Riding out the recession - travelling or a masters?

mark1234567890

Hi everyone,

I am in a situation that I am sure will be familiar to many other people on here.:rolleyes:

I will be graduating this year and need to think about what I am going to do next.

In the current economic climate I think that it will be very difficult to get a graduate job. I am still trying but think that it will be highly unlikely.

I am fortunate enough to have saved up a bit of my student loan to have a small pot of money (about £700).

I now have 2 choices for using this cash:

A 1 year working holiday in Australia. I spent 4 months in the USA last summer doing the same thing and loved it!

Or a 1 year masters degree to further my education. (In a related field to my undergrad)

Obviously my £700 wont cover all of the costs for the 2 situations. However when I finish my studies in May I hope to work full time in a non-job to save up some more cash. I will also get a career development loan for the masters.

Then hopefully at the end of the year the recession will be over and I will be able to enter the job market.

Is anyone else considering something similar? What are you doing?

What do others think to this plan?

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks

Mark

:money:

strous

Hi Mark,

I'm in a similar situation to you. even though i am a year behind you i still think the recession will be going strong by the time i finish so am thinking about a msters or travelling as well.

to be honest it really depends what you feel like doing once you come to the end of your course in the summer. I can imagine I am probably going to go down the travelling and working at the same time route (may also do australia!) because i think i would rather do this when I'm young and then maybe do my masters when i get back. hopefully i will have a bit more motivation for it by then anyway.

just be careful whatever you do to keep focused on some sort of career goal and dont settle for a job that is going to get you nowhere once you do enter the world of work - in my opinion i would rather travel on a shoestring for the rest of my life than do that!

CLAPTON

Just a view... I doubt the recession will be over in a year
why not do both ...

mark1234567890

strous wrote: »

Hi Mark,

I'm in a similar situation to you. even though i am a year behind you i still think the recession will be going strong by the time i finish so am thinking about a msters or travelling as well.

to be honest it really depends what you feel like doing once you come to the end of your course in the summer. I can imagine I am probably going to go down the travelling and working at the same time route (may also do australia!) because i think i would rather do this when I'm young and then maybe do my masters when i get back. hopefully i will have a bit more motivation for it by then anyway.

just be careful whatever you do to keep focused on some sort of career goal and dont settle for a job that is going to get you nowhere once you do enter the world of work - in my opinion i would rather travel on a shoestring for the rest of my life than do that!

Thanks for your reply.

I had hoped that others were in the same situation as me.

I here what you are saying about not getting stuck in a non job.

mark1234567890

CLAPTON wrote: »

Just a view... I doubt the recession will be over in a year
why not do both ...

I would love to but time and money constraints will prevent it.

strous

yeah its a tough one if there arent many jobs around.

if you do find the recession isnt calming down try to incorporate some sort of work placement with a reputable company as part of you masters. Even if they don't offer you a job, the experience is something that can only do good things for you and your CV.

If you're not in too much of a hurry to get on the career ladder I'd do both like clapton said

olly300

mark1234567890 wrote: »

I would love to but time and money constraints will prevent it.

You have not said what your degree is in. As it may not be worth doing the masters, or you could get funding for it.

mark1234567890

olly300 wrote: »

You have not said what your degree is in. As it may not be worth doing the masters, or you could get funding for it.

I am doing a degree in Business Technology. I would not be able to get funding for a masters.

Therefore I need to save up or get a career development loan. This is the reason that I can't do the travelling and the masters.

[Deleted User]

I am a Sociology finalist dreading the impending rush for graduate jobs.

Therefore I've made the bold decision to do a part time Masters in Event Management and take any old office job on the side to fund it. I'm also doing loads of voluntary PR work at the moment in the hope it will bolster my experience later on.

My OH earns money (but not a huge amount) so this might work out ok hopefully.

mark1234567890

jivequeen_emma wrote: »

I am a Sociology finalist dreading the impending rush for graduate jobs.

Therefore I've made the bold decision to do a part time Masters in Event Management and take any old office job on the side to fund it. I'm also doing loads of voluntary PR work at the moment in the hope it will bolster my experience later on.

My OH earns money (but not a huge amount) so this might work out ok hopefully.

That is always a route I could follow. I need to find out if there are any part time masters courses that take my interest.

Thanks for your reply.

[Deleted User]

There are plenty about, even ones that you can do online and at a distance so you could still do paid work without commiting to any campus time. Depending on the course it would take at least 2 years to complete this way.

Personally I prefer campus time, but I know some people don't have time for it.

There is also OU - which is also a convenient option for those wishing to work, always hearing good reports about them.

My OH has a job as an engineering assistant and his company sponsor him to do a day release BEng/MEng in Civil Engineering one day a week in return for company loyalty. Its hard work but he's expected to get a promotion at the end of it providing his company don't make any more redundancies.
These sort of jobs are very opportunistic and you really have to look and probe to see what the company could offer you.

Good luck with your decision, its been very hard work to come to the one I made....