Is it getting harder for gradutes to get a job these days?

Question

As more an more people are getting degrees. I've certainly seen that even after working so hard to acheive a degree in a good subject you still have to do smaller jobs gaining experience spending around another 5 years of your life before getting a job in your dream career.

I'd be very grateful for your useful comments. Especially if you have recently graduated from subjects such as Economics or Criminology. If you have gained a degree in one of these subject can you please also let me know what you doing right now. Are you working in your dream career?

Answer 1

I've just graduated with a 2:1 in photography.

i used to work solidly everyday on work from six in the morning to midnight every night. In fact i went out about ten times in the whole time i was at uni.
I wanted to prove how committed i was, so i worked with scientists in London and took part in several major exhibitions, but since leaving uni I'm finding it impossible to get a job. There is know such thing as a graduate job any more.

My boyfriend left uni with a really good law degree and has had to take a minimum wage job, just to start saving for his next course. (It's called an LPC or Legal Practitioners Course and costs around £8,000 to do). you have to do this course to even start training as a solicitor. The course is a 40 a week which means you can't work and study. I can't see us been able to afford the course between us.

I think these days it is better to start in work and climb the corporate ladder, at least you don't get in to debt and you gain experience which is what all of the main companies are looking for.

Answer 2

I graduated 2 years ago with a Sociology degree.

I had done a lot of part time jobs while I was at uni- none of it was relevant to what I wanted as a career, it was all just bar work, promotions and call centre stuff but believe me, it helps.

I moved to London and temped for months- this is a good way to do it because you dont get stuck in a menial, but comfortable, job- I stayed motivated and went to every recruitment consultant I could, spend every night doing applications for hours, went to about 10 interviews before I got my job but it was exactly what I wanted.

It is difficult, but my advice to you is to live in a big city, where there is the most jobs in the field you're interested in, sign up with all the recruitment consultants you can, keep searching and apply for everything- and do NOT get disillusioned or give up.

I work in teleivison advertising, by the way- lots of my colleagues have economics degrees because it's a very numbers based role. Your degree will be useful for anything to do with data and statistics!

Answer 3

Yes, it is undoubtedly harder. And at the same time it is painfully obvious to prospective employers that the standards have plummeted, so it is hard to identify those of high calibre from those who are not, which in turn makes it all the harder for people like yourself. I am thinking, for example, of someone I have come across recently who has qualified as a lawyer through taking multiple choice examinations and who is incapable either of logical thought or of expressing herself on paper. She has, nevertheless, been given a job because of certain personal connections which make it difficult for her employers not to take her on.

I think that the only real option for graduates in the disciplines you mention is to acquire postgraduate qualifications in such subjects as business studies or law, which makes them stand out from the common herd as able to apply themselves as well as being of more practical use. Otherwise, if you can manage it, it can be a good idea to do an internship in order to prove your mettle and put up a really good performance so that they want to keep you on.

I wish you all the very best in your endeavours. In my experience that elusive thing, the dream career, has to be worked at every inch of the way. There are no real short cuts for most of us!

Answer 4

You are 100% on the money. Way to many people have degrees now in competitive fields. You must be creative and show a potential employer you can bring leadership and creative skills to a position. Your resume and how you have written it is very essential, as is your cover letter which is even more important than your resume. Have some volunteer work on your resume. But more importantly have a cover letter that sticks out and opens an eye!

Answer 5

A degree is only as good as the paper its printed on, just because you have a qualification doesn't mean you have the experience of putting it to use, you can't expect to walk out of university with a piece of paper and be in a high paid job the next day, companies have wised up these days and have seen that the ordinary man on the shop floor is far more qualified than the person with the piece of paper with degree written on.

Answer 6

Yes. Got my degree in Italian 4 years ago, still working part time as a book keeper. Have looked everywhere for a job which would use my degree, but the only thing I have found is customer service or telesales, and I can do that in my mother tongue, but don't want too!

Answer 7

It's getting harder for *anyone* to get a job these days. If you've got a degree, you're overqualified for what's going. If you're over 25, they don't want to know. If you're under that, you're too young and have no experience.
They say the ideal worker is fresh out of university, with 5 years experience in the workplace, and under 25; how does that work!

Answer 8

It is not unusual for graduates to have to work in menial jobs for a few years before progressing to their preferred position. Some graduates need to learn how to communicate and work with people, and maybe learn some humility before being given positions of responsiblity.

Employers are mainly interested in people they know can do the job, someone straight out of university cannot usually prove they can do the job better than someone who has been doing it for some years.

Answer 9

No, and in the next 4 to 5 years there is going to be a shortage of qualified workers, because of the baby boom.

Answer 10

Yes it is, especially if you got what I refer to as useless degrees, like B.A.'s in the liberal arts, and others which have no practical use in earning a living. The economy in the U.S. isn't as rosy as the government wants you to think. It is dog eat dog out there in the world. If your don't believe me, you will find that out for yourself soon enough. Good luck to you.