Discovering Higher and Degree Apprenticeships with UWE Bristol, get free advice >>

Graduates - What are you doing now?

Scroll to see replies

Graduated university last year having studied Accounting and finance at the Uni of Southampton. Applied to several jobs and in May got a job that pays ok but not the career I want so currently working full time and applying to jobs part time.

Now I have office experience my confidence has significantly improved and I have a better idea of the career I want to go into.

Reply 61

Twinkle1

Original post by BigFudamental

Depends where you want to work. In the UK this is true, in much of the rest of the world a masters will at least get you a higher starting salary and often be a requirement for even entry level graduate jobs.

yeah - on my masters I am the only UK based student out of around 70 of us and most of the other students are shocked at the lack of 'extra' money I would get with having a masters in the UK.

Reply 62

dom99

Original post by PoorRichBoy

£32k + bonus? How will you survive lol. Surrey is practically Greater London technically..

£32k is still a tall order for any graduate. £25k is the norm with a 6 month probation period for most. Correct me if I'm wrong

Reply 63

M1011

Original post by dom99

£32k is still a tall order for any graduate. £25k is the norm with a 6 month probation period for most. Correct me if I'm wrong

This is far more realistic then the aforementioned 32-50 in my experience.

Reply 64

wanderlust.xx

Original post by thegaffer91

Not quite, Reigate on a bit lower than that!

I'm going to take a massive leap of faith here and assume that you're starting at Towers Watson as an investment actuary? If so, I'm extremely jealous.

Reply 65

thegaffer91

Original post by wanderlust.xx

I'm going to take a massive leap of faith here and assume that you're starting at Towers Watson as an investment actuary? If so, I'm extremely jealous.

Pretty much, Investment Analyst doing CFA rather than an actuary though. I presume you were applying for similar jobs last year? If this is the case, how did your applications go?

Reply 66

wanderlust.xx

Original post by thegaffer91

Pretty much, Investment Analyst doing CFA rather than an actuary though. I presume you were applying for similar jobs last year? If this is the case, how did your applications go?

Actually no... I just graduated and failed to secure a graduate scheme basically. I was too focused on trying to boost my employability with ECA's that I completely missed the prospect that I might end up without a hope after graduation. I had no idea the graduate market would be THIS horrendous in June/July, I thought I'd get something. Not sure what to do at this point - just need to keep applying I suppose.

In fact, one of my lecturers had a contact in your same TW branch and hand picked me for a recommendation at a consultancy position. Unfortunately, positions were yet again closed so yeah. But I was rather looking forward to TW! Congrats on the job offer though, CFA's great to do!

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 67

Andicate

this thread is good! (I'm not even at uni yet... just gonna keep checking to see which degrees lead to good career areas! :biggrin:

)

Any law graduates here who have gotten into a comfortable career?! Not necessarily in the legal sector, but just a comfortable job. Like a legal analyst of a major Business firm or a legal journalist reporting on court cases and writing Law reports? I'm thinking of taking Law in hope to go into those sectors (especially legal journalism) :biggrin:

Reply 68

Mcnubn

Just graduated with a Chinese Business degree and had a few interesting choices at home...but decided to take a leap of faith and move out to Beijing -.- doing a bit of extra language study whilst searching for graduate development programs/internships/entry level jobs

Reply 69

jo1692

Original post by Twinkle1

agree with this a LOT! am doing my masters atm and it hasn't helped at all in getting job offers. All the focus is on work experience and competencies etc.

Masters can be great for your career, but at the same time not always needed.

My cousin, who has a master's in a business-type subject, found it didn't really help her find a job because most people in the sector who had a master's had done it a few years after their undergraduate degree and thus had far more work experience than her. So she just ended up competing against graduates with bachelors, but it may be that it helps her in a few years' time.

Reply 70

M1011

Original post by Andicate

this thread is good! (I'm not even at uni yet... just gonna keep checking to see which degrees lead to good career areas! :biggrin:

)

If you want pretty generic employability (i.e. if you want to be a lawyer study law), in my experience do a 4 year sandwich course in something along the lines of Economics or Business. Myself and the majority of my uni friends seem to have done well out of this.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 71

livefires

Graduated in 2008 and started a PhD in microbiology that October, just finished writing up my thesis (finally!) and am currently temping in HR for an oil company. Starting an unrelated grad scheme in September and am delighted to be moving out of science :smile:

Reply 72

biomedboy

I graduated with a 2.2 in Biomedical Science and am still unemployed. :/

Reply 73

Irrelevance

Finished exams in 2011. They were referrals/resits which means no graduation. Was a bit ****ed from all the mess it caused.

First few months were quite depressing as I had plans to go onto further education and felt like it was pretty much hopeless given the situation. Went in to see a lecturer who's a friend of mine and he gave me the motivation to apply for postgrad courses.

Had my first interview after 3 months. Didn't get it and was a little deflated.

4 months later, I had three job interviews and an interview for a Masters. Ended up getting a job and a postgrad place! Quit my job and am now studying again.

Reply 74

biomedboy

Thanks.

What degree did you do and what did you get?

Anyone up for working abroad over the next few years? It's something I wouldn't mind doing.

Reply 75

biomedboy

How do you do about finding work abroad? Are there special agencies that help you find a job? I got a 2.2 in Biomedical Science and have a Masters in Public Health.

Reply 76

Andicate

Original post by M1011

Oh haha, I'll keep that in mind! I don't think Economics or Business Management is for me - I'm pretty bad at Maths! (C at GCSE) but am quite good at essay-based subjects - (got As so far) so Law is pretty much the only degree with value, that I can do. But I don't want be a lawyer - I want to be like a legal Journalist, or get a well-paid full time job. And I think Law is pretty flexible for that!

Reply 77

biomedboy

how old are you? I funded my masters by getting a loan, I lied about working. :/ I just don't know what to do with my life, aaaargh. :rant:

Reply 78

M1011

Original post by Andicate

Law degree is very strong, certainly won't hold you back from jobs outside of Law. Definitely consider a 4 year course though, the experience is so valuable these days. Get yourself in to a decent company for a year and then you can just watch the grad job offers roll in once you graduate :wink: