[Merged] Graduates Recession Discussion

TomD101

banshee_bones wrote: »

Graduated in October. Unemployed. No graduate schemes realting to my field. Have had a few interviews but all pertaining to my previous experience in part time jobs,nothing to do with my degree.

I also spent some time working abroad but cost of living and my lack of hours in my job meant that i had to come home earlier than planned.

Currently applying for MA's so fingers crossed.


My advice

further education or immigration

Emigration

Suaimhneach

Tom, warning given. Do not post un-useful and off topic posts, please.

Sarah, definitley do consider further education if its feasible for you, or broaden your search.

sarahc1981

thx a mil jes....yeah defo gonna look into other options....no more negative thinking!!!;)

SeaFields

Reading this thread is depressing lads!

I'm just finishing a research masters after doing a BA and an MA. What a time to be looking for a job after 8 years of university! After receiving yet another PFO letter yesterday for a job that I had every qualification and even the experience for I certainly think things are looking bleak. If it wasn't for personal commitments at home I'd be emigrating.

As graduates I think we had better hope there is some sort of stimulus package in next weeks budget to hire graduates or some sort of work experience program introduced. It certainly represents a serious oversight on behalf of the government otherwise - investing a lot of money in the education of the country's young people only to have them move on and another country benefiting from their education.

Lastly, any graduate out there who has managed to get a job - related job please feel free to post here to give the rest of us some assurance!

spideog7

I only wish I could emigrate, if only for a few months for work experience. Unfortunately if it's hard to get a job here where I'm a citizen in this horrendous time of recession it's twice as hard to get a job anywhere else in the world.

That's what it looks like to me anyway. I hear talk of engineering shortages in certain countries but they still won't offer you any job until you are legally entitled to work there, not as a graduate anyway. Even if you're legally entitled to work there (Europe) I still have a feeling they prefer to hire their own graduates over anyone else, which is reasonable I guess

SeaFields

I heard great things about all the great prospects I had when doing my postgrad studies. That was probably based on me handing over fees to ucc when i registered. I saw on prime time last night some fella who had years of experience in a business management role and wasn't even getting offered interviews for jobs he applied for. How I am going to get work is beyond me. At least I have a part time job I suppose which Ive had since i started as an undergrad. Stacking shelves with a masters degree - welcome to the new Ireland.:mad:

rainbow kirby

noodler wrote: »

When was the deadline? Friend of mine did it and loved it.

Deadline was 5 December '08. I should be hearing within the next week or so whether I got it or not... *crosses fingers*

Suaimhneach

Well I got a job in a relevant field (kinda) but that was in June 08, right before things got really bad... so I think it was more a combination of good timing and right oppertunity.

There isnt a lot out there, it has to be said. And tbh, I doubt the government have Graduates on their mind, tbh. Unless they're looking to the UK, but they've a much higher percentage of students/gradautes I think.

In terms of emigrating. It's hard to know if thats the right choice. It is a GLOBAL recession, but their might be better oppertunities for certain industries. Its hard to know.

DJDC

I only wish I could emigrate, if only for a few months for work experience. Unfortunately if it's hard to get a job here where I'm a citizen in this horrendous time of recession it's twice as hard to get a job anywhere else in the world.

Wrong. There is options but its going take a lot of hard work, courage and ability to take rejection. But if you wait around your ass for the economy to recover you might start developing a nasty gap on your CV. The exact same thing happened in the 1980's when the most ambitious young Irish people went abroad and ended up making tonnes of money in the UK, US, Asia and Europe.

Its your life, dont waste it living at home with your parents staring at non-existent vacancies on jobs.ie all day.

SeaFields

DJDC wrote: »

Its your life, dont waste it living at home with your parents staring at non-existent vacancies on jobs.ie all day.

Emigration isn't an option for all. In the 80's it wasn't a global recession so there were opportunities to be had elsewhere if you had the means and were in a position to move. This time around the recession is hitting all areas of the globe unless perhaps you can speak mandarin. Personally I am not in a position to move abroad. If I was, I would be gone - just like a fair few of my buddies have done.

God loves a trier i hear so will just keep ploughing away!

doledude86

ah this graduate business is a sooo annoying...on the conveyer blt to nowhere

teednab-el

DJDC wrote: »

Wrong. There is options but its going take a lot of hard work, courage and ability to take rejection. But if you wait around your ass for the economy to recover you might start developing a nasty gap on your CV. The exact same thing happened in the 1980's when the most ambitious young Irish people went abroad and ended up making tonnes of money in the UK, US, Asia and Europe.

Its your life, dont waste it living at home with your parents staring at non-existent vacancies on jobs.ie all day.

:rolleyes:

What about taking rejection and receiving PFO letters from companies home and abroad for 5 months? Do you call that courage and hard work? Im even doing evening courses in an effort to make me employable in other lines of work. Im sure im not the only one. Also Im certainly not going abroad without a job lined up in these hard times. The risk of me travelling to find a decent job and not achieving that goal is far too great for me.

purplestar

teednab-el wrote: »

:rolleyes:

What about taking rejection and receiving PFO letters from companies home and abroad for 5 months? Do you call that courage and hard work? Im even doing evening courses in an effort to make me employable in other lines of work. Im sure im not the only one. Also Im certainly not going abroad without a job lined up in these hard times. The risk of me travelling to find a decent job and not achieving that goal is far too great for me.

Evenings courses are definitely the way to go if you have the funds, keep expanding on your skills even in areas completely diff to your degree!!:)I'm in the middle of doing a part time Tefl course(something completely different to my background!!) I graduated last may and I was one of the lucky ones who got into a graduate programme, however, I could easily be in the same situation as other graduates on here when my contract is up in september:(:(trying not to think about september yet but I'm putting money aside just in case the worst happens?!
Its crazy to think the difference a year or two makes for graduates in the workplace!!
Anyway, bit of a long winded post but hang in there everyone, keep improving the CV with whatever ya can, evening courses, volunteer work etc:):):)

MrMiyagi

purplestar wrote: »

Evenings courses are definitely the way to go if you have the funds, keep expanding on your skills even in areas completely diff to your degree!!:)I'm in the middle of doing a part time Tefl course(something completely different to my background!!) I graduated last may and I was one of the lucky ones who got into a graduate programme, however, I could easily be in the same situation as other graduates on here when my contract is up in september:(:(trying not to think about september yet but I'm putting money aside just in case the worst happens?!
Its crazy to think the difference a year or two makes for graduates in the workplace!!
Anyway, bit of a long winded post but hang in there everyone, keep improving the CV with whatever ya can, evening courses, volunteer work etc:):):)

Good point its good to diversify. The next live register is going to contain 70% graduates.

I think this is a good time to leave Ireland. Go abroad now and avoid the tax. Dublin is way too expensive anyway and it isnt much of a city.

Come back in a few years with better interpersonnal skills and international experience.

MrMiyagi

sarahc1981 wrote: »

i could go back to do fe1's!!! decisions decisions:rolleyes:

Dont do the FE1s they are a waste of time. There must be 20,000 people doing those every year in Ireland.

MrMiyagi

dbnavan wrote: »

have worked in support and computer educational roles

I was wondering if you could suggest any good online courses to keep my IT skills?


I have a degree in IT but I am going teaching english abroad for a year.

I have alot of VB and SQL experience but I would like to broaden my IT skills e.g. network management etc. My degree is in MIS.

Thank you

bobbbb

Speaking as a Software Development manager recruiting people for a project, who has been finding it hard to find experienced IT people for a project i can offer some opinion on the situation from my side.

Recessions always hit graduates hard. As people have pointed out here, they need experience for the job but have no way to get it. Its unfair, but thats what happens in recessions.

In good times companies will take grads and train them up in the hope of molding them with the skills required in that job. Some leave some stay after that. Its a numbers game. But during recessions the budget is just not there to take on the cost of training grads. Only experienced people are required then.

Taking on a graduate means they will be 2 or 3 years before they have learned the skills needed to be value for money (i know recent grads wont see it like that as they have no experience, but a few years in the business you will look back and see this. Anyone here who has been working a few years will back me up on that one). There is just nothing like experience.

Companies right now are just not willing to make that investment in grads. They need experienced people who can hit the ground running and know the businesses intricacies inside out. They need people with the experience to know what is the best way to work and complete their assignments.

When the recession is over, companies will start hiring grads again but until then its probably not a good outlook for a grad.

About degrees and masters.
There really is no difference for an employer in both of these. Its your experience in the business that counts. Dont bother with a masters in IT. It will not improve your chances of getting a job any more than your degree. You're just wasting your time.

Conversion courses into IT are another waste of time. Dont bother. You wont get into IT now with that. The amount of CVs coming in with them is unreal. They just get thrown out tbh.

The reason UL, DCU and UCD degrees in IT trump all other degrees is that we know the courses there and they are very good. We dont look at the contents of the courses in other educational establishments because there are too many. So even though we do take people with degrees from other places, usually if there are CVs with IT degrees from UL, DCU and UCD they will be invited to interview ahead of others. Its just not possible to keep current on all courses. I should clarify here that they trump them only when we are hiring grads. I doubt any company will be hiring grads again for a long time though. You might get the odd one where someone is need for a support job that noone else is willing to do.

Im sure its tough in other areas too, but all i can do is tell you how the position is for grads in IT at the moment. I hope this sheds some light on why grads are having a hard time at the moment.

RandomName2

bobbbb wrote: »

The reason UL, DCU and UCD degrees in IT trump all other degrees is that we know the courses there and they are very good.

Is Computer Science (in Arts) the main IT course offered in UCD?

rainbow kirby

RandomName2 wrote: »

Is Computer Science (in Arts) the main IT course offered in UCD?

UCD BSc CS > BA CS, but I'm biased :pac:

Shiny

bobbbb wrote: »

Speaking as a Software Development manager recruiting people for a project, who has been finding it hard to find experienced IT people for a project i can offer some opinion on the situation from my side.

<snip>

Im sure its tough in other areas too, but all i can do is tell you how the position is for grads in IT at the moment. I hope this sheds some light on why grads are having a hard time at the moment.

Thanks bobbbb, its great to get some insight from the other side of the
fence. (Although its a little bit depressing at the same time:()

kenyard

yeah its a good insight alright.. iv completes a chemistry degree and am seeing the same responses.. every company wants 2-3 years experience minimum...on the equipment they have even in some cases, which is a killer..

i was considering going into IT - mainly caus of computer interests.. programming,networking etc.. plus i had figured it wasnt getting hit as hard and there are so many (no offence to many out there) computer illiterate people out there who do need support on simple things, but it seems it is nowhere for grads either..

RealistSpy

kenyard wrote: »

yeah its a good insight alright.. iv completes a chemistry degree and am seeing the same responses.. every company wants 2-3 years experience minimum...on the equipment they have even in some cases, which is a killer..

i was considering going into IT - mainly caus of computer interests.. programming,networking etc.. plus i had figured it wasnt getting hit as hard and there are so many (no offence to many out there) computer illiterate people out there who do need support on simple things, but it seems it is nowhere for grads either..

Yeh this whole experience is needed thing is BS. I would you get experience if no one will give you a job because you have no experience.

RealistSpy

I hope the recession ends this year!

Suaimhneach

Maybe you guys should consider unpaid internships? You can do them on the dole (afaik!). You might get sick of it after a while, but experience seems to be the key and if thats what you gotta do to get ahead...

Cannibal Ox

Suaimhneach wrote:

Maybe you guys should consider unpaid internships? You can do them on the dole (afaik!).

I think it's a hazy area, you are technically supposed to be willing and available for work, and if you're doing an internship with a contract full time than obviously you're not going to be available for work, but if you're volunteering than technically you should be able to stop any time you want if a job's offered.

I've been doing unpaid volunteering/internships since I graduated last May, not getting paid does get to you after a while but it's been a good way of getting experience that I wouldn't have had a chance to get otherwise.

I probably would have had to do it anyway for the area I'd like to work in, but I've also met people from legal, business and IT backgrounds who are volunteering/interning abroad partly because they want to, but also because it's a good way to get very good experience in their field at a time when they haven't a chance of getting it at home.

Timmy_d

Cannibal Ox wrote: »

I think it's a hazy area, you are technically supposed to be willing and available for work, and if you're doing an internship with a contract full time than obviously you're not going to be available for work, but if you're volunteering than technically you should be able to stop any time you want if a job's offered.

I've been doing unpaid volunteering/internships since I graduated last May, not getting paid does get to you after a while but it's been a good way of getting experience that I wouldn't have had a chance to get otherwise.

I probably would have had to do it anyway for the area I'd like to work in, but I've also met people from legal, business and IT backgrounds who are volunteering/interning abroad partly because they want to, but also because it's a good way to get very good experience in their field at a time when they haven't a chance of getting it at home.

How do you go about geting into an unpaid internship and what companies hire for them? I would be very interested...especially abroad...

aidan_mc

Hi all

I need some advice.
I qualified with a 1 class Bsc(Honours) in Software Systems 2 years ago.
I got a job on the back of that working a developer but I got let go in June of this year.
I had an interview in June that made me realise that the tools and framework I learned during my two years were abolutely useless in any other environments. I feel so frustrated and wanted to go and do a masters and find I cannot get full time funding for it.
I'm 43 and cant help getting the feeling that this is going against me with companies.

A

Connery

Hi guys,

Just read the previous posts, the whole job thing is hard as hell and depressing.
But surely the jobs market hasn't totally disintegrated?


What Jobs are in demand now? i.e. what graduates are finding employment.....

thanks,

connery

RealistSpy

We should all work together (Computing Students) do something about this internship thing. We could all work together on a massive project.

Suaimhneach

Now is the best time to be innovative!