Unemployed for 3 months now. Struggling to find a decent grad level IT job

Sorry I am not sure if I was explicit or clear enough. Basically, YES the graduate will have responsibilities at the company HOWEVER these responsibilities may be varied and tailored to their needs. For example, if a company hired graduate programmers to work on a project, the graduates would not be responsible for say interacting at face-value with high-end clients as they are not familiar with such clients and have not acquired all the soft-skills needed to do so effectively. Also, these graduates would not be responsible for designing highly critical systems such as the ones used in the NHS as if something were to go wrong and these graduates were held responsible - then a lot of politics and blame would kick in. You got to understand that graduates don't get paid as much as say their fellow full-time experienced counterparts and so it would be slightly unfair if they had to work just as hard as say their fellow colleagues. Also, you got to understand that graduates simply do not have all the relevant skills and knowledge to do the job as a say a more experienced worker - and therefore, they may be given a slightly lighter work-load or even a more easier work-load. That being said, given with time they will become more nurtured and disciplined and will be expected to take more responsibility. Mate, we all got to start from the bottom somewhere in life - be it buying your first car whip banger or your run down apartment. One thing leads to another.

Sounds like said company would be better off either hiring someone already experienced.. or hiring an inexperienced non-graduate who is cheaper as they don't come in expecting a 'graduate salary'.

In some areas it may well be worth paying extra to get graduates even if they have no experience.. I don't believe IT to be one of those areas.

Well, that may be your opinion and of course I respect that. However, a lot of IT companies do hire graduates even from non-IT backgrounds. IT is a rapidly growing and evolving field and I have over my placement year come across historian graduates who were working on servers - simply because there wasn't a market for historians. Technology is booming and growing - as you may already know. There are so many apps being developed for smartphones everyday and more and more of the things we are doing can now be done using computers and smartphones. As there is a surge growth in technology, a lot of opportunities are being offered and there is a demand for employees in this field especially programming. I'm just saying from experience and from what a lot of my useful contacts have advised me on.

All this demand and yet you struggled to find a job?

Yeah which is why I got a job starting in January. Sure it may be business but it still has an I.T element in it. The reason why I struggled to get a job was because I was being way too picky - not because there were no jobs. As the thread title mentions "struggling to find a decent grad level IT job". When I meant "decent grad level IT job" I meant one with a big company and a good pay. Sure I was cocky and ambitious but that does not mean to say that there wasn't a demand for IT graduate jobs. I went on holiday and came back early September. So I took like a month to sort out a few things. Then in October til now I was doing errands for family and friends and learning new skills.

Just out of interest what are you doing in life? Are you a graduate, worker or student?

Be humble and realise you're a graduate in a sea of graduates. You got a first? Good for you. So did a countless number of others . You need to realise you are ordinary on paper. You lack basic skills and will need time and effort of colleagues and the company to fill those gaps. You'll need tonnes of training, lots of patience from colleagues that think you work too slowly. You have little to offer except 'potential' which may never be fulfilled. You could be one of those useless graduates (I've met several) who just can't operate in the real world.

Focus on "learning your trade." Focus on improving your skills - be that programming, managing meetings and stakeholders (usually with opposing interests), presentation skills, networking and soft skills, project management skills etc Worry about salary later. Be good at what you do. You'll grow in confidence, command projects, command interviews. It takes time when you have almost no workplace skills. You're at the bottom of the chain and it's time you realised what that truly means.

I took my first job at £19k. Pitiful yes, but I got involved in tonnes of stuff well beyond my role. 2 years later it helped me get another lowly paid £29k job which was a 1.5-2hrs commute one way. Imagine all that travelling for a job that didn't pay a great deal? Where's that killer wage I'd been waiting for? But alas, I knew this was gold. It was a job with a great company, the responsibilities in the role were fantastic with tonnes of scope.
15 months later, I was accepted for two jobs. One paying £63k, the other £52k. Both at the same company but in different areas . I took the latter. Why? Because I know it has better development in line with my career aspirations, and I know I'll get better skills from it. I know in 18-24 months I'll be genuinely eligible for contract roles that pay £80k+. 5 years down the line it will be six figures - I've seen it and know colleagues that do it. It's not something out of reach. In fact, I'll probably want to start my own business before then. My brother earns over £160k, where did he start? He was stuck on £23k for 3 years too!
My point is have a medium to long term view of things. Position yourself in your career path toward your goals and aspirations - this takes time and effort. I took on extra work, I paid for professional courses and studied outside of work, I travelled ridiculous distances. Starting out is hard. You know very little about your industry and certainly haven't developed a map. The road ahead is long, try to get value out of things you do rather than focusing solely on a number.

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After months of being unemployed and somewhat giving up on life - I have finally got a job as a discovery analyst or in other words a business analyst at a large UK bank. I am in two states at the moment but happy to say the least.

The thing is, I have always come from a very technical background and the role I have been offered is very business orientated. It seems like consultancy too as I have been employed by the agency to work with the bank for a fixed term. I am expected to work there for 9 months max - after which point I become a free person again and I look to work elsewhere. The thing is, as I am a Computing graduate and more into programming and technical stuff, could I still say apply for graduate schemes starting in late 2017 (say post September) and other technical roles?

Some people told me to happily take this big opportunity as having a bank on your C.V will make you stand out of the crowd.

Any advice?

Because I am into technical graduate schemes and my new role is more business orientated.

Yeah I tried doing that and what - I get rejected!

I applied to two small companies this week. The first one decided to inconveniently call me when I was at the gym and ask all these questions. They then asked towards the end how much I was expecting to get paid to which I said £25K+. I think eventually they realised that they were going to underpay me and well it was rude of them (coward) to just email me and say that my experience/skill set don't add up. Clearly they wanted to somewhat hire me up until the point I told them that I was looking for more. To be fair, graduates shouldn't really be earning between £18-22K anyways.

The second one just sent me a straight email telling me that they didn't think I that I had the right skills or knowledge for the job.

I am starting to doubt myself and wonder if ever I will get a job. At this rate NO ONE is offering me anything despite my first class honours. I regret going on holiday and just being unemployed. Unemployment sucks hard - I wonder how people live on the dole

Take the job, look for others in the meanwhile and even though you have a degree in the subject look to improve some of your skills and learn more languages? Might also help if you do things on the side with your IT background (e.g. making websites etc.)

Hard to get a job as a graduate with a first in a computer science degree? That doesn't sound right. Anyway, what field of IT do you want to get into? And what are your experiences? Getting a first doesn't necessarily mean companies will be begging you to work for them, they're more interested in past experiences and what you've done to show your interest in the subject area.

Hi,

My life feels quite down at the moment. Whilst, my parents may be financially stable and grateful to keep me in their home rent-free - I find it rather embarrassing to live off them.

A few months ago, I was experiencing the ultimate highs in my life. Getting a first class honours, having my first proper alcoholic drink, going zip-lining abroad and just enjoying life. I decided to go to the Americas from July til the end of August - and now come November I am still unemployed! I have made some effort and some companies have been in contact. But they are not offering a salary that I would say is suitable for me or any first class grad. Most of my fellow peers are on top grad schemes earning £28K plus and in hindsight I should have just got a job and not went on holiday.

The damage has been done and live to regret the first class Computer Science degree.

What should I do now. It is only going to get worse. Should I just accept any wage for now and work for some time before going somewhere else?

Dear Yunglife,

Do not doubt yourself, you obtained first class honours, that is sufficient for you to be able to participate in IT. How would like to be assisted? By the way you could help other students achieve first class honours possibly too. For further details, simply respond to this notification.

Try Apple? Ps. you should have already applied for jobs during your degree..

Thank you for commenting on my thread.

Yeah, in hindsight, I overreacted slightly. I am aware that my degree is of huge value at the moment and that I am more than capable of working in the IT world. I have already worked within IT before so I have the experience. Unfortunately, there were not any well paid graduate jobs after I finished university and part of the reason for this is because I went on holiday. I came back September and experienced that a lot of the jobs being advertised were demanding for a lot such as 2-3 years worth of experience and a skill-set in a so-so language - which I did not have. I tried looking for software development and engineering jobs but failed until I was contacted by an agency advertising for a business type role for an IT based project. I applied for that post and successfully got it - which is due to start early 2017.

With regards, to your final point about helping other students - what do you mean by this exactly?