[Humour] Why is it so hard to get a job?

[coagulantwolf]

Have to disagree with you there, the student loan is basically a tax on your earnings over a certain amount for 30 years. Those on the current fee structure pay nothing if they earn under 25k and pay a small percentage on anything over that. If you don’t land a good job after uni, jobs a gooden, you don’t have to pay a penny back.

This - I graduated almost 4 years ago and consider it worth it (although my payment threshold is lower and monthly repayments higher than those with the larger debt ironically). I wouldn't have got the job I have now without it, and even paying the "graduate tax" I believe I can earn more and progress quicker thanks to university. It's definitely not for everyone, but I think done correctly for the right reasons is a great thing!

 

[KZNSeagull]

I'd second this. Our industry is empty of talent, we're eager for people young or old to jump in, learn and have a great career.

Really? What languages etc? I have 18 years IT experience but none from the last 15 years. What would you advise retraining in?
[MENTION=28761]carteater[/MENTION] - Supermarkets offer short hours contracts but my experience is that you will be flexed up to meet their needs. I have been at Tesco for 18 months and my initial contract was just 9.75 hours a week. However, I have never worked less than 25 hours in a week, usually work 30 to 35 and there is usually scope to get much more if I wanted it. It isn't much fun or challenging and does not pay very well, but it keeps the wolf from the door and could tide you over until you find something else. I will add that I am not sure if this is just the northern way of doing things, but i suspect that it is national. Best way to find out is ask!

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Two? I would not recommend university, maybe junior school?

Whoosh. cough * spoof account * cough

 

[Jackthelad]

Uni is always worth it, my biggest regret is quitting Uni. I'm ok now, but I spent my 20's in retail lower end management jobs with crap money that were soul destroying. There is no future in retail customer service jobs so I always warn people don't go into that or you will get stuck in it. Call Center jobs are horrible, the culture is vile I have seen mates who were good lads become vile after spending 6 months in that environment.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Spot on.

Who wouldn't want their son to turn out a hoolie apologist with the literary skills of a chimp spending all day on a message board and failing feebly to put down just about anyone who is clearly more intelligent than him? i.e. everyone.

I can't speak for anyone else but personally I like to get my 7 year old to read your posts on here and tell him "there you go son, I want you to be like HIM when you grow up".

*cough* spoof account *cough*

 

[Simster]

*cough* spoof account *cough*

It wouldn't surprise me, to be fair. Actually, you're right.

 

[Normski1989]

Going to university is a lot more than how much you will earn at the end of it. Some people are passionate about becoming a nurse or a teacher, but they will never earn huge amounts, but they may well be doing something they love and that contributes massively to society. Some will discover more about themselves, what they want to do, how they can contribute and where their place might be.

If we extend your logic to a comparison about earnings, then we are going to be seriously in trouble in our health care, education and other trained sectors that we rely on as a society.

How can you say university is only beneficial if absolutely necessary? Is that like saying any form of education is only necessary if it improves your salary potential? What about all the research, science, creativity; from novelists, to artists, to film makers and all the things we love to enjoy with our hard earned money? Philosophers, thinkers, inventors, of course they don't need to go to university to do this, of course they don't, but when is extending your education not beneficial?

I've got 3 kids and will neither push them or put them off furthering their education or pursuing what they want to do. But I am far from saying it's only beneficial for a specific career path.

I didn't say that going to uni is only beneficial if it improves your salary, did I? I actually said that it's only beneficial if it's necessary for your career. I even gave the example of a doctor. But if you can gain experience in your chosen field instead, I think its a better option.

Want to be an artist? Then create art. Shadow artists. Get things wrong and learn from mistakes. Why spend four years of your life and £50,000 to let someone tell you how to make art? It's pointless. You'll learn far more and far quicker by simply getting your hands dirty.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

 

[Bold Seagull]

I didn't say that going to uni is only beneficial if it improves your salary, did I? I actually said that it's only beneficial if it's necessary for your career. I even gave the example of a doctor. But if you can gain experience in your chosen field instead, I think its a better option.

Want to be an artist? Then create art. Shadow artists. Get things wrong and learn from mistakes. Why spend four years of your life and £50,000 to let someone tell you how to make art? It's pointless. You'll learn far more and far quicker by simply getting your hands dirty.

You made the implication in referring to the salaries so it was implied. How do you know if it's beneficial to your career if you haven't decided at 18? What if you want to study Geography in more depth, but don't actually know how that will translate into a profession? Perhaps you will learn a speciality that makes you an ideal candidate for a particular role. You might not even know that role exists when you started, it might not be available unless you did the degree. I don't get that education is being viewed as some unnecessary requirement. Brilliant if you can do it on the job, that you land a role that will train you themselves, I wouldn't rule anything out, but I certainly wouldn't be saying one or the other is pointless, got to say that is pretty ignorant of the fantastic education our universities give our young people, and the young people that bring millions into our economy from around the world to study here – they come here because industries around the world view a British university education as something valued, and yet we seem to be of the opinion its a bit pointless...

 

[SeagullRic]

Whilst I agree that you want the best for your son I don't think it's worth it career wise for the majority. I have a decent degree in Politics and it has not played any part in getting myself decent work. After uni I carried on working in pubs for about a year, mostly with people that had degree's, masters and even a PhD!

Had a great time at uni and met my Mrs with whom I have a beautiful little girl so from that aspect uni was great. Am now in a project coordinator position on decent money purely by hard work and a little luck. If you are desperate for your son to go to uni I would really recommend he does a degree with a specific profession in mind such as engineering, architecture, medicine etc. Otherwise the debt you build up is not worth the financial rewards or lack of it in my opinion

Whilst I see where you're coming from, I slightly disagree with how important it is to choose a specific profession. In my experience, it depends a lot on how flexible you are willing to be when it comes to post university working location.

There are lots of jobs in big cities (London, Manchester, Birmingham, Newcastle, Sheffield, Leeds etc) in areas such as Marketing, Sales/Tech Sales, Recruitment, Insurance etc for which you don't need a specific degree (although of course that can help), and there's quite a few jobs in those areas in Brighton also. Sales/Recruitment companies are often far more concerned by the attitude and drive of candidates than their degree skills.

For the OP, have you looked into care/support work jobs? There are normally loads going all around Brighton and Sussex, some will look for experience but others will not. You can also work agency or directly for a charity, non-profit or for profit employer (try to avoid the latter if possible) depending on how flexible you want your hours to be. Good luck!

 

[SwedishSonna]

When I moved up here, I applied for every single job going. No luck whatsoever. In the end,I went to work in a call centre. 11k a year. Soul destroying but it was better than nothing. Nearly 12 or so years later, I'm still with the same lot albeit in a different guise (the original job was outsourced, now I'm in house), and I bloody love it. Almost quadrupled my wage in that time with a lot of hard graft.

It's not easy to stroll into a job. Sometimes you've gotta start on the bottom rung. That means crap hours. Crap wage. Bye bye work/life balance.

I guess you either need a clear idea of what it is you'd like to do and pursue it, or take whatever job is going and see where it takes you (which is what I did).

 

[cloud]

When my other half and I moved here, we'd both been out of work for a while. We found an interesting local organisation and did half a day's voluntary work each week, so there was something that could go on the CV rather than a blank space.

It seemed to do the trick, both of us had job interviews where they asked about it, and which led to the job. But like the previous poster, it was lower pay than I was looking for, and it's meant having to work extra hard to work my way back up.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Want to be an artist? Then create art. Shadow artists. Get things wrong and learn from mistakes. Why spend four years of your life and £50,000 to let someone tell you how to make art?

There’s a contradiction in this post. If no one should be telling you how to make art, then you can’t be wrong and can’t make a mistake.

 

[oneillco]

I suggest you call factories directly, there are hundreds in Sussex. If you can get a start make sure turn-up on time 5 days a week and work hard and you will get-on. To get the ball rolling try Lizzie's food factory in Burgess Hill, tel: 01444 235566

 

[essbee1]

Really? What languages etc? I have 18 years IT experience but none from the last 15 years. What would you advise retraining in?

[MENTION=28761]carteater[/MENTION] - Supermarkets offer short hours contracts but my experience is that you will be flexed up to meet their needs. I have been at Tesco for 18 months and my initial contract was just 9.75 hours a week. However, I have never worked less than 25 hours in a week, usually work 30 to 35 and there is usually scope to get much more if I wanted it. It isn't much fun or challenging and does not pay very well, but it keeps the wolf from the door and could tide you over until you find something else. I will add that I am not sure if this is just the northern way of doing things, but i suspect that it is national. Best way to find out is ask!

If you learnt Java/C# or even C/C++ and you were serious about it - I don't think you'd struggle too much.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

What’s most depressing about this thread is the complete dismissal of the idea you can go to university purely to learn about a specific topic and, in general, better yourself.

 

[Another Berkshire Seagull]

Really? What languages etc? I have 18 years IT experience but none from the last 15 years. What would you advise retraining in?

I'd say JavaScript, more JavaScript developed now than any other language. That said learn Python, Swift, Java or C# all would stand you in great stead.

 

[Normski1989]

You made the implication in referring to the salaries so it was implied. How do you know if it's beneficial to your career if you haven't decided at 18? What if you want to study Geography in more depth, but don't actually know how that will translate into a profession? Perhaps you will learn a speciality that makes you an ideal candidate for a particular role. You might not even know that role exists when you started, it might not be available unless you did the degree. I don't get that education is being viewed as some unnecessary requirement. Brilliant if you can do it on the job, that you land a role that will train you themselves, I wouldn't rule anything out, but I certainly wouldn't be saying one or the other is pointless, got to say that is pretty ignorant of the fantastic education our universities give our young people, and the young people that bring millions into our economy from around the world to study here – they come here because industries around the world view a British university education as something valued, and yet we seem to be of the opinion its a bit pointless...

Everything you've said about British education being valued is great, and many places worldwide would love to have scientists, doctors, teachers, engineers etc... that have got degrees from British universities. Never heard of anyone being in demand because of their British degree in art, outdoor adventure, surfing or (and yes this is a genuine degree) 'office skills'.

You seem to have missed my initial point. I don't see the value in going to university unless you:
a) know what field you want to work in.
AND
b) its a field where a degree is either necessary or very highly valued.

Most people that I know who went to university to 'find themselves' either dropped out or ended up with a degree that they haven't found any use for. That's because they went to university without any particular goals and just plodded along through it. They then find themselves in a job at the bottom, four or five years behind where they could have been. At the same time, I'm pretty confident that most businesses big or small would prefer someone with five years office experience over someone with a degree in office skills but no experience.

With regards to salary, I was simply implying that going to uni doesn't necessarily mean you'll earn more. It quite often has the opposite affect.

 

[WATFORD zero]

My kids have had significant experience of job hunting, my son particularly. When my son started at 6th form he tried to get a part time job and got turned down everywhere. He did 4 months voluntary work every Saturday at British Heart foundation, did basic shop work and till work, reapplied and got a job with Primark straight off. He kept that part time job and did additional shifts, night shifts etc to get him through University for his degree and masters.

He left Uni 18 months ago and then spent the best part of a year doing any work available.This ranged from scaffolding labourer, shop work, factory work to data analysis on Heathrow 3rd runway. Some of his commutes meant he was earning very little. His degree and masters were in Politics and International Politics.

Eventually, he got a very good job working for the civil service in Westminster (I'm not saying which department ) and moved up there.

However, since leaving Uni, he has applied for hundreds of jobs in the areas he wanted to work in, and taken any work available in the meantime. My (and his) advice would be that it is a huge numbers game. Be prepared for lots of disappointment but take any job in the meanwhile, because anything looks better than nothing on your cv.

*edit*

And re the Uni/non uni. My daughter is 21, two years younger than my son but didn't want to go to university as wasn't sure what she wanted to do (still isn't!) but got a part time job at 6th form, was lucky to get a good job straight after. I would only suggest Uni if you know what you want to do and I will need a degree for it.

 

[KZNSeagull]

If you learnt Java/C# or even C/C++ and you were serious about it - I don't think you'd struggle too much.

I'd say JavaScript, more JavaScript developed now than any other language. That said learn Python, Swift, Java or C# all would stand you in great stead.

Ok, thanks. Have done some JavaScript before and dabbled in C. Will check out some formal courses and get some accreditation as that seems to be the way forward these days. Is age an issue? I am 52 this year.

 

[El Presidente]

I was giving a careers talk last night and advising parents and kids in relation to the merits of university. It's not for everyone, apprenticeships are a viable option where you can get an income and qualifications in something vocational from the age of 18, and there's no graduate tax to pay (which is what uni loans are effectively).

The downside is that if you are uncertain of what you want to do at 18 then an apprenticeship might not be for you. You will still however have the benefit of being able to show a future employer than you have work experience though.

The plus side of university is that even if you are not choosing a vocational degree (architecture, medicine, engineering, dentistry, vet science etc.) you will learn a toolkit of skills that will be beneficial in a variety of workplaces. Don't go to uni for knowledge, all the knowledge you ever require is already there on Google, go there to learn how to use that knowledge, to focus on the causes and consequences of decision making, and to collaborate, disaggregate, problem solve, present and communicate.

I went to uni in Manchester in 1980 to learn economics, instead I learnt how to think. It was the best three years of my life without a doubt, but there are alternatives, so take time making a decision.