MONEY MORAL DILEMMA. Should Lofty hold out for his dream job?

penniek

I think Lofty should take a job to support himself whilst he is job-seeking; he can do his job-hunting outside working hours.

glitterjunkie

I am Lofty too! :rotfl:

I graduated in July 2008 with a law degree, and am currently working 2 jobs (sales assistant in a department store, and barmaid in a pub!), oh and also doing voluntary work with Citizens Advice Bureau. I would say Lofty really has no choice - if you sit around waiting for your dream job to turn up, you will be waiting a very long time! Presumably he has bills to pay like the rest of us, so he will just have to get over it and take the supermarket job - it's better than nothing. Bills will not pay themselves!

Having said that, it is difficult for graduates at the moment I think. Since I took on my department store job, I've had to give up the unpaid work experience I was doing with a law firm, as I don't have a day off to do it. It's a real catch-22 situation...to get a law training contract it often is about who you know, and making contacts, so you need to do as much work experience as possible. BUT working at an unrelated job e.g. in a shop makes it impossible to get this work experience... which I am worried might seriously harm my chances of a future job. If I was on the dole, I'd be able to continue with it and hopefully in the longer term it might improve my prospects...whereas working 2 jobs like I am now might be giving me money in the short term, but is not doing much for my future career!

I don't know what the answer is Shame we don't all have rich parents to support us...but anyway, my gut feeling is still that Lofty should get a job and not expect the taxpayer to support him. If he only works in the evenings he'll be in a better position than me, as he will have time to do work experience which is relevant to his degree in the daytimes!

yeldarb wrote: »

We've got to stop telling people this "go get a degree and you'll get a good job" nonsense. It's not a golden ticket. A degree helps you get a job but does not mean you'll get a good or dream job, or even a job.

Graduates go to university thinking they'll walk out into a job paying £25,000+ a year. This is just not the reality for the vast majority of graduates.

We are setting the wrong expectations. Graduates need to get on at the bottom of the ladder and work their way up.

Get over your inflated ego, swallow your pride and take the supermarket job.

Totally agree with this too. I have to admit I walked out of uni thinking I'd get a job straightaway, just because of the piece of paper I had. This past year has been a huge wake-up call for me, believe me!

mick59

barnaby-bear wrote: »

There are only 6 levels of management at Tescos from the lowest rank to the top (As opposed to 42 in the NHS :rolleyes:). Major supermarket chains are huge, slick, professional organisations with a wealth of opportunities and training programmes. OK it's starting at a level lower than he wanted but surely that's higher than the dole. Supermarkets aren't noddy organisations and would we be debating an entry position at a blue chip firm like IBM/Nortel in the same way? If it was a junior IT post rather than a grad. entry programme would there be the snobbery? Tescos just posted record profits in a difficult economic climate - you can have a fancy title in plenty of tin-pot soon-to-the-wall companies. Working on the shop floor can give great insight and besides NMW is better than the dole and if you don't like it apply for other jobs - it really isn't that hard to fit in around a job - millions of others manage to move from one job to another.

Well said:T:T:T

chriswatts

yeldarb wrote: »

We've got to stop telling people this "go get a degree and you'll get a good job" nonsense. It's not a golden ticket. A degree helps you get a job but does not mean you'll get a good or dream job, or even a job.

The problem is that with the constant dumbing down of qualifications and nearly everybody going to university, the degree has become equivalent of what A-levels was, A-levels has become equivalent to old GCSE's and GCSE's aren't worth the paper their printed on. Now a days the Masters degree has taken the place of the BA/BSc etc.

Petronella

I agree with most of what has already been said - take the shelf-stacking job but keep looking for something "better". My son had a friend who did just that, and has since done very well (in Media Production, where jobs are quite scarce).

danny82_2

If there's work to be done you should do it- like someone else has said, you can look for your dream job in your lunch hour, spare time etc. I gor four 'A's at A level, a 2:1 from a decent uni, and a high-merit MA, and went on to shelf-stack for three months. I believe these jobs only require a week's notice to leave so it won't stop him going on to do what he wants. Sadly I know this not because I found my dream job but because that's all the notice Tesco gave me before laying me off at Christmas time - and I hadn't been hired as a seasonal worker. Working is always better than not, no matter how 'demeaning' it is.

Cazzoh

Yes he should - it would show prospective employers he has a work ethic and is not afraid of hard work or getting his hands dirty!

LameWolf

He should take the supermarket job, in order to have some money coming in, and also spend at least an hour a day, preferably more, on the internet proactively looking for the type of job he wants.

springheeledjack

He should go shelf stacking until the good work rolls in, that way he is in the working loop when he applies, who would you rather employ, someone sitting at home for months waiting for a paultry hand out to arrive, or someone who has filled the time supporting himself?

wishface

jaydub83 wrote: »

Lofty should absolutely take the job. Yes he's studied for a few years but that doesn't mean that the state or the public owe him his dream career.

Actually it does, though not necessarily because of being at university. If society wants people to pay into it then it very much owes them something.

Certainly there are plenty of pointless university courses and plenty of poorly run universities offering bad advice and unrealistic prospects. They are no less exploitative than these godawful state-funded jobcentre providers (like working links and the new deal) and they should be stopped. But if someone is studying for something that isn't clearly a mickey mouse degree in david beckham studies then absolutely they should be helped.

I really dn't understand why people in society have become so bitter and twisted that they actually resent people apsiring to better themselves. Are people so envious they begrudge a few quid in benefits to someone who might go on to pay that back through getting a better job than some meaningless casual minimum wage rubbish that won't lead anywhere.