Getting a degree

[SonicShrimper]

Well as a creative writing graduate, I can tell you that nearly two years after graduating, and still being jobless after 17 months of jobhunting, it bloody feels pointless. Want to do it, but there's no jobs near me in the area, can't afford to move to where they are, and the jobs that I can find are boring as **** and completely unrelated to that piece of paper with two numbers and a bunch of words that cost ten grand that's never getting repaid.

(Yeah, probably not in the best mood to post in, but still...)

 

[Rob Noxious]

Well as a creative writing graduate, I can tell you that nearly two years after graduating, and still being jobless after 17 months of jobhunting, it bloody feels pointless. Want to do it, but there's no jobs near me in the area, can't afford to move to where they are, and the jobs that I can find are boring as **** and completely unrelated to that piece of paper with two numbers and a bunch of words that cost ten grand that's never getting repaid.

(Yeah, probably not in the best mood to post in, but still...)

First time I met my dear old mate Nick we had to do this "spend 5 minutes finding out about the other person" routine before introducing each other to the rest of the nurses' group we'd just joined up with. When he heard that I'd just done a Politics degree, he said "Oh, that's useful - a passport to a UB40". Quite enjoyed the privilege of that extra time in education even though I may never consciously use it. But different times now, of course, and I can't see that I'd have ever done it without having a full grant, let alone the loans that the young 'us get saddled with nowadays.

 

[EastStandBlue]

Well as a creative writing graduate, I can tell you that nearly two years after graduating, and still being jobless after 17 months of jobhunting, it bloody feels pointless. Want to do it, but there's no jobs near me in the area, can't afford to move to where they are, and the jobs that I can find are boring as **** and completely unrelated to that piece of paper with two numbers and a bunch of words that cost ten grand that's never getting repaid.

(Yeah, probably not in the best mood to post in, but still...)

Did you not maybe think about that before you pursued it, or at the very least be prepared to commute?

I commuted into London from Essex for the first two years as a journalist as entry-level pay is particularly bad, but that's the job and you have to be prepared for that. A degree should never be seen as the key to a career, merely the training behind it.

 

[SonicShrimper]

Bit hard to commute from Gloucestershire to London.

 

[Berrichonne shrimper]

Bit hard to commute from Gloucestershire to London.

As it is from Manchester or Sheffield but people do.

 

[EastStandBlue]

Bit hard to commute from Gloucestershire to London.

There are major publishers based in Oxford and Bath.

 

[Sandbach Shrimper]

Well as a creative writing graduate, I can tell you that nearly two years after graduating, and still being jobless after 17 months of jobhunting, it bloody feels pointless. Want to do it, but there's no jobs near me in the area, can't afford to move to where they are, and the jobs that I can find are boring as **** and completely unrelated to that piece of paper with two numbers and a bunch of words that cost ten grand that's never getting repaid.

(Yeah, probably not in the best mood to post in, but still...)

A lot of people end up doing jobs that are completely unrelated to their degree, as I said it's not always about what you study. I know someone who studied civil engineering at university who's now an accountant. If you're still unemployed after 17 months of jobhunting then maybe you need to lower your expectations a bit. A boring job is better than no job at all, and having such a long gap on your CV doesn't look great. The sort of jobs I'm guessing you're applying for (creative/media jobs) are extremely competitive.

 

[MK Shrimper]

A lot of people end up doing jobs that are completely unrelated to their degree, as I said it's not always about what you study. I know someone who studied civil engineering at university who's now an accountant. If you're still unemployed after 17 months of jobhunting then maybe you need to lower your expectations a bit. A boring job is better than no job at all, and having such a long gap on your CV doesn't look great. The sort of jobs I'm guessing you're applying for (creative/media jobs) are extremely competitive.

Agreed. I've worked with graduates with a history degree, English, Geography....now they analyse train movements. I suggest you take what you can and do the creative stuff in your free time - sadly sometimes life doesn't turn out the way you plan it at 18.

 

[SonicShrimper]

No, the jobs I want are completely unviable because I can't drive (hence why even Bath and Oxford are useless to me, I live in a backwater that's closer to Wales). The jobs I'm applying for are retail based usually. And even then they say no..

 

[OldBlueLady]

A lot of people end up doing jobs that are completely unrelated to their degree, as I said it's not always about what you study.

Which is why recently HMP Pentonville had a Governor with a degree in photography. Go figure. :facepalm:

 

[Firestorm]

No, the jobs I want are completely unviable because I can't drive (hence why even Bath and Oxford are useless to me, I live in a backwater that's closer to Wales). The jobs I'm applying for are retail based usually. And even then they say no..

Now Norman Tebbit would know what to do

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Which is why recently HMP Pentonville had a Governor with a degree in photography. Go figure. :facepalm:

A degree worth anything should teach an individual how to think for themselves, analyse and come up with solutions.

 

[SonicShrimper]

Now Norman Tebbit would know what to do

I'm 26 next month, so please don't be offended when I ask who the hell is that?

 

[Benfleet A1]

I'm 26 next month, so please don't be offended when I ask who the hell is that?

Famously suggested that the unemployed should 'Get on their bikes' to find work. Didn't make him the most popular of politicians at the time.

 

[RHB]

I'm 26 next month, so please don't be offended when I ask who the hell is that?

From Spitting Images

In real life

One of Margret Thatcher's henchmen in the Tory cabinet of that time.

From Wiki:
In the aftermath of the 1981 riots in Handsworth and Brixton, Tebbit responded to a suggestion by the Young Conservative National Chairman, Iain Picton that rioting was the natural reaction to unemployment:

I grew up in the '30s with an unemployed father. He didn't riot. He got on his bike and looked for work, and he kept looking till he found it.
​

As a result Tebbit is often misquoted as having directly told the unemployed to "get on your bike", and he was popularly referred to as 'Onyerbike' for some considerable time afterwards. [SUP][17][/SUP]

 

[SonicShrimper]

Oh good, I won't annoy anyone in the slightest when I tell him to **** off then. I volunteer at the BHF twice a week usually, I spend fifteen quid a cycle getting to places the jobcentre or my work programme tell me to go to or face being fined, and I average up at around five jobs a cycle applied for, of which two take me to interview, which means another ten or twenty quid goes up the wall on those, which, thanks to the unique (and useless) way they work, I can't get refunded, even when I have an interview in Swindon which was a thirty quid ticket I had to basically wrestle back, and I try to actually enjoy myself with what's left, which is apparently a crime worthy of immediate execution.

So yeah, sorry Mr Tory ******, but kindly GFY.

 

[Rusty Shackleford]

I'm 26 next month, so please don't be offended when I ask who the hell is that?

I'm 43, but I know that Lord Palmerston wasn't a wrestler.

 

[Tinks]

I have one and I have to say I would not be in the role that I am now without it however, not all my colleagues do have it and in some cases it has prevented them from obtaining promotion.
Both of my children went to Uni for degrees -one coming out well and needing it for the current post they have and one not needing it.
I suppose really it all depends on what employment path you want to take but education is not for everyone and some people don't actually need one. I feel some apprenticeships are actually better than formal,degrees.

 

[londonblue]

From Spitting Images View attachment 3457

In real life

One of Margret Thatcher's henchmen in the Tory cabinet of that time.

From Wiki:
In the aftermath of the 1981 riots in Handsworth and Brixton, Tebbit responded to a suggestion by the Young Conservative National Chairman, Iain Picton that rioting was the natural reaction to unemployment:

I grew up in the '30s with an unemployed father. He didn't riot. He got on his bike and looked for work, and he kept looking till he found it.
​

As a result Tebbit is often misquoted as having directly told the unemployed to "get on your bike", and he was popularly referred to as 'Onyerbike' for some considerable time afterwards. [SUP][17][/SUP]

He was also an airline pilot.

 

[Sandbach Shrimper]

I also think a lot of degree courses (mostly arty/media types) could easily be condensed into 2 years rather than 3. You hear about some students who have 3/4 teaching hours a week - what are they paying for (or should I say getting in debt for)? If you shortened the course to 2 years it would cost them, and the taxpayer less.