Doesn't the job market depress you?
Hi all,
Does the current job-market look bleak to you? Doesn't it depress you. Are you left mystified when the elderly and retired say they wish they were YOUR age again?
20's are the best years of your life they said...
Perhaps your answer to this question would depend on your demographic; your age, your generation and the market you grew up in (largely), and your education/skills. In short; your current situation!
For me, as a young twenty-something, and a graduate of 2015 it is very hard to compete and keep up with trends and land a decent paying job.
The introduction of the Zero Hour's contract, has seen a proliferation of roles under those terms- whereby roles used to be salaried; employers are increasingly paying minimum wage under Zero Hour agreements.
The point is, jobs that once required little to no skill now require a university degree (which I have), and pay considerably less. Thanks to the Labour government (under Blair), job requirements are increasingly more demanding, due to the education manifesto of the time, allowing greater access to H.E. You now need 3-5 years experience for some entry level roles, a Master's degree and even then you'll be lucky to land a Salaried role.
The 'once-upon-a-time' legacy of the Salaried position with all the perks of a secure career is long gone. I blame this on the governments of Blair, Brown, Cameron and May.
Now nobody owes me a job, and while it seems I am bitter (and rightly so), I am largely frustrated with the political landscape, economy, and how things have been allowed to get this dire!
The Tory's encouraged the zeros hour contracts; and while it might benefit a small minority- owning to the flexible nature of an agreement, I know plenty of people (inc myself) whom hate it!
The employer can pay you the least, give you little hours, but still retain you on books, to be used as and when. There are no prospects under such an agreement, and I feel salaried positions should be encourage, and zero-hours abolished.
All I want is a decent salary paying 21k so I can at least have a bit left over after bills, taxation and student loan deductions!
I heard the other day on t.v. that the average salary is now 27k; I've rarely ever seen that figure bouncing around here (in the North) except for mid-senior level roles!
What planet are people on?!?
Anybody feel the same?
Does the current job-market look bleak to you? Doesn't it depress you. Are you left mystified when the elderly and retired say they wish they were YOUR age again?
20's are the best years of your life they said...
Perhaps your answer to this question would depend on your demographic; your age, your generation and the market you grew up in (largely), and your education/skills. In short; your current situation!
For me, as a young twenty-something, and a graduate of 2015 it is very hard to compete and keep up with trends and land a decent paying job.
The introduction of the Zero Hour's contract, has seen a proliferation of roles under those terms- whereby roles used to be salaried; employers are increasingly paying minimum wage under Zero Hour agreements.
The point is, jobs that once required little to no skill now require a university degree (which I have), and pay considerably less. Thanks to the Labour government (under Blair), job requirements are increasingly more demanding, due to the education manifesto of the time, allowing greater access to H.E. You now need 3-5 years experience for some entry level roles, a Master's degree and even then you'll be lucky to land a Salaried role.
The 'once-upon-a-time' legacy of the Salaried position with all the perks of a secure career is long gone. I blame this on the governments of Blair, Brown, Cameron and May.
Now nobody owes me a job, and while it seems I am bitter (and rightly so), I am largely frustrated with the political landscape, economy, and how things have been allowed to get this dire!
The Tory's encouraged the zeros hour contracts; and while it might benefit a small minority- owning to the flexible nature of an agreement, I know plenty of people (inc myself) whom hate it!
The employer can pay you the least, give you little hours, but still retain you on books, to be used as and when. There are no prospects under such an agreement, and I feel salaried positions should be encourage, and zero-hours abolished.
All I want is a decent salary paying 21k so I can at least have a bit left over after bills, taxation and student loan deductions!
I heard the other day on t.v. that the average salary is now 27k; I've rarely ever seen that figure bouncing around here (in the North) except for mid-senior level roles!
What planet are people on?!?
Anybody feel the same?
nah, i'm due to finish my final year exams next friday, and landed a grad job paying 50k+bonus in the first year.
it's easy to blame other people, but in reality, no-one owes you anything. you gotta hustle your way into the market and prove your worth. my grind started in year 13, and i sure as hell spent all my strength and direction in ensuring i land a job.
it's easy to blame other people, but in reality, no-one owes you anything. you gotta hustle your way into the market and prove your worth. my grind started in year 13, and i sure as hell spent all my strength and direction in ensuring i land a job.
(edited 6 years ago)
Original post by gr8wizard10
it's easy to blame other people, but in reality, no-one owes you anything. you gotta hustle your way into the market and prove your worth. my grind started in year 13, and i sure as hell spent all my strength and direction in ensuring i land a job.
it's easy to blame other people, but in reality, no-one owes you anything. you gotta hustle your way into the market and prove your worth. my grind started in year 13, and i sure as hell spent all my strength and direction in ensuring i land a job.
Yep. I think most people who find the graduate jobs market unreasonably difficult are the ones who didn't consider their careers until they finished their degrees, and then expected to just walk into somewhere. Some people can get away with that, if they happen to have built up a lot of transferrable skills by the end of their degrees anyway anyway, but in most cases it doesn't work like that.
For me it's not so much the job market, but the horrid process of applying for jobs, it's almost a job in itself but I'm managing...for now.
A graduate seeking at least 21K? That say's it all. I'm on my placement year and I would be expecting at least 24K for a graduate role (but that's probably because I'm in the south)
A graduate seeking at least 21K? That say's it all. I'm on my placement year and I would be expecting at least 24K for a graduate role (but that's probably because I'm in the south)
Original post by gr8wizard10
nah, i'm due to finish my final year exams next friday, and landed a grad job paying 50k+bonus in the first year.
it's easy to blame other people, but in reality, no-one owes you anything. you gotta hustle your way into the market and prove your worth. my grind started in year 13, and i sure as hell spent all my strength and direction in ensuring i land a job.
it's easy to blame other people, but in reality, no-one owes you anything. you gotta hustle your way into the market and prove your worth. my grind started in year 13, and i sure as hell spent all my strength and direction in ensuring i land a job.
I would be interested to know your background, age and achievements in relation to your 50k job you landed?
Are you a graduate?
Original post by Anonymous
For me it's not so much the job market, but the horrid process of applying for jobs, it's almost a job in itself but I'm managing...for now.
A graduate seeking at least 21K? That say's it all. I'm on my placement year and I would be expecting at least 24K for a graduate role (but that's probably because I'm in the south)
A graduate seeking at least 21K? That say's it all. I'm on my placement year and I would be expecting at least 24K for a graduate role (but that's probably because I'm in the south)
For the industry I'm going into the salary isn't as high as if I'd done a STEM subject. For my field I've seen some mid-senior roles paying 24-30k- but thats after about 4-5 years solid experience, not a fresh grad.
My background isn't engineering, or Maths or Science. Nor am I going into investment banking or some lucrative in-demand grad scheme.
I did apply for graduate schemes within the civil service and government in general, but I didn't get passed the second stage (to interview).
The only way I could land a salary within the bracket of 22-30k was if I managed to secure a place on a scheme with a big IT firm or global corporation.
Also, I didn't do a placement as part of my course, but I do have some voluntary bits on my CV and am currently applying for internships as well as FT positions.
Original post by Anonymous
For the industry I'm going into the salary isn't as high as if I'd done a STEM subject. For my field I've seen some mid-senior roles paying 24-30k- but thats after about 4-5 years solid experience, not a fresh grad.
My background isn't engineering, or Maths or Science. Nor am I going into investment banking or some lucrative in-demand grad scheme.
I did apply for graduate schemes within the civil service and government in general, but I didn't get passed the second stage (to interview).
The only way I could land a salary within the bracket of 22-30k was if I managed to secure a place on a scheme with a big IT firm or global corporation.
Also, I didn't do a placement as part of my course, but I do have some voluntary bits on my CV and am currently applying for internships as well as FT positions.
My background isn't engineering, or Maths or Science. Nor am I going into investment banking or some lucrative in-demand grad scheme.
I did apply for graduate schemes within the civil service and government in general, but I didn't get passed the second stage (to interview).
The only way I could land a salary within the bracket of 22-30k was if I managed to secure a place on a scheme with a big IT firm or global corporation.
Also, I didn't do a placement as part of my course, but I do have some voluntary bits on my CV and am currently applying for internships as well as FT positions.
IT? You might wanna consider FDM graduate schemes. There not the best rated but they do help IT grads get their foot through the door.
I get what you're saying but I think a lot of people have a 'it's greener on the other side mentality". Do you seriously think the elderly today didn't struggle with crap jobs back in the day. Yes it was more salary based but usually industries such as coal or factory based so hardly dream jobs for today's 20 somethings. Maybe consider changing industry or just get as much work experience as possible in your desired area while working a retail part time job.
Original post by Anonymous
I would be interested to know your background, age and achievements in relation to your 50k job you landed?
Are you a graduate?
Are you a graduate?
i'm a final year uni student, due to finish exams next week and graduate in july. i start my job end of july.. the role is investment banking.
run down of me:
age: 21 (currently), was 18 when i started to think about careers
educational history: a-levels (a*a*a), finishing of an undergraduate degree in finance
experience (at each stage):
year 13 - insight days within different careers (banking, accountancy) - just googled around for any firms who have open days for 6th form students
year 13 - managed to land an 8 week internship over the summer working in a back office division, having applied for a development programme and speaking to a manager at one firm
1st year uni - managed to land 3x competive spring week programmes in investment banking, and did well enough that they offered me a summer internship of the back of that
1st year uni - did a 9 week internship at 1 of the investment banks over the summer
2nd year uni - did a short internship working with BBC/FT/Evening Standard as a politcal editor intern within the houses of parliament (cool experiences met high ranking officials and had access to house of commons and various MPs and chief political editors, also published articles)
2nd year uni - once again did another 9 week summer internship in the bank i did the previous year and was consequently offered a grad position
3rd year uni - due to graduate and go into said job
extras: volunteer weekly at a youth centre - play a lot of sports (table tennis, golf, football) - run a squad skating club - know how to code (using VBA) - i make online videos on youtube (video editing since about 13/14 years of age) - volunteer to give talks to students on careers with some organisations - mentor other students
Original post by Anonymous
IT? You might wanna consider FDM graduate schemes. There not the best rated but they do help IT grads get their foot through the door.
I have already looked at FDM, I was very drawn to it, because of the training I would have received on the programme, however, I believe the initial training period was unpaid, and the firm only allowed you entry onto the scheme if you could self-fund and be self-sufficient for that period of time.
Unfortunately, I live independently, and as such run a two-bed house (pay rent, council tax and bills out of my own pocket) and so I am a bit stuck with that.
No, I graduated in Digital Media (so more erring on the side of web development; with a focus on visual design). But my degree wasn't as rigorous on the IT side of things, so really in terms of employability it is geared more in the arts, but again, I need plenty of experience for jobs in that area; which I don't have.
Original post by littleangel9914
I get what you're saying but I think a lot of people have a 'it's greener on the other side mentality". Do you seriously think the elderly today didn't struggle with crap jobs back in the day. Yes it was more salary based but usually industries such as coal or factory based so hardly dream jobs for today's 20 somethings. Maybe consider changing industry or just get as much work experience as possible in your desired area while working a retail part time job.
Currently, I'm applying for Junior roles within the creative industries, sending applications off to charities also for voluntary roles to gain experience. I've found my applications to volunteer tend to be well received over internships which seem to already want alot of the experience (surprisingly).
However, because I live independently I have to work to pay my bills and rent and council tax, so my flexibility in being able to do an unpaid internship, or fixed term internship is limited (esp. since I'd need to give up secure employment).
I currently work in fast food to pay my bills but am struggling to land a role in my industry (the butt of my problem really).
Original post by Anonymous
Currently, I'm applying for Junior roles within the creative industries, sending applications off to charities also for voluntary roles to gain experience. I've found my applications to volunteer tend to be well received over internships which seem to already want alot of the experience (surprisingly).
However, because I live independently I have to work to pay my bills and rent and council tax, so my flexibility in being able to do an unpaid internship, or fixed term internship is limited (esp. since I'd need to give up secure employment).
I currently work in fast food to pay my bills but am struggling to land a role in my industry (the butt of my problem really).
However, because I live independently I have to work to pay my bills and rent and council tax, so my flexibility in being able to do an unpaid internship, or fixed term internship is limited (esp. since I'd need to give up secure employment).
I currently work in fast food to pay my bills but am struggling to land a role in my industry (the butt of my problem really).
Maybe try building up a portfolio of work to back up your digital media skills by running a website/blog? It's something you'll be able to do around your current job as well.
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