Truth about Unemployment

There is a lot of misconception about unemployment. If you are under-qualified for an entry-level jobs, you know what you have to do to improve your chance of landing a job. If you are over-qualified for an entry level job, you can't do anything about it.

You need to belong to one of 5 groups to land an entry-level job. You can't belong to more than 1 group at the same time.

1) Apprenticeship.
2) GCSEs.
3) NVQs.
4) School-leaver (A-levels).
5) University (undergrad) leaver with a relevant internship experience.

That's it. If you don't fall into any of these categories, it becomes almost impossible for you to get an entry-level job. Each category is exhaustive of each other. That means those in the group 5 cannot apply for jobs for those in the group 2.

Statistically, it is more difficult for Master's students or PhDs to get a job. They will be seen as carrying an useless baggage. This explains why some Master's and PhDs end up in jobs such as telephone customer/tech support officers (most popular jobs in the banking sector today) or telesales/cold-callers (they accept anyone who needs a job).

I wouldn't blame the students who enrol on advanced degrees. They are given a wrong impression about the advanced degrees. I blame the employers for developing these rigid systems of employment. They still haven't found a way to incorporate those with advanced degrees.

Those in the human resource (solely responsible for entry-level recruitment) do not have a Master's degree (90% of them don't and half of them don't even have a degree), so they tend to put those with advanced degrees in the group 5. I think it's a mistake they have been making. I don't think they are thinking constructively enough. But what can you do, right?

A few examples:

If you want to get a job in the NHS as an administrator, better not go to university. It's a short NVQ course that gets you into these roles within the NHS.

If you want to be a payroll manager, better not to go to university. They prefer NVQs.

If you want to be an accountant, the choice is up to you. You can land a gig at Big 4 as a school-leaver easily. In fact, it's statistically easier to land a job at Big 4 as a school-leaver.

If you want to be a banker, go to university, but given the number of graduates out there, your chance of landing a bank job is extremely low. What would you do if you failed to get a job in the banking sector?

If you want to be a lawyer, go to university, but only selected few get a job in the field after graduation. What would you do if you failed to get a job as a lawyer?

I was unemployed after advanced degrees for some time (nearly 2 years). I landed a general (non-gardaute) job after I was professionally qualified in my field. I studied my professional qualifications on my own when I was unemployed.

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 1

the-scientist

Original post by mrbackdoor

Where are you getting your statistics from?

In my personal experience those with Masters are PhDs are on an equal footing if not at an advantage when it comes to securing a job when compared with those with just a bachelors degree.

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