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unemployed graduates

user-name

10

Anyone relate to any of the stories here?:

http://tomcat4.prospects.ac.uk:8080/forum/viewforum.php?f=17

Reply 1

ChemistBoy

16

I have little sympathy with the guy with a physics degree, it seems like he really hasn't looked properly at the job market at all (I noticed that he was very sketchy about exactly what he had done to try and get a job). If you are being told that you are 'over qualified' for the jobs you are applying for then you are applying for the wrong jobs. There are many companies that have technology vacancies that are in desperate need of physics grads.

Reply 2

v2006

did they all go to the polytechnics?

Reply 3

ChemistBoy

16

v2006

did they all go to the polytechnics?

The guy with a physics degree apparently went to a top uni.

Reply 4

AT82

v2006

did they all go to the polytechnics?

And for your information the so called poly's now have some of the best graduate employment rates :rolleyes:

Also there has not been any polytechnics since 1992.

Reply 5

Brown Patrick Bateman

10

*user*name*

Anyone relate to any of the stories here?:

http://tomcat4.prospects.ac.uk:8080/forum/viewforum.php?f=17

Waaah I didn't bother to do any work experience during uni and now I can't get a job, it's so unfair... :rolleyes:

Reply 6

fuglyduckling

2

I have absolutely no sympathy whatsoever for any graduate who finds himself unemployed without extenuating circs . . .

So many dumbass grads believe that because they go to a top uni they are certain to have employers courting them, don't bother to network or get work experience whilst at uni, and end up having to do some dead-end, mundane, low-paying, embarrassing job.

The decent 5 or so pecent pull their fingers out, think about the future, network, meet people, get work experience, and are rewarded with decent full-time job offers before they graduate.

Out of people at the UK's top unis, I would say only 3-5% end up starting in jobs that I consider any good. The rest drift along, delay decision making by studying a little longer, go travelling (the one decent option IMHO), or go into boring, easily attainable positions, which don't reflect the calibre of said graduates.

In contrast, I find people at less prestigious universities seem to be more clued-up and often end up fulfilling their potential and getting the sort of jobs which are about right for their individual profiles. They don't sell themselves short and are far more aware of the big bad world outside the university bubble.

If students are lazy, out-of-touch, and quixotic enough to think that a job will just fall into their lap upon graduation day, then they fully deserve the 22k a year that they will get. Hardworking, ambitious students also fully deserve the 70k+ they will earn in their first year in IB (or the prestige/job satisfaction/creative outlet concomitant with a decent albeit lower-salaried job in a different sector).

Careers are very important to most people - you spend a large majority of your life at work and people tend to associate you with your job, it is certainly one of the first questions you'll be asked when introduced to someone. If careers are not important to you, then fine - take a dead-end job or remain unemployed - but please don't assume some God-given right to a decent job and go round bitching about how you have it so bad.

Reply 7

v2006

I thought most jobs paid around 22 k (except law and ib).

Reply 8

ChemistBoy

16

v2006

I thought most jobs paid around 22 k (except law and ib).

It depends what subject you studied.

Reply 9

v2006

What other career pay more than 25 k in the first year chemistboy? I thought the big 4 and other big companies paid around 25 k?

Reply 10

sweet_fluffy_nuke

ChemistBoy

The guy with a physics degree apparently went to a top uni.

He went to Strathclyde.
Hardly a "top university"

Reply 11

sweet_fluffy_nuke

AT82

And for your information the so called poly's now have some of the best graduate employment rates :rolleyes:

Didnt you post extensively about your difficulty in getting a fulltime graduate job after you graduated from an ex-poly ? :rolleyes:

Forgotten that already ? :rolleyes:

Reply 12

ChemistBoy

16

Son_of_the_sun

He went to Strathclyde.
Hardly a "top university"

Didn't read that far down, however for science Strathclyde is still very good and it is still very possible to get a good job with a physics degree from strathclyde, I still have no sympathy for the guy.

Reply 13

sweet_fluffy_nuke

ChemistBoy

Didn't read that far down, however for science Strathclyde is still very good

Fair enough.
I guess that you should known since you are in a related field.

Reply 14

ChemistBoy

16

Son_of_the_sun

Fair enough.
I guess that you should known since you are in a related field.

Laser physics and optoelectronics are as much a mystery to me as the next man, but they are both areas that Strathclyde excels in and is certainly at the forefront of the national research interest.