ITV prog tonight on pensions and benefits

gadgetmind

missbiggles1 wrote: »

if you're recruiting for the Civil Service graduate programme or for the retail sector

I'd want someone with proven knowledge/ability of project management, team organisation, mathematical modelling, statistical analysis, reporting, spreadsheets, and many other things not touched upon in many degrees.

Unless by "retail sector" you mean stacking shelves, in which case I'd accept any degree or even no degree.

bigadaj

missbiggles1 wrote: »

You're looking at it too narrowly and only relating it to your field - obviously if you're recruiting for engineering you want an engineering degree and numeracy's vital. However, if you're recruiting for the Civil Service graduate programme or for the retail sector you won't be looking for a body of knowlege but for transferable skills along the lines I described.

The main problem is that most of these aren't really graduate jobs.

Employers use degrees as crude filtering systems due to the number of applicants, particularly ay junior levels, the fact that you've spent three years studying sociology, sports science, oe even history, English, geography etc doesn't mean you can manage a shop, control staff, deal with customers, or often even manage their own time, organise themselves or deal with structures

To be fair who really knew what they wanted to do when they were 18, I just went for what I thought was interesting and fairly good at combined with a fair possibility of employment and ideally options in terms of a career.

One of the problems with the U.K. Economy has been that people study vocational degrees and then use these as passports to more lucrative careers in the financial sector, accountancy etc you can't prescribe what people do but it does question the worth in training people specifically for thsi skills not to be used, and is one of the reasons that we can't compete with the us, Germany and others in terms of engineers, tech and others sectors.

gadgetmind

bigadaj wrote: »

To be fair who really knew what they wanted to do when they were 18,

I knew roughly from age 4, worked on key skills up to age 14/15 when I started to specialise a bit more. I then knew exactly which degree I needed, and started my first company during my final year.

xylophone

I knew roughly from age 4, worked on key skills up to age 14/15 when I started to specialise a bit more. I then knew exactly which degree I needed, and started my first company during my final year.

Not a member of Hugh Laurie's family I surmise.....::)

http://parade.com/49871/jeannewolf/hugh-laurie-2/

Triumph13

bigadaj wrote: »

Your statement sounds like an advert from the recruitment poster from south Bedfordshire arts and crafts university, don't worry about the details, just bung us £9k for three years and when you come out with £40k of debt don't blame us when you can't find a proper job!

I feel the need to weigh in in support of MissBiggles as she's looking a bit outnumbered here!
Whilst there are indeed many jobs with a high knowledge requirement (I'd certainly prefer my GP to have studied medicine rather than classics), there are also large numbers of jobs where the requirements are more around skills than knowledge and three years spent in an intellectually rigorous university environment are a great way to acquire those skills, irrespective of the subject studied. Many of those skills aren't even acquired through your formal studies, but by learning to hold your own in an argument in the bar with other bright people from a wide range of backgrounds, all of whom are using the skills they have been acquiring around analysing an issue, developing a position based on that analysis, putting forward a cogent argument, etc.
There is nothing innately 'inferior' with any subject, be it sociology, sports science or even the dreaded 'media studies' as long as it is taught with sufficient intellectual rigour and high enough expectations. The problem lies in institutions that just spoon-feed less-able students without demanding they acquire the skills needed to think on their feet. These are the ones who end up with the worthless piece of paper and having wasted three years of their lives.
We are left with a position where increasing numbers of employers have no faith whatsoever in ANY degree that isn't from one of the well known 'elite' universities and students from high quality, but less famous institutions struggle as they get dragged down in employers' perceptions to the equivalent of your South Bedfordshire Arts & Crafts.

atush

westv wrote: »

All this "uni" talk is going right over my head

I left school when university was aspiration not expectation.

It is an aspiration, at least for me as I went in the USA (and had to pay a whole lot for it).

I personally expected my 3 boys to, as both their father and I did. But if they hadnt had the skills, or had other opinions, they would have been entertained.

gadgetmind

xylophone wrote: »

Not a member of Hugh Laurie's family I surmise

That was a trifle TLDR and a 15 second skim didn't produce anything that leaped out.

David.s_2

skcollobcat10 wrote: »

I remember mortgage interest rate being 16% to 17% in 1979 I don't think it ever went to 25%.

I remember that too but inflation went over 25% for a short time, maybe a couple of months at the most.

David.s_2

Earning capacity is all about determination to succeed in business and make money. A degree in any discipline is not a passport to a cushy life. Quite the reverse, the more it is academic the less your earning prospects. That's my experience with a BSc in Electronics at age 71.