# How did you find your job after uni?



## smmudge (Oct 12, 2011)

As in, was it through one of the career events/schemes offered by your uni? Did you find it advertised elsewhere, like a job site or newspaper? Or word-of-mouth, friend/acquintance/family member etc?

My uni is throwing a lot of careers stuff at me as I'm in my last year and they would very much like to me find something to do when I leave so the figures look good. Loads of it seems to be large companies doing businessy things with jargony job titles that make me wonder what someone with that title actually _does_.

Should I pay more attention - will it be my only hope of employment? I don't currently have any career plans. Should I get some?


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## Pickman's model (Oct 12, 2011)

yes


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## weltweit (Oct 12, 2011)

First I started applying to companies all over the place that I thought I would like to work for. In each case I got the name of the managing director and the HR manager and wrote to each of them, telling each that I had written to the other. I figured that would reduce the chance of my CV going straight in the bin.

Then I also applied to companies that had been on the Uni milkround and had a few group interviews with them, a couple of which ended in offers to join their graduate intake, one of which in hindsight I wish I had taken.

After a while, the best job offer came from the first strategy and I took a real job rather than a graduate training position. I think in the end I had a choice of three opportunities.


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## N_igma (Oct 12, 2011)

I'm in the same job I was in when I was in uni!


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## TruXta (Oct 12, 2011)

Luck and nepotism.


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## Mapped (Oct 12, 2011)

Pay attention yes and always make plans. They may turn out to be shit plans but you can always remedy them later

Get transferable skills whatever you do. My partner kind of neglected to do this and isn't having a great time at work at the moment.

I did loads of part time jobs at uni (Property management, Marketing, Court Clerk, Data Entry , Investment banking Internship ) It was so easy to get jobs in the late 90's early 2000's it's different now though.

I didn't have a clue what I wanted to do, but had built up a portfolio of business and research skills on my CV. Still after I left uni I didn't know what I wanted and ended up as a trainee accountant (that ended badly) Then ended up in transport infrastructure and finally into public sector research. I drifted with no career plan and have ended up now in a job I love and lots and lots of skills (still need to learn more though). I think I may have been one of the lucky ones though.

I think it takes time to find your passions and try things out, but remember to always learn from the experiences 

What sort of thing are you looking at?


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## Mapped (Oct 12, 2011)

TruXta said:


> Luck and nepotism.



Luck yes. Dunno about the nepotism part. I never really had that


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## OneStrike (Oct 12, 2011)

TruXta said:


> Luck and nepotism.



In my experience, that   Iirc my first job after graduating was selling corporate tickets for a Christmas events company, in February.  Good luck though smuudge.


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## TruXta (Oct 12, 2011)

N1 Buoy said:


> Luck yes. Dunno about the nepotism part. I never really had that



It was lucky in that it was one of the very very very few job openings that afforded me a nepotistic advantage. Nothing to do with family, just to be clear.


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## weltweit (Oct 12, 2011)

I went through a phase of printing my CV on lightly coloured paper. That way when I called and they said but we have a mountain of paperwork in their intrays I could just respond, mine is probably the only green one you have!! and they would find it immediately!!


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## Mapped (Oct 12, 2011)

TruXta said:


> It was lucky in that it was one of the very very very few job openings that afforded me a nepotistic advantage. Nothing to do with family, just to be clear.



I get you. I suppose my first proper job that I enjoyed was though an old flatmate, who also sorted me out with Mrs N1 too. She's a grand lass and I owe her a lot


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## Mapped (Oct 12, 2011)

weltweit said:


> I went through a phase of printing my CV on lightly coloured paper. That way when I called and they said but we have a mountain of paperwork in their intrays I could just respond, mine is probably the only green one you have!! and they would find it immediately!!



Stick a photo on it as well and say I look like this! Unless you're an absolute minger though


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## weltweit (Oct 12, 2011)

N1 Buoy said:


> Stick a photo on it as well and say I look like this! Unless you're an absolute minger though



Yes, interesting, all CV applications I did in Germany required a photo but it does not really seem to be the done thing in the UK.


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## smmudge (Oct 12, 2011)

N1 Buoy said:


> What sort of thing are you looking at?



Honestly I have no idea. I had a job for 4 years before I came to uni, and there is a fair chance they will ask me back when I leave, but I can't rely on that and there may be something better out there.

My degree is arts/humanities based, and not in something that leads into any obvious job. Basically my career goal is not to work with a bunch of cunts. Is there any role/industry like that?


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## TruXta (Oct 12, 2011)

No


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## Mapped (Oct 12, 2011)

smmudge said:


> ....Basically my career goal is not to work with a bunch of cunts. Is there any role/industry like that?



That's most of our career goals. My line of work in Libararies/info services has a very low cunt quota. Stay out of finance


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## kabbes (Oct 13, 2011)

I got a summer placement between my second and third years, which is common in my industry, and they offered me a permanent job at the end of it.

It was just luck, really, that put me into that summer placement.


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## Pickman's model (Oct 13, 2011)

smmudge said:


> Honestly I have no idea. I had a job for 4 years before I came to uni, and there is a fair chance they will ask me back when I leave, but I can't rely on that and there may be something better out there.
> 
> My degree is arts/humanities based, and not in something that leads into any obvious job. Basically my career goal is not to work with a bunch of cunts. Is there any role/industry like that?


no, not even being self-employed


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## Mapped (Oct 13, 2011)

kabbes said:


> I got a summer placement between my second and third years, which is common in my industry, and they offered me a permanent job at the end of it.
> 
> It was just luck, really, that put me into that summer placement.



Investment banking internship? I did one of them. Got offered the job. Loadsamoney but couldn't get along with the macho culture and strip club stuff 

EDIT - and the hours 12 hr day mininum. fuck that!


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## kabbes (Oct 13, 2011)

You expect to find a whole industry made up of non-cunts?  There are only about a half-dozen non-cunts in the whole _world_.  And they are split over a half-dozen industries.


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## kabbes (Oct 13, 2011)

N1 Buoy said:


> Investment banking internship? I did one of them. Got offered the job. Loadsamoney but couldn't get along with the macho culture and strip club stuff


No, actuarial internship, on the grounds that I am an actuary.

No macho culture here.


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## smmudge (Oct 13, 2011)

oh and what, in layperson's terms, are "transferable skills"?


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## kabbes (Oct 13, 2011)

smmudge said:


> oh and what, in layperson's terms, are "transferable skills"?


Skills.


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## Mapped (Oct 13, 2011)

tech stuff, research skills, project management, people management and using your noggin


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## smmudge (Oct 13, 2011)

kabbes said:


> You expect to find a whole industry made up of non-cunts? There are only about a half-dozen non-cunts in the whole _world_. And they are split over a half-dozen industries.



I'll probably settle for a good cunts:salary ratio


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## kabbes (Oct 13, 2011)

smmudge said:


> I'll probably settle for a good cunts:salary ratio


Actuary.


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## smmudge (Oct 13, 2011)

kabbes said:


> Skills.



oh right. Can't you bullshit that out of _any_ job you get though, really?


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## kabbes (Oct 13, 2011)

smmudge said:


> oh right. Can't you bullshit that out of _any_ job you get though, really?


Of course.  You just have to know how to spin your CV.


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## Mapped (Oct 13, 2011)

smmudge said:


> oh right. Can't you bullshit that out of _any_ job you get though, really?



Bullshit is the biggest transferable skill  I keep trying to tell the Mrs we're all making it up as we go along, but she doesn't believe me


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## smmudge (Oct 13, 2011)

kabbes said:


> Actuary.



Don't actuaries have to do exams until they're 35?


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## Mapped (Oct 13, 2011)

kabbes said:


> No, actuarial internship, on the grounds that I am an actuary.
> 
> No macho culture here.



Good to know. I know a guy who's an actuary, it's smart stuff. It's also good to know when we're all going to die and crash our cars


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## kabbes (Oct 13, 2011)

smmudge said:


> Don't actuaries have to do exams until they're 35?


It's true, there are a lots of exams.  The average qualification time used to be 7 years.  But they have introduced all kinds of cheats now and the average has dropped to somewhere between three and six years.  I have known people hit double-digits though and the wife of a friend took 19 years.

(Even being a student is pretty good though, to be honest.  You lose some annual leave, but there are other advantages.  A study day a week is nice, even if you are actually using it to study.  And at least exams give you an obvious and guaranteed career progression for a while).


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## smmudge (Oct 13, 2011)

Well no doubt I would make a pretty awesome actuary.....but I don't think they'd take on arts students!


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## Lo Siento. (Oct 13, 2011)

finding a job with a humanities degree, no idea what you want to do, and the specific intention of avoiding cunts? In this economy?!


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## Mapped (Oct 13, 2011)

Lo Siento. said:


> finding a job with a humanities degree, no idea what you want to do, and the specific intention of avoiding cunts? In this economy?!



You never know! Stop going around destroying people's hopes


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## Lo Siento. (Oct 13, 2011)

N1 Buoy said:


> You never know! Stop going around destroying people's hopes


I graduated in 2004, and even then I wouldn't say people were falling over themselves to hire humanities grads for funky, cunt-free jobs


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## Lo Siento. (Oct 13, 2011)

just go register at a temp agency and take whatever comes your way until you work something else out


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## Mapped (Oct 13, 2011)

Lo Siento. said:


> I graduated in 2004, and even then I wouldn't say people were falling over themselves to hire humanities grads for funky, cunt-free jobs



Yeah I understand. My mrs had a great cunt free(ish) job around then. However we got all aspirational for a bit and she looked elsewhere for the £££ and it ended in tears 

I have a feeling that sometimes you may need to earn your stripes in the world of cunt to really find out about yourself and what you want to do. It's a learning process. There's no one-size fits all approach to this, trial and error have got me into a happier place, but it's been a slog on the way


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## Mapped (Oct 13, 2011)

Lo Siento. said:


> just go register at a temp agency and take whatever comes your way until you work something else out



This has worked for most of my freinds. Flit about a bit until you find something you like and where they like you


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## smmudge (Oct 13, 2011)

Yeah. Don't get me wrong, I can handle cunts, but I don't want to handle them forever.

I also worry that when I get out of uni I will be ~4 years older than all the other graduates. I'm 'getting on' a bit, you know? I just don't feel like I have the time to flit about a bit!


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## OneStrike (Oct 13, 2011)

smmudge said:


> Don't actuaries have to do exams until they're 35?



Nah, a mate of mine was at it by 25, 1st from Cambridge was enough, straight into 50k, the cunt.


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## Mapped (Oct 13, 2011)

smmudge said:


> Yeah. Don't get me wrong, I can handle cunts, but I don't want to handle them forever.
> 
> I also worry that when I get out of uni I will be ~4 years older than all the other graduates. I'm 'getting on' a bit, you know? I just don't feel like I have the time to flit about a bit!



Yeah. I'm a mature student as well, to help me in my current job though. But I can see that in some of my classmates.

I'd start with what I don't want to do, then write all my skills down and tweak CV's as necessary, with the usual added embellishment


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## smmudge (Oct 13, 2011)

Lo Siento. said:


> finding a job with a humanities degree, no idea what you want to do, and the specific intention of avoiding cunts? In this economy?!



TBF, I'm finding a job with a humanities degree, no idea what I want to do, with the specific intention of avoiding cunts, in this economy, _and_ with 4 years worth of experience, "transferable skills" and contacts under my belt. Counts for something right? 

I'll probs just end up in HR.


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## Mapped (Oct 13, 2011)

smmudge said:


> TBF, I'm finding a job with a humanities degree, no idea what I want to do, with the specific intention of avoiding cunts, in this economy, _and_ with 4 years worth of experience, "transferable skills" and contacts under my belt. Counts for something right?
> 
> I'll probs just end up in HR.



Don't do that! You'll end up doing loads of organisational restructures which are just miserable. We've got tonnes of folks with humanities degrees where I work


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## kabbes (Oct 13, 2011)

OneStrike said:


> Nah, a mate of mine was at it by 25, 1st from Cambridge was enough, straight into 50k, the cunt.


You have been misunderstood or mislead.

I doubt he or she even obtained one exemption from a Cambridge maths degree, because the tripos doesn't allow you to definitively prove what subjects you studied (i.e. statistics).  Your friend would have joined as an actuarial student, and then studied the exams whilst working.  This is what almost all actuarial students do.

Starting salaries for actuarial students are pretty good but they aren't even close to 50k.  Not even in the ballpark.  Maybe your friend was including all benefits, all potential bonuses and then giving it a liberal dose of rounding up.  What was their field?


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## kabbes (Oct 13, 2011)

smmudge said:


> TBF, I'm finding a job with a humanities degree, no idea what I want to do, with the specific intention of avoiding cunts, in this economy, _and_ with 4 years worth of experience, "transferable skills" and contacts under my belt. Counts for something right?
> 
> I'll probs just end up in HR.


I wouldn't do that.  HR has more cunts than porn.


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## strung out (Oct 13, 2011)

my sister's an HR consultant. i'm just glad i don't have to work for her as it's a well known fact that HR is the most hated department in every organisation.


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## strung out (Oct 13, 2011)

anyway, do a masters. that's what i'm going to do.


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## stuff_it (Oct 13, 2011)

weltweit said:


> I went through a phase of printing my CV on lightly coloured paper. That way when I called and they said but we have a mountain of paperwork in their intrays I could just respond, mine is probably the only green one you have!! and they would find it immediately!!


You're dating yourself there with paper CVs. 

And yes, you could always do a masters or a PGCE if you can't find work, but you do have to start thinking about it/paying attention now no matter what your intentions or lack thereof.


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## marty21 (Oct 13, 2011)

when i finished uni, I moved back to Bath and signed on , then got a temp job in a book shop, then another temp job, then moved to London and did telesales badly


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## stuff_it (Oct 13, 2011)

One of my mum's home carers when she was really ill was a newly qualified engineer that couldn't find work. Of course he may not have got a 2:1 or above which would make it hard for him to get any work.


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## weltweit (Oct 13, 2011)

stuff_it said:


> You're dating yourself there with paper CVs.



Well it was 1989 

But actually I would not rule out using paper CVs today. People get a massive pile of emails these days and find it quite easy to ignore or delete those that are not of immediate interest. Nowerdays something coming through the post, which has obviously been well prepared, could stand out and possibly get a better viewing or a slightly less direct route to the recycle bin 

I would not rule out using printed CVs these days.

In fact, as I am jobhunting at the moment I guess I should take my own advice


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## marty21 (Oct 13, 2011)

my mum runs a residential care home - she regularly has graduates working there as carers


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## stuff_it (Oct 13, 2011)

weltweit said:


> Well it was 1989
> 
> But actually I would not rule out using paper CVs today. People get a massive pile of emails these days and find it quite easy to ignore or delete those that are not of immediate interest. Nowerdays something coming through the post, which has obviously been well prepared, could stand out and possibly get a better viewing or a slightly less direct route to the recycle bin
> 
> ...


Sadly most jobs I apply for are via online form, so not an option for me.

Re: OP - If you are in your final year you should drag your arse out to those job fair thingies as well, even if your reaction once having a look round is 'fuck me I don't want to work for these corporate tossers', it would be a god idea to know now and start planning accordingly.


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## marty21 (Oct 13, 2011)

stuff_it said:


> Sadly most jobs I apply for are via online form, so not an option for me.
> 
> Re: OP - If you are in your final year you should drag your arse out to those job fair thingies as well, even if your reaction once having a look round is 'fuck me I don't want to work for these corporate tossers', it would be a god idea to know now and start planning accordingly.



I graduated in 1988, it is about time I started planning for my career


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## The Octagon (Oct 13, 2011)

Local job centres, roughly about 30-40 jobs applied for, several distastrous interviews, then got lucky.


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## weltweit (Oct 13, 2011)

stuff_it said:


> Sadly most jobs I apply for are via online form, so not an option for me.



Ok, but that is for applying for jobs that are already advertised.

I am suggesting people just apply to companies / orgs that they are interested in working for on spec. Just bombard organisations that you are interested in with letters and CVs to more than one person.

In the past I have managed to apply to companies who as it happenned were thinking about employing someone for a position and hey presto my CV arrived - I was right for the job so they interviewed me and I got it without having to face much competition.


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## 100% masahiko (Oct 13, 2011)

I was hooked on alot of shit after uni, my head was all over the place.
Think it took me about 2 years to find a proper job.


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## wayward bob (Oct 13, 2011)

i left my humanities degree with no idea at all about jobs. went on the dole for a while, got onto a dole-funded computer training course, got a part time job in the university library, then a part time admin job at an arts council funded gallery, which evolved into becoming "education officer". during that time i was hoping to get onto a conservation postgrad, but after voluntary museum work realised i may as well be dead if i pursued it further (no option to move to exciting london/other museums so i'd essentially be stuck in local government *shudder*).

by luck and on a tangent my computer training course actually turned out to fund my entire future. me and mr bob used to talk about it in the evenings, he read all my notes and started building/selling computers. then he started learning various programming skills and for the past 10 years or so his salary (network admin at the university) has kept the whole family afloat


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## Mapped (Oct 13, 2011)

stuff_it said:


> Sadly most jobs I apply for are via online form, so not an option for me.
> 
> Re: OP - If you are in your final year you should drag your arse out to those job fair thingies as well, even if your reaction once having a look round is 'fuck me I don't want to work for these corporate tossers', it would be a god idea to know now and start planning accordingly.





I had an hour of doing that at one of those at the Business Design Centre then went straight to the pub. I didn't want to work for Tesco FFS. Those things are also full of HR cunts with their smiley faces on


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## Mapped (Oct 13, 2011)

strung out said:


> anyway, do a masters. that's what i'm going to do.



I've probably asked before, but what in?


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## weltweit (Oct 13, 2011)

My 12 year old is starting to ask me about jobs. He basically wants to be paid quite a lot for doing something he enjoys. We have discussed how well paid cartoonists are - we discussed NHS Anasthesiasts (my idea) as they are paid quite well and it isn't too gory like a GP. Modern Language teachers or translaters. He wonders about theoretical physics (his idea I kid you not), space man (not much demand).. Well paid things like being a lawyer do not interest him atm..

I think he is beginning to doubt my abilities as a suitable careers coach!!


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## stuff_it (Oct 13, 2011)

weltweit said:


> My 12 year old is starting to ask me about jobs. He basically wants to be paid quite a lot for doing something he enjoys.


Is 12 too young to break it to them that this is extremely unlikely?

Engineering is well paid though, and there is scope to work on spaceman stuff, and apply physics. The theoretical physicists I know say that actual day to day work is dull as shit in the main, and even if they discovered anything interesting the chances f their name going on it rather than their bosses is so small that with some tinkering it could almost be a source of zero point energy.


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## temper_tantrum (Oct 13, 2011)

I did a postgrad and then got recruited directly from the postgrad course.


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## Mapped (Oct 13, 2011)

I remember out chat last year temper. Are you working where you studied?


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## temper_tantrum (Oct 13, 2011)

Nope, still in the same job I was in when I started that postgrad! (I did my first degree and postgrad about a decade ago  ).


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## wayward bob (Oct 13, 2011)

weltweit said:


> He basically wants to be paid quite a lot for doing something he enjoys.





stuff_it said:


> Is 12 too young to break it to them that this is extremely unlikely?



not necessarily, it obviously depends on his ability and interests, but for e.g. mr bob _adores_ his job and is paid enough to keep the whole family (fairly modestly) on a single salary. not so much the politics, but that's the same in every job, but being able to solve problems on a daily basis, and being in a fast-moving industry which means that his drive to keep up to date with new skills and push into breaking areas really pays off.


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## girasol (Oct 13, 2011)

I got incredibly lucky, as I got pregnant on my final semester, then stayed at home with baby for 14 months. (wasn't looking for work at this stage)

After looking for work for 2 months (indepently of university, just through agencies) I landed a really nice graduate job, one that paid 7k more than the average job at the same level! This was 11 years ago though...

I only got interviewed by 3 places altogether.  But then again I'm in an industry where there's a shortage of people, so getting a job was never (and still isn't) that hard.


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## stuff_it (Oct 13, 2011)

wayward bob said:


> not necessarily, it obviously depends on his ability and interests, but for e.g. mr bob _adores_ his job and is paid enough to keep the whole family (fairly modestly) on a single salary. not so much the politics, but that's the same in every job, but being able to solve problems on a daily basis, and being in a fast-moving industry which means that his drive to keep up to date with new skills and push into breaking areas really pays off.


I was told I was bright enough to be anything I wanted, then my mum kicked me out half way through my A Levels.

Life kicks you in the teeth sometimes. Fact.

Do warn him that particle physics is really really boring though. You have to love it more than life itself to get through the day to day stuff of staring at computer graphs and the like just for the person in charge of your project to take any credit.


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## wayward bob (Oct 13, 2011)

stuff_it said:


> I was told I was bright enough to be anything I wanted, then my mum kicked me out half way through my A Levels.
> 
> Life kicks you in the teeth sometimes. Fact.
> 
> Do warn him that particle physics is really really boring though. You have to love it more than life itself to get through the day to day stuff of staring at computer graphs and the like just for the person in charge of your project to take any credit.



fair point, you can never predict what's gonna happen. given my high-flying academic career and feminist principles i never imagined that at approaching 40 i'd never have had a full time job, that i'd have spent nearly a decade being basically a 1950s housewife or that i'd be poncing around at art school. funny thing life.


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## Crispy (Oct 13, 2011)

Colleague at my summer job said a friend's workplace in London was looking for people, so I sent my CV in. Had an interview a week later, got the job and am still working there 10 years later. Feel embarrassed when my friends have employment woes and interview stress, cos I've never experienced it.


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## stuff_it (Oct 13, 2011)

Crispy said:


> Colleague at my summer job said a friend's workplace in London was looking for people, so I sent my CV in. Had an interview a week later, got the job and am still working there 10 years later. Feel embarrassed when my friends have employment woes and interview stress, cos I've never experienced it.


I don't have interview stress, I've had so may that I actually interview quite well.


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## ATOMIC SUPLEX (Oct 13, 2011)

I think my job was in the guardian or something.
No internets back then of any consequence.

Even though I had done Music Tech as my degree, I had done camera and editing work on the course too and went for a trainee job in TV.
I basically got the job because I wrote and filmed a musical for zero money (they were mostly impressed with the zero money bit).
As a keen trainee I learnt EVERYTHING technical about making TV, and landed myself an in house editing job as a flash / fast young editor.
Shortly afterwards I was given a job (I could suppose you could say head hunted) in a new 'everybody does everything' television company.
Never really been interested in TV but now that's all I have ever really done apart from a few TV themes (which I suppose is still TV) and mixed a couple of records.


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## sim667 (Oct 13, 2011)

I struggle as a photographer and photographer's assistant freelance for 2 years straight after leaving college. I also picked up freelance contracts doing installs of mac suites at colleges (as I'd been doing that before I went to uni). The work wasn't consistent and making ends meet was difficult, plus I was being pressuriesed to move out of my parents (understandably).

So I kept an eye on the job sites I was aware of, having mainly worked in colleges these were sites like fejobs.com and similar. My freinds and family also kept an eye out for me, and eventually one sent me an advert at citylit up in london who needed an AV technician (not quite what I'd done my degree in, but I had enough experience as an AV tech from another role before uni). So i applied, and got the job. About a year later I applied for a job as a photography technician (my degree is in photography)....... I have to say, biggest mistake I've made in my career to date.

A week after leaving I had an interview as a photography storeperson at LCP- £27K a year, as a brand new graduate at 22 I'd have cut my right arm off for that job, I was 3rd choice out of 175 applicants....... I wish I'd have got that job straight off.....


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## smmudge (Oct 13, 2011)

stuff_it said:


> Re: OP - If you are in your final year you should drag your arse out to those job fair thingies as well, even if your reaction once having a look round is 'fuck me I don't want to work for these corporate tossers', it would be a god idea to know now and start planning accordingly.



Yeah there's one next week so I'll go and have a look. Not very hopeful about it really though, as it will be all massive corporation stuff doing god knows what. Plus a lot of places are for jobs up north and I want to move back to London.

But I'm just glad to read that a lot of people got their jobs the ordinary way of sending off CVs directly to companies rather than through uni stuff. I can do that, I'd just rather worry about it after I've done my dissertation!


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## weltweit (Oct 13, 2011)

stuff_it said:


> Do warn him that particle physics is really really boring though. You have to love it more than life itself to get through the day to day stuff of staring at computer graphs and the like just for the person in charge of your project to take any credit.



What I think I said was that landing a position as a theoretical physicist was probably quite hard as universities probably don't need too many of them. That put a bit of a dampener over that line of enquiry but I am interested that maths related subjects hold no fears for him, he definately did not get that from my side of the family.


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## stuff_it (Oct 13, 2011)

weltweit said:


> What I think I said was that landing a position as a theoretical physicist was probably quite hard as universities probably don't need too many of them. That put a bit of a dampener over that line of enquiry but I am interested that maths related subjects hold no fears for him, he definately did not get that from my side of the family.



I know someone that is a post doc particle physicist at Oxford, you basically spend all say looking at computer graphs on a very very oldskool looking interface. Diary goes something like: Monday - didn't find Higgs, Tuesday - didn't find Higgs, Wednesday - Spilled coffee, Didn't find Higgs...etc.

He wishes he'd done something else now even physics related but he's so far into it that he's pretty much stuck.


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## weltweit (Oct 13, 2011)

stuff_it said:


> He wishes he'd done something else now even physics related but he's so far into it that he's pretty much stuck.



A good friend of mine who did the same degree really wishes he had done maths, he really enjoys and understands maths and without his help I probably might have failed the math element on our course. Shame he didn't do it when he had the chance.


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## stuff_it (Oct 13, 2011)

weltweit said:


> A good friend of mine who did the same degree really wishes he had done maths, he really enjoys and understands maths and without his help I probably might have failed the math element on our course. Shame he didn't do it when he had the chance.


If he likes space, maths and physics but doesn't want a dull job then engineering would be a better option.


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## TruXta (Oct 13, 2011)

stuff_it said:


> If he likes space, maths and physics but doesn't want a dull job then engineering would be a better option.



Ahah ah ha! Aaahh...... Really? Depends on your speciality I suppose, but a lot of engineering is routinized as hell.


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## weltweit (Oct 13, 2011)

stuff_it said:


> If he likes space, maths and physics but doesn't want a dull job then engineering would be a better option.



My colleague is working in engineering (sort of), our degree was a joint engineering / business degree.

As to my 12yr old son, he might become interested in engineering, only time will tell.


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## UnderAnOpenSky (Oct 13, 2011)

Uni was pretty shit job wise...found the job on a website about what I was interested and moved up their before the dissertation was finished because of the start date, had to do long days of training and come home to work on it.


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## stuff_it (Oct 13, 2011)

TruXta said:


> Ahah ah ha! Aaahh...... Really? Depends on your speciality I suppose, but a lot of engineering is routinized as hell.


More chance than becoming a spaceman!


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## TruXta (Oct 13, 2011)

stuff_it said:


> More chance than becoming a spaceman!



Probably.


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## stuff_it (Oct 13, 2011)

TruXta said:


> Probably.


More exciting than particle physics as well.


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## weltweit (Oct 13, 2011)

stuff_it said:


> More exciting than particle physics as well.



I recon particle physics could be very exciting if you have your own collider ....


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## stuff_it (Oct 13, 2011)

weltweit said:


> I recon particle physics could be very exciting if you have your own collider ....


http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn10741-tabletop-particle-accelerator-created.html

Also though:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hahn


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## weltweit (Oct 13, 2011)

Getting a job after my degree was relatively easy because I didn't have any roots so I could apply anywhere. And I did, the south east, south wales, the midlands, the north, I applied all over the place. I probably sent out hundreds of CVs until they started to stick.

Back then I had the attitude that it took three months of hard work to get more than one offer to chose between. And that pretty much was how it worked out for me. That was then however. Now the situation is rather different, I am effectively looking within 40 miles of where I live and there is not that much non defence industry around here.


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## weltweit (Oct 13, 2011)

stuff_it said:


> http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn10741-tabletop-particle-accelerator-created.html



The people at CERN are going to be pissed off 



stuff_it said:


> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hahn



That is cool !!


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## Lo Siento. (Oct 13, 2011)

on reflection I don't think I did very well at the whole job finding thing - did one year of admin temping, went back for an MA, another year of admin temping, 3 years as a TEFL teacher, and now I'm self-funding a PhD in the hope that when I finish I can be a history lecturer...


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## _angel_ (Oct 13, 2011)

I've never had a "graduate job" just to cheer you up. I did volunteer at a local listings guide after college which eventually turned into a job. The guy who ran it said he didn't believe in qualifications (fair enough for something like that). It was probably easier to volunteer while signing on in the 90s than it is now.


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## wayward bob (Oct 13, 2011)

stuff_it said:


> If he likes space, maths and physics but doesn't want a dull job then engineering would be a better option.



computing would also be a good option. mr b's degree was astrophysics.


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## dessiato (Oct 13, 2011)

When I graduated the second time I was walking down the street and someone I know asked me if I wanted a job. They then phoned their employer who offered me a job.


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## wayward bob (Oct 13, 2011)

wayward bob said:


> computing would also be a good option. mr b's degree was astrophysics.



actually this brings me to wonder how important it is these days to do a "relevant" degree to the career area you want to enter. both me and mr b went to uni in the days of grants, when you could afford to choose a subject because it interested you, rather than necessarily with an eye to future career prospects. as demonstrated above this didn't really work out for me, although the area i eventually moved into - museum/gallery work - was tangentially related to my archaeology degree. but it did for mr b, as his degree developed his interests/skills, although he's entirely self-taught in computing. i don't think a computing degree would have got him where he is now, partly because at the time he was at uni computing courses really concentrated on learning useless languages, whereas he was free to choose what to learn and when. it was his natural ability to continually update his skills and to predict the "next big thing" that have really got him where he is today, which he wouldn't have developed had he been forced to do pointless things by lecturers whose skills are already outdated.


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## stuff_it (Oct 13, 2011)

dessiato said:


> When I graduated the second time I was walking down the street and someone I know asked me if I wanted a job. They then phoned their employer who offered me a job.


We don't all want to work as escorts/models though.


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## dessiato (Oct 13, 2011)

stuff_it said:


> We don't all want to work as escorts/models though.


You remember me from my pic on the naked thread!?


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## stuff_it (Oct 13, 2011)

dessiato said:


> You remember me from my pic on the naked thread!?


I don't look at the nekkid thread, I have a hot young toyboy.


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## dessiato (Oct 13, 2011)

stuff_it said:


> I don't look at the nekkid thread, I have a hot young toyboy.


Perhaps you are missing something, have you considered the possibility that I might be a hot young toyboy?


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## stuff_it (Oct 13, 2011)

dessiato said:


> Perhaps you are missing something, have you considered the possibility that I might be a hot young toyboy?


Link to pic or stfu.


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## love detective (Oct 13, 2011)

nice default assumption in the OP that everyone goes to university

I got my job on the milkround/delivering gas, after leaving school, through contacts in the old boy network that I worked throughout my school years


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## dessiato (Oct 13, 2011)

stuff_it said:


> Link to pic or stfu.


It's gone now, too late! You'll have to dream!


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## wayward bob (Oct 13, 2011)

love detective said:


> nice default assumption in the OP that everyone goes to university



not really, it's obvious from the thread title that it's specifically aimed at graduates


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## spacemonkey (Oct 13, 2011)

love detective said:


> nice default assumption in the OP that everyone goes to university
> 
> I got my job on the milkround/delivering gas, after leaving school, through contacts in the old boy network that I worked throughout my school years



 he clearly wants to hear the opinion of graduates, as it's most relevant to his/her current position. Why does every thread have to be inclusive of everyone?

Anyway, in answer to the OP. I graduted, couldn't find work in my chosen field. Got a temp job for a government agency. This gave me 'office skills' (I learned how to waste time on the internet). Worked that job (plus 4 nights in a pub) to save for an MSc. Graduated MSc and got a job doing 'office work' but this time for a company in the field related to my MSc. Worked for a year kissing ass and got promoted to a technical job.


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## Lea (Oct 13, 2011)

I sent the same letter to over a hundred companies to get a solicitor's training contract. Got back all rejections. Sent some letters to a few local companies for work experience before I graduated. One firm came back to me and I got to do 2 weeks work experience. At the end of the 2 weeks I asked if they were looking for trainees and I was offered a position.


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## weltweit (Oct 13, 2011)

Lea said:


> I sent the same letter to over a hundred companies to get a solicitor's training contract. Got back all rejections. Sent some letters to a few local companies for work experience before I graduated. One firm came back to me and I got to do 2 weeks work experience. At the end of the 2 weeks I asked if they were looking for trainees and I was offered a position.



Before this last house move I had all my letters of rejection from back when I first started job hunting. The plan was to wallpaper the smallest room in the house with them as a reminder never to accept no as an answer.

For some reason they went missing in the move, much to my dissapointment because I really would have wallpapered the toilet or my office with them!!


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## smmudge (Oct 13, 2011)

wayward bob said:


> actually this brings me to wonder how important it is these days to do a "relevant" degree to the career area you want to enter.



I don't think I know anyone who is doing something relevant to their degree (apart from my mum who did maths and is a maths teacher, but I'm not sure you actually need a maths degree to be a maths teacher anyway?), which is why I just did what I wanted to. Obviously there are a few careers where you need a relevant degree but most of the time on the job experience is what wins out.


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## smmudge (Oct 13, 2011)

love detective said:


> nice default assumption in the OP that everyone goes to university
> 
> I got my job on the milkround/delivering gas, after leaving school, through contacts in the old boy network that I worked throughout my school years



Yeah I assumed that people who could answer the thread title went to university. Funny that  You can join in though I don't mind.


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## _angel_ (Oct 13, 2011)

smmudge said:


> I don't think I know anyone who is doing something relevant to their degree (apart from my mum who did maths and is a maths teacher, but I'm not sure you actually need a maths degree to be a maths teacher anyway?), which is why I just did what I wanted to. Obviously there are a few careers where you need a relevant degree but most of the time on the job experience is what wins out.


I think you probably do now, to be a teacher, both my parents are Maths teachers and didn't do degrees, in those ye olde days, it was a teaching qualification, not a degree. Altho they both went back and did OU degrees in Maths years later.


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## jakethesnake (Oct 13, 2011)

I graduated as a mature student in a humanaties subject from a good university and spent the next ten years doing various flavours of unskilled/semi-skilled labouring, which was what I was doing before I went. It wasn't untill I started volunteering that I was able to get into something more suited to my actual interests and qualifications. Volunteering gives you the relevant experience and, more importantly, contacts. I would consider volunteering as a first step (good for yer karma too).


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## strung out (Oct 13, 2011)

N1 Buoy said:


> I've probably asked before, but what in?


i think i said in my other thread about doing a masters, but hopefully (assuming i get accepted etc), Information and Library Management.


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## weltweit (Oct 13, 2011)

It seems then that I am one of the few then that actually got a job related to my degree subject.
I did a joint degree in business and engineering and I got my first job in marketing for an electronics company.


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## baldrick (Oct 13, 2011)

i didn't graduate, did various and sundry temp jobs for about 18 months while doing bar work at weekends.  Eventually found a temp job i liked and where people liked me.  This seems to be a common theme!


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## Kidda (Oct 13, 2011)

I was lucky, though i didn't see it at the time, in that i had a part time job all through uni. They offered me a full time contract and a decent wage packet to stay on full time and as there was a recession hitting and no jobs in youth work i took it. Ended up being promoted to the management team but getting really down about not being in a job i loved. Thankfully i had a new manager who turned out to be a complete bitch so i went off on the sick and then decided to up sticks and move city. That led to a job in my sector which helped me gain great experience and helped me land the job i have now. If that bitch hadnt of taken her job i could still well be working in the retail buisness sector crying in to my gin everynight.

One thing i would say is apply apply apply, then gain as many new skills as you can. Don't give up and ride the shite times and the rejections out.


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## Xanadu (Oct 15, 2011)

The Octagon said:


> Local job centres, roughly about 30-40 jobs applied for, several distastrous interviews, then got lucky.


You shagged the interviewer???


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## moonsi til (Oct 15, 2011)

I have a joint professional reg/degree which is specific to what I do. I think the early part of my career was luck in finding good people to mentor me and model from. This happened from my second job...I left my first one after 3 months which turned out to be one of the best decisons I have ever made.

My problem now is keeping myself employable and looking to the future. In reality this means completing a masters which in theory I would do but I have been to Uni p/t whilst working f/t before and I found my passion for talking about the subject was not matched by my reading or writing essays.


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## equationgirl (Oct 15, 2011)

stuff_it said:


> Is 12 too young to break it to them that this is extremely unlikely?
> 
> Engineering is well paid though, and there is scope to work on spaceman stuff, and apply physics. The theoretical physicists I know say that actual day to day work is dull as shit in the main, and even if they discovered anything interesting the chances f their name going on it rather than their bosses is so small that with some tinkering it could almost be a source of zero point energy.



Um, it's not that well-paid to be honest. But then I'm pretty biased at the moment because the company I work for seems to be underpaying significantly. But it is varied work, and interesting, and gives you chance to be creative.


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## Mapped (Oct 15, 2011)

strung out said:


> i think i said in my other thread about doing a masters, but hopefully (assuming i get accepted etc), Information and Library Management.



Yeah sorry, we've chatted already 

I'm new to posting regularly and still trying to get used to people's usernames. I'm shit at remembering people's names IRL as well.


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## stuff_it (Oct 16, 2011)

equationgirl said:


> Um, it's not that well-paid to be honest. But then I'm pretty biased at the moment because the company I work for seems to be underpaying significantly. But it is varied work, and interesting, and gives you chance to be creative.


You probably have a very different idea of what 'well paid' means compared to me then. Sadly lots of places are massively underpaying all their employees atm, but that's just the economy.


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## Cloo (Oct 16, 2011)

I had a to get a post-grad qualification and then straight off that got a job for about 5k a year less than a graduate's supposed to earn. Woo-hoo! The joys of publishing.

But then, the 'typical graduate earnings' thing is a fairly bollocks concept in the first place.


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## EastEnder (Oct 17, 2011)

I got a 2:1 in computer science, applied for 3 trainee programmer jobs, got offered all of them and accepted one in Oxford (it was either there or Redditch...). But then that was back in the mid 90's, when only proper hardcore genuine nerds did computing - long before everyone and his dog jumped on the I.T. bandwagon. It was also before the era of the dubious governmental policy of trying to get as many school leavers as possible to do degrees, thereby inevitably diminishing the value of having a degree (a policy which of course has absolutely nothing to do with students not counting in the unemployment figures...).

My advice would be to go on something like a BUNAC scheme, spend a year in Oz, NZ or Canada, doing something fun for a while, then come back when the economy's not so utterly shite.


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## smmudge (Oct 17, 2011)

EastEnder said:


> My advice would be to go on something like a BUNAC scheme, spend a year in Oz, NZ or Canada, doing something fun for a while, then come back when the economy's not so utterly shite.



It's funny, when I started uni the economy was shite. I thought, oh it's ok, I'm sure it will have picked up in 3 years time. Lo and behold it's still shite!


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## Monkeygrinder's Organ (Oct 17, 2011)

I drifted into a load of temp jobs which at the time were easy to pick up and didn't interfere with going out and getting wasted at the weekends. God knows what I'd have done if the situation was like it is now.


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## kabbes (Oct 18, 2011)

I don't think the economy is going to be miraculously curerd in 2 or 3 years.  Not with the Tories ideologically throttling spending.


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## Ms T (Oct 18, 2011)

I applied for a job in the Guardian, which I got.  Worked there for a year (Literary Agency) on shit money and hated it - I was basically a secretary with a good degree, answering the phone and doing audio typing.  I then applied for another job in the Guardian, which was in publishing.  Got that and did it for a few years before retraining as a broadcast journalist.  Since then, I've worked at the BBC.  My current job was also advertised in the Media Guardian!

This was years ago though - very different now.  For a start, it's almost impossible to get a job at the BBC as an outsider as they're continually cutting staff.  I must say though that most of my immediate colleagues are lovely.


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## smmudge (Oct 18, 2011)

I did mean to go to the careers fair but there wasn't anything exciting yesterday....but they've got them all today: Nestle, proctor and gamble, sky, tesco, various oil campanies, cummins ltd who apparently require candidates who "must relish change and commit to our vision of making people’s lives better by unleashing the power of Cummins." uh huh ok


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## weltweit (Oct 18, 2011)

smmudge said:


> I did mean to go to the careers fair but there wasn't anything exciting yesterday....but they've got them all today: Nestle, proctor and gamble, sky, tesco, various oil campanies, cummins ltd who apparently require candidates who "must relish change and commit to our vision of making people’s lives better by unleashing the power of Cummins." uh huh ok



Wonder what silly wonk thought that up


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