What is a good starting salary for after graduation?

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Original post by Politics Student

Congrats! That is an excellent job to get. :biggrin:

I'm only a couple of weeks away from finishing my MSc and applying for shelf stacking jobs at Tesco.

I have lined up a lot of different types of volunteering as I am expecting to be unemployed for at least 3 months if not 6. Hopefully, I will find some work at some point before I start a PhD...

Thankyou!
The only advice I can give is widen your job search and apply for different roles related to what you want to do. E.g. instead of applying for assistant psychologist roles (which are really hard), i looked at mental health practitioner roles etc.

Good luck!

Reply 81

Dnator

Original post by somethingbeautiful

Pretty much this.

Honestly, people saying '25-30k' - are you actually serious? I graduated 3 months ago and I'm on the dole. I spent all day yesterday handing out CVs in coffee shops and cinemas/book stores. Most of them were only part time temp positions for xmas too. Some people are so deluded - if you think you're going to waltz out of uni straight into a £30K job, then think again. The only place that is willing to take me on right now with a £25k+ salary is the armed forces.

I have a grad offer for 27k that didn't really take much effort to get, and that pales into comparison with a lot of my friends, just because you couldn't be arsed doesn't mean it isn't possible.

Reply 82

somethingbeautiful

Original post by Dnator

I have a grad offer for 27k that didn't really take much effort to get, and that pales into comparison with a lot of my friends, just because you couldn't be arsed doesn't mean it isn't possible.

Excuse me? Who on Earth said that I 'couldn't be arsed'? I've worked very hard to get my degree and to find work so don't judge me when you don't know a ****ing thing about me.

Reply 83

Politics Student

Original post by somethingbeautiful

Excuse me? Who on Earth said that I 'couldn't be arsed'? I've worked very hard to get my degree and to find work so don't judge me when you don't know a ****ing thing about me.

No clearly all unemployment is because people are lazy and the fact there is 21.5% youth unemployment is because they spend all their time watching day time TV when they could just walk into a 25K job. :rolleyes:

I am always amazed by how stupid some of these claims in the careers section is. I presume people posting either have no idea what they are talking about or have no idea how lucky they are.

Reply 84

Dnator

Original post by somethingbeautiful

Excuse me? Who on Earth said that I 'couldn't be arsed'? I've worked very hard to get my degree and to find work so don't judge me when you don't know a ****ing thing about me.

Well then, no offense, but you are either being too picky with your career choices or you didn't do a very good degree. There are literally hundreds of grad schemes, apply to every one of them.

Reply 85

Smack

Volunteer Team

I've just came across this: http://university.which.co.uk/

It tells you the average salary of each degree course based on the Destination of Leavers from Higher Education Survey carried out annually, and it's dead easy to use.

It reinforces the points previously made regarding average graduate starting salaries. Apart from the likes of the Times Top 100, graduate salaries aren't typically that high.

It also shows that starting salaries massively depend on the degree studied. So generally, unless you did a numerical science, a starting salary of £20,000+ is pretty damn good.

Quite interesting for nosey people like myself.

Reply 86

grumbeale

Yeah graduate salaries are not that great really. Initially you'll be no better off than someone who might have "worked their way up" in an organisation, but after a while your degree plus your experience will put you onto the next level of seniority a lot quicker. For a lot of positions your degree may pay off a lot later in life.

Reply 87

Politics Student

Original post by Smack

Average salary for a grad from a politics course from my uni is 15K. That must be based off the 10 people who graduated in the end of my year.

Basically the starting salary really depends on the course. Those who studied courses with industry links or those who did accountancy/law have a much better chance of getting grad positions.

Interesting website.

Reply 88

angrydanmarin

20-26k for graduate jobs. Look at all graduate schemes and you will see that they seem to be around this salary.

Pessimists or graduates without a graduate level job so far who are saying minimum wage just have low ambition. They aren't doing the extra curricular activities that will land you the job. They aren't nailing their interviews, or they have less than a 2:1.

You can't just complete a degree and expect to get a graduate level job, obviously. Every applicant for the graduate level job has at least a degree, so you need more than this to actually succeed.

Reply 89

Charzhino

Original post by Dnator

Well then, no offense, but you are either being too picky with your career choices or you didn't do a very good degree. There are literally hundreds of grad schemes, apply to every one of them.

Which one did you apply to, British Sugar by any chance?

Reply 90

Charzhino

A good salary outside London for a graduate job (not scheme) is around 22-25k. The average I think will be between 17-22k. However, just having a degree with no experience or below a 2.1 will significantly reduce your range to the lower end

Reply 91

neom

Idk, but I checked for what I want to do and if I were to join up with NHS I would get 25K+ starting which I thought was pretty awesome but apparently it's average :tongue:

Whatever

Reply 92

Polygoof

I am going to sue this website to the authorities.

Reply 93

Dat Brehh

Long-term potential earnings are far more important, but that aside, I'd say £27k (before tax) is good. I'd be disappointed with below £22k personally, but as I say, long-term is really what you should be focussing on.

To those people saying "if you can get a job", "any job is good", etc, you've missed the objective of this thread.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 94

Dnator

Original post by Charzhino

Which one did you apply to, British Sugar by any chance?

Is that funny or? I don't understand the hatred of people who don't want a **** job. I applied to good schemes, nothing is stopping anyone else doing the same.

Reply 95

HighestKungFu

Only a small % of graduates each year actually get a place on a graduate scheme. Most graduate schemes get around 2000-2500 applications for around 50-100 jobs each year, with some schemes like Teach First providing more. Only about 20-25% of graduates each year therefore can actually attain a place on a graduate scheme, meaning the majority won't.

It took me two years to get onto one, during which time I worked two jobs both paying around 21k in London (not simultaneously lol). My advice is don't give up if you don't make the cut the first year. Make sure you build plenty of experience during the gaps between when you can and can't apply and everytime you don't make the final cut at the application/assessment centre/interview stage you learn lessons. Use them to your advantage and eventually you should make it.

Reply 96

La Esmerelda

Original post by spinal.vortex

For any sort of graduate job

Whatever you are happy with. Why compare to others? There's no 'objective' good starting salary, for some £16k may be a pretty good amount and others won't be happy unless they're on £32k.

Reply 97

TinFish

Original post by Dnator

Is that funny or? I don't understand the hatred of people who don't want a **** job. I applied to good schemes, nothing is stopping anyone else doing the same.

I applied to a lot of good schemes too but it seems like my stumbling block is my Ucas points. Despite having a good degree and some experiance it's not good enough.

Reply 98

Slumpy

Original post by Smack

Gutted, I'm below average for my course.

Reply 99

Dnator

Original post by TinFish

I applied to a lot of good schemes too but it seems like my stumbling block is my Ucas points. Despite having a good degree and some experiance it's not good enough.

Yer thats unfortunate, I don't really understand the relevance of ucas points for graduate jobs, but I guess they are just filtering out more applicants that way.