Graduates, what do you think of this job and salary?

What were the hours roughly?

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i did my undergrad in Accounting and Business Economics, I got a 2:1 i messed around for like a year did temp jobs then I worked as a graduate PPI case handler for Lloyds Bank. I was 23k a year did that for around 6 months hated it. it was a cross between customer service and sales, you were handling customers claims for miss old PPI and making decisions on whether they had been miss old, the targets were insane and so were the hours. for the role they wanted at least a 2:1 in any subject and every person I met was a graduate. I then went back to uni to do a masters as i needed to fill a gap on my CV and didn't wanna sign on whilst job hunting. i then applied and got onto a grad scheme paying 28k

After graduating , I really needed a full time job quick so I also became a PPI case handler .The salary seems okay (7am- 3pm , 18k) but honestly it was not worth it.They sold it as a finance graduate job but really it wasn't a graduate job. Anyone with some customer service experience could do it.. It was extremely stressful and yeah their targets were ridiculous to achieve.

What did you after you quit?

I went back into retail.Not ideal but except from sales / recruitment there weren't any other immediate start jobs where I live. If I didn't quit I would have probably been fired sooner or later as the targets kept increasing.

I'm looking to apply for a secondary PGCE for 2016.

Love reading comments here from people who feel they're entitled to a high salary straight out of the gate just because they have a degree. News flash. There are few grad schemes and hundreds of thousands of grads. They can offer what they want. If you dont take the offer, someone else will and then what happens. The person who took the "measly" offer is now on the ladder and out of the pool whilst you, Mr/Mrs self entitled, are still in the pool with the hordes of grads who are unemployed/underemployed and with little hope of escape. Don't turn up any opportunity

Love reading comments here from people who feel they're entitled to a high salary straight out of the gate just because they have a degree. News flash. There are few grad schemes and hundreds of thousands of grads. They can offer what they want. If you dont take the offer, someone else will and then what happens. The person who took the "measly" offer is now on the ladder and out of the pool whilst you, Mr/Mrs self entitled, are still in the pool with the hordes of grads who are unemployed/underemployed and with little hope of escape. Don't turn up any opportunity

Bull****. No one studied for 3 years, thus depriving themselves of 3 years of income AND being forced to pay 11% of their income over 18k for a huge number of years, just so they can do the same job they could have got after A levels.

Yes, having a degree, all other things being equal, should mean a higher salary than someone who does not have a degree. Continue sucking the dick of your corporate master if you want, who makes serious bank off you but dishes out peanuts - just don't expect the rest of society to do so.

Bull****. No one studied for 3 years, thus depriving themselves of 3 years of income AND being forced to pay 11% of their income over 18k for a huge number of years, just so they can do the same job they could have got after A levels.

Yes, having a degree, all other things being equal, should mean a higher salary than someone who does not have a degree. Continue sucking the dick of your corporate master if you want, who makes serious bank off you but dishes out peanuts - just don't expect the rest of society to do so.

Awww, did I hit a raw nerve. You all knew very well going into your fancy little degrees that you would lose 3, maybe 4 years of full time income, becoming indebted up the ass and losing 3-4 years of opportunities to build experience up. So please, dont complain and whine that the economy sucks and you arent all getting 40K jobs like they're candy as soon as you walk out of university. The economy isn't working for students who graduate at university anymore. We're not in the pre 90's where it actually meant something. I say suck in your pride and take what you can get because a, opportunities for grads are harder to come by these days and b, even if you take a poorly paid job, as long as its relevant to your degree area or anything in general, you are getting experience and you are getting references. Sure you may spend a year or two in a miserable job that doesn't pay spectacularly but you are climbing up that ladder and out of the pool of other grads. Sorry if I'm more in touch with the reality of the economy. Please do carry on shaking your coin pot outside the poundshop and waving your degree around to profess your intelligence whilst someone more intelligent is putting in the hard graft to make their degree valuable. Toodles

Please realise that I'm not saying a degree means you should earn the same as a non grad. A degree should give you the POTENTIAL, not the RIGHT, to earn more than someone without a degree(not that many degrees lead to high paying jobs anyway). Look at the state of the country right now and realise that even with a 20K job to start, you're already earning more than the vast majority of folks who are truly earning peanuts on the minimum wage. And besides, as a fresh grad with little experience, why should an employer pay you a lot more out of the gate. A pay rise would likely come with more experience after a year or two at which point you may transfer out to a higher paid job with the references and experiences in hand. Its economics 101

I'm not shaking any coin pot outside the poundshop. That's just what you'd like to believe anyone that doesn't want to work for minimum wage (or close to it) is doing.

Unlike you, I value my labour higher than 7 or 8 quid an hour. Yes, I do believe I am superior to someone who left school at 16 or 18, and I want a wage to reflect that. If a company disagrees, then fine, it's a free country, I won't work for them and they won't offer me a job, great.

I've got a job, my own place, money in the bank, enjoy decent vacation time each year, live a nice life with little stress. I've never taken or even considered a 40 hour a week job paying 18 grand a year. Sorry to burst your bubble.



The 'vast majority of folks' do not earn minimum wage. The average UK salary is 26,000 a year.

Why should an employer pay more? Well lol durr, because I have a degree and the other guy doesn't. If we're both equal in terms of experience, interview, etc...the guy with the degree should be paid more than the guy without one.

Yes someone with 3 years of experience is likely to be worth more (and justifiably paid more) to a company than a fresh graduate with no experience. But that's not that I was discussing. I said if everything else was equal, the guy with the degree should earn more. Rather than earning the same as what the company would pay a guy who just finished his GCSE's and started work.

You're entitlement complex is funny and you do realise that average is a mean average, not a median average. It includes all salaries buddy. Then you are also neglecting the fact that a lot of jobs, that even though pay more than minimum, dont pay much more than the minimum. A degree doesn't entitle you to more money. Thats your own problem if you feel like those who studied more vocational courses are worth less than a snotty student with a piece of disposable paper to wipe his butt with. I guess you're what is defined as lucky and a rarity for your position. Take a look at graduate unemployment figures and realise why I am suggesting to people to take what starting position they get to START with. By all means, once you have experience, chase those higher paying jobs because you'll be in a power position to do so. As a graduate with no experience, you have to understand you have no such power, only luck. With so much competition out there now, you should spite yourself income wise in the short run to give you a strong foundation for the long run. Not every graduate can or ever will be as lucky as you. You are an exception to the near instated rule.

The mean will be higher than the median...

I think the mean average is more like £29k (for someone of working age)

Graduate unemployment after six months is what 8%? So 92% aren't unemployed.

So it was luck that got me a £28k starting salary? :/

You're entitlement complex is funny and you do realise that average is a mean average, not a median average. It includes all salaries buddy. Then you are also neglecting the fact that a lot of jobs, that even though pay more than minimum, dont pay much more than the minimum. A degree doesn't entitle you to more money. Thats your own problem if you feel like those who studied more vocational courses are worth less than a snotty student with a piece of disposable paper to wipe his butt with. I guess you're what is defined as lucky and a rarity for your position. Take a look at graduate unemployment figures and realise why I am suggesting to people to take what starting position they get to START with. By all means, once you have experience, chase those higher paying jobs because you'll be in a power position to do so. As a graduate with no experience, you have to understand you have no such power, only luck. With so much competition out there now, you should spite yourself income wise in the short run to give you a strong foundation for the long run. Not every graduate can or ever will be as lucky as you. You are an exception to the near instated rule.

The 'average' takes into account the 'lot of jobs that don't pay much more than the minimum'. Just google what 'average' means. I was of course discussing a median average, not a mean average (and both averages are substantially above minimum wage, which is what you declared most people were on).

A degree does entitle me to more money over someone that doesn't have a degree, all other things being equal. You don't agree? Fine, it's a free country, if you ever own a company I wouldn't work for you and you wouldn't hire me.

I'm not 'lucky' - the job that I do takes anyone who has a degree. I teach english in Shanghai for 20-25 quid an hour, free of taxes. Anyone who has a degree (and is white and has a passport from an english speaking country) can do this. Literally, you could start your job search this week, and you'd have multiple offers by next week. Tell me more about how your 8 quid pretax hourly in the UK is such a great opportunity...

The minimum any UK graduate with a 2.1 should accept after taxes is 10 quid an hour, and over a 46 week working year that's 18400GBP post tax, or 23,500GBP pre-tax. Those are minimum figures - graduates can and should aim to better these. But anything below is an insult and should be laughed at.