY, though the HOURS can be more than one fulltime job! Anyone else having (or have friends having) this experience?

Not convinced mellycat is real- no psychology postgrad would refer to psychology as a 'semi-science'

haha, sadly, am indeed real. I think it's fair to call psychology a semi-science, as some universities class it under sciences, some humanities, and some social-sciences. Psych research is mostly done by getting people to fill out questionnaires. It's certainly not like the 'hard' sciences; I've never picked up a test tube or used a microscope! My research obviously required data analysis skills but that's as close as I've come to feeling sciencey