Good afternoon friends, its been a while.
After a
good six months out of the game, I've decided to come back to my blog.
I'm not entirely sure what caused me to stop in the first place, perhaps
a general summer malaise and a bad case of writer's block, but I
return. I would like to say triumphant, however that is unfortunately
not exactly the case. Not to say that Autumn 2012 through Winter 2013
has been an unmitigated disaster but the fact remains I'm still
searching for a graduate job.
To give you a brief
update of my circumstances and general activities these past months: I'm
still working at a nearby theme park for close to minimum wage; I've
recently started as an education volunteer at a local charitable
organisation and I also ventured to London for a rare interview in
December. I'll begin my return to the blogosphere by discussing the
latter, which turned out to be a particularly surreal experience.
It
was an interview for a role as a trainee researcher with a TV
production company. I'd applied for the job in March on a whim, without
having any experience in television or having shown any previous
inclination to work in the media. I'd long since given up on hearing
anything back when, out of the blue, I received an email informing me
I'd been shortlisted. It was in fact so much of a surprise that I had to
go back and double check precisely what I had been shortlisted for. But
without further ado, I accepted their offer of an interview and set
about preparing. I researched the company, their programmes and the role
of a TV researcher in general, and when it was time to journey to
London I felt thoroughly prepared.
I arrived on a cold,
crisp December morning and made my way to the production company's
trendy central London offices. Feeling a little awkward, apparently
being the only person in the building wearing a suit (probably should
have anticipated that), I introduced myself at reception and was given a
pop culture questionnaire and a newspaper exercise to complete prior to
the main event. Easy peasy - weekly attendance at my local pub quiz had
prepared me well and I knew all but one of the answers (knowledge of
the US X-Factor let me down!). The newspaper exercise required me to
select two items from the papers to form the basis of discussion on a
morning panel show; again, not too tough so I set about sourcing one
serious and one light-hearted story. So far, so good. Then came the
interview...
Feeling a little nervous, I made my best
attempt at striding confidently into the interview room, remembering to
maintain eye contact and give a firm handshake. I didn't trip over, so
this felt like an early success. The questions started innocuously
enough: 'Why did you apply? What can you bring to the role? What do you
know of the company?' Earlier prepared facts at the ready, I set about
responding and gave some fairly decent answers. Then things took a turn
for the worse: 'What do you like watching on TV? What's the first thing
you turn to when you put the tele on?' Now, it's safe to say that my
television viewing habits are fairly mundane: I like the news; I like
documentaries; I like panel shows and awkward comedy. Knowing full well
that said company produced almost solely light entertainment
programming, I felt I was in a pickle. I decided the truth was the best
option, hoping to steer discussion away from my viewing habits and back
to my skills and experience. This was wishful thinking. I was grilled
further: 'What do you watch on a Thursday night?' I was beginning to
feel a little sheepish as I foolishly revealed my love of Question Time.
By the time I was eventually released, I was flustered but felt sure
that they wouldn't base the decision solely on my TV viewing habits. I
always had my excellent pop culture quiz scores to fall back on!
As
it turns out, I didn't get the job - or at least I don't think I have.
They said I'd hear back by the end of the year; I'm still waiting. Then
again, seeing as it took them 6 months to respond to my application,
maybe I'll be in for a nice surprise come August. Frustrating as it is
not to hear back (particularly considering the hefty rail fare!), the
experience has clarified one thing for me: I really don't think I'm
suited to working in television. In turn, this has made me focus more
clearly on what I do want. Since New Year I've been focusing more on
applying solely for political research jobs.
This
brings me neatly on to my next subject - that of the political
internship, a topic on which I have previously poured scorn. I'm
beginning to think I might need to sell my soul...
More to come.
Showing posts with label Politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Politics. Show all posts
Tuesday, 12 February 2013
Sunday, 20 May 2012
A Fresh Perspective
It's time for the next instalment of acrimonious grumbling on the state of the graduate job market. I've decided to take a different approach with this week's post, responding to the excellent feedback provided by a former schoolmate of mine, Damien Jordan. He provides a useful and alternative approach to the nature of graduate employment. From within the comfortable bubble of university or facing the grim reality of repeated rejections, it is easy to lose sight of the issues facing employers in tough economic times. Below is Damien's response to 'Wasted Potential' (13th May 2012) verbatim:
"In a lot of ways I agree with what you're saying. I know that it is hard for many graduates to find positions within reputable companies and that investment in graduate development is minimal at best, but i do think think that graduates need to except a few things as well.
Luckily for me I never had a problem finding a job; admittedly i didn't work very hard at uni, didn't have any relevant experience and ended up getting a 2:2 in business from Durham University, which is basically worthless as no employer outside of the North East is really aware of Durham's reputation. But i managed to find a graduate role in Manchester selling commercial property within 1 month of me leaving. In my interview my employer stated that my university degree meant nothing and that they were more interested in the fact that I had managed to blag myself flights to Iceland on a charity jail break.
I think when it comes to graduate roles competition is greater than ever, you now have a pool of at least three years worth of graduates competing for a decreased amount of job roles in a dire economic climate. Graduates need to understand that businesses are looking at the bottom line and reinvestment is a big thing when many companies are struggling to cover their current overheads.
I also think many graduates set their hopes too high and need to be a bit more realistic in their aspirations, just because you get a 1st doesn't mean you will work in Canary Wharf.
Also when you say there are many talented graduates, what is this talent based on? I would describe talent as a proven ability; 95% of graduates have no proven ability in anything but studying which in the wider world is a pretty useless skill. I appreciate that it demonstrates a capacity to learn but given time anyone can learn anything especially with money as a motivator. Some of the most successful people in my office have a shocking academic background.
I feel that the role of university has now changed it shouldn't be looked at as a way to increase your average earnings by 15k a year. Instead, I feel university offers a place for people to study something they are interested in and develop as individuals in a social sense. The lessons I learnt at Uni have certainly helped me in my current job roles but none of these lessons were learnt in lectures.
Employers value skills such as the ability to sell, confidence, professionalism and drive. I don't feel university fosters any of these skills. I really think now that before someone goes to university they need to ask themselves what the realistic outcome is, unless you go to Cambridge or Oxford there are no guarantees regarding work. In most cases any role you get as a graduate could have been achieved through starting in work after GCSEs, 5 years of relevant experience will always trump 5 years of non-related education and that's just the way it is."
Damien raises some very good points. I am in complete agreement that graduates need to accept a few home truths in an undoubtedly torrid economic climate; the world certainly doesn't owe us a living. Moreover, I agree that university teaches us far more than what we learn in our lectures and seminars. In terms of personal development, I feel I am a completely different person to the spotty faced fresher that arrived at Sussex almost five years ago now (that makes me feel a little old...).
However, I do not think the role of university has necessarily changed. They have always been institutions that foster knowledge, learning and facilitate the pursuit of individual interests. What has changed is the attitudes of big business and the government to the role of higher education: there is a demand from certain sectors for universities to produce the finished corporate article. Employers seem to demand graduates with skills that university does not foster while failing to recognise attributes that it does; this article from May 2011 summarises the nature of the issue well. For example, the CBI has emphasised skills such as 'business and customer awareness' or 'the application of information technology', skills which my history degree has done little to foster. In contrast, 'communication', 'self-management' and 'problem solving' are intrinsic to the role of a good historian, yet are apparently lacking in today's cohort of graduates in the eyes of employers.
Moreover, I do believe a successful academic performance at university is indicative of more than simply the capacity to learn. It takes drive, dedication and professionalism to achieve the best results. Unfortunately, there is an overriding perception in popular culture of students as drunkards, layabouts and freeloaders. That's not to say I didn't spend a good amount of my student days drinking, sleeping and scrimping but I also worked hard. It's frustrating to hear these kind of accusations levelled at me in my local pub by middle aged alcoholics over their copies of the Daily Mail.
In short, I know that when I do manage to land a graduate job I'll be utilising skills I learnt at university, both socially and academically.
Once again, many thanks to Damien for his excellent response. I encourage you all to keep reading and keep commenting!
"In a lot of ways I agree with what you're saying. I know that it is hard for many graduates to find positions within reputable companies and that investment in graduate development is minimal at best, but i do think think that graduates need to except a few things as well.
Luckily for me I never had a problem finding a job; admittedly i didn't work very hard at uni, didn't have any relevant experience and ended up getting a 2:2 in business from Durham University, which is basically worthless as no employer outside of the North East is really aware of Durham's reputation. But i managed to find a graduate role in Manchester selling commercial property within 1 month of me leaving. In my interview my employer stated that my university degree meant nothing and that they were more interested in the fact that I had managed to blag myself flights to Iceland on a charity jail break.
I think when it comes to graduate roles competition is greater than ever, you now have a pool of at least three years worth of graduates competing for a decreased amount of job roles in a dire economic climate. Graduates need to understand that businesses are looking at the bottom line and reinvestment is a big thing when many companies are struggling to cover their current overheads.
I also think many graduates set their hopes too high and need to be a bit more realistic in their aspirations, just because you get a 1st doesn't mean you will work in Canary Wharf.
Also when you say there are many talented graduates, what is this talent based on? I would describe talent as a proven ability; 95% of graduates have no proven ability in anything but studying which in the wider world is a pretty useless skill. I appreciate that it demonstrates a capacity to learn but given time anyone can learn anything especially with money as a motivator. Some of the most successful people in my office have a shocking academic background.
I feel that the role of university has now changed it shouldn't be looked at as a way to increase your average earnings by 15k a year. Instead, I feel university offers a place for people to study something they are interested in and develop as individuals in a social sense. The lessons I learnt at Uni have certainly helped me in my current job roles but none of these lessons were learnt in lectures.
Employers value skills such as the ability to sell, confidence, professionalism and drive. I don't feel university fosters any of these skills. I really think now that before someone goes to university they need to ask themselves what the realistic outcome is, unless you go to Cambridge or Oxford there are no guarantees regarding work. In most cases any role you get as a graduate could have been achieved through starting in work after GCSEs, 5 years of relevant experience will always trump 5 years of non-related education and that's just the way it is."
Damien raises some very good points. I am in complete agreement that graduates need to accept a few home truths in an undoubtedly torrid economic climate; the world certainly doesn't owe us a living. Moreover, I agree that university teaches us far more than what we learn in our lectures and seminars. In terms of personal development, I feel I am a completely different person to the spotty faced fresher that arrived at Sussex almost five years ago now (that makes me feel a little old...).
However, I do not think the role of university has necessarily changed. They have always been institutions that foster knowledge, learning and facilitate the pursuit of individual interests. What has changed is the attitudes of big business and the government to the role of higher education: there is a demand from certain sectors for universities to produce the finished corporate article. Employers seem to demand graduates with skills that university does not foster while failing to recognise attributes that it does; this article from May 2011 summarises the nature of the issue well. For example, the CBI has emphasised skills such as 'business and customer awareness' or 'the application of information technology', skills which my history degree has done little to foster. In contrast, 'communication', 'self-management' and 'problem solving' are intrinsic to the role of a good historian, yet are apparently lacking in today's cohort of graduates in the eyes of employers.
Moreover, I do believe a successful academic performance at university is indicative of more than simply the capacity to learn. It takes drive, dedication and professionalism to achieve the best results. Unfortunately, there is an overriding perception in popular culture of students as drunkards, layabouts and freeloaders. That's not to say I didn't spend a good amount of my student days drinking, sleeping and scrimping but I also worked hard. It's frustrating to hear these kind of accusations levelled at me in my local pub by middle aged alcoholics over their copies of the Daily Mail.
In short, I know that when I do manage to land a graduate job I'll be utilising skills I learnt at university, both socially and academically.
Once again, many thanks to Damien for his excellent response. I encourage you all to keep reading and keep commenting!
Sunday, 13 May 2012
Wasted Potential
William Hague today suggested we must all 'work harder' to drag the country out of recession, drawing parallels with Norman Tebbit's 'on your bike' message of the eighties, the suggestion being that many today are simply too feckless to do a hard day's graft. This idealised view of a depression era work-ethic is symptomatic of a wider problem associated with the current job market - that recent graduates are privileged, lazy and apparently know little of the so called 'real world'. While the man on the street has long perceived students this way, it seems employers are increasingly adopting a similar view. This brings me neatly on to this week's topic: that of demonstrable experience.
In my search for employment, it's particularly frustrating to see employers demanding two years relevant experience for supposed 'graduate' jobs. This is unfortunately a recent problem. In decades past candidates may have been employed based on their potential; a solid performance at university was indicative of the ability to grow into a job role (or so I am reliably informed!). Today, it seems recruiters are demanding fully fledged professionals immediately after graduation, as is demonstrated by the many demands from big employers to teach 'key business skills' - whatever they may be. It is entirely unreasonable of employers to expect candidates to have amassed a wealth of practical experience alongside their academic studies. Even those I know fortunate enough to have completed internships and summer placements (a significant financial burden for many) are struggling to land that all-important first graduate job.
The demands for 'experience' seem to be a problem for arts graduates in particular, where the transferable skills acquired are sidelined in favour of vocational qualifications. Employers want to minimise their risk rather than gambling on untested candidates. In my opinion, a balance must be struck. There will always be a demand for those with vocational skills, but the transferable skills acquired in more general degrees are equally important. These are graduates that can be shaped and moulded into a whole variety of job roles; it is the responsibility of employers to recognise potential and use it to their own benefit. There is a vast pool of talent out there but businesses seem increasingly unwilling to take a short-term risk for a long-term gain.
Instead, there are many talented graduates working in roles where their skills are either not needed or vastly underused. To take the example of my current minimum wage job, I work in a role that, in all reality, the vast majority of people could do with the right training. Many young, ambitious and talented people are working exceptionally hard in tough times, yet are not being offered the opportunities that will allow them to progress in their careers. In my layman's opinion, it is not 'working harder' that will drag the country out of recession, but investment in potential.
In my search for employment, it's particularly frustrating to see employers demanding two years relevant experience for supposed 'graduate' jobs. This is unfortunately a recent problem. In decades past candidates may have been employed based on their potential; a solid performance at university was indicative of the ability to grow into a job role (or so I am reliably informed!). Today, it seems recruiters are demanding fully fledged professionals immediately after graduation, as is demonstrated by the many demands from big employers to teach 'key business skills' - whatever they may be. It is entirely unreasonable of employers to expect candidates to have amassed a wealth of practical experience alongside their academic studies. Even those I know fortunate enough to have completed internships and summer placements (a significant financial burden for many) are struggling to land that all-important first graduate job.
The demands for 'experience' seem to be a problem for arts graduates in particular, where the transferable skills acquired are sidelined in favour of vocational qualifications. Employers want to minimise their risk rather than gambling on untested candidates. In my opinion, a balance must be struck. There will always be a demand for those with vocational skills, but the transferable skills acquired in more general degrees are equally important. These are graduates that can be shaped and moulded into a whole variety of job roles; it is the responsibility of employers to recognise potential and use it to their own benefit. There is a vast pool of talent out there but businesses seem increasingly unwilling to take a short-term risk for a long-term gain.
Instead, there are many talented graduates working in roles where their skills are either not needed or vastly underused. To take the example of my current minimum wage job, I work in a role that, in all reality, the vast majority of people could do with the right training. Many young, ambitious and talented people are working exceptionally hard in tough times, yet are not being offered the opportunities that will allow them to progress in their careers. In my layman's opinion, it is not 'working harder' that will drag the country out of recession, but investment in potential.
Friday, 13 April 2012
Desperate Times, Desperate Measures
Friends, Romans, members of the Blogosphere, lend me your ears...
I, Alex Hough, an erstwhile student and incumbent ride host at a *cough* unnamed Staffordshire theme park (there are two...), have decided to start a blog.
For those of you who do not know me, I graduated with an MA in History in September 2011 from a good University. While my historical studies interested me greatly, it is writing that has always been my passion; in recent months I have had little opportunity to exercise my scholastic muscles and that is why I find myself here... I happen to believe writing is not like riding a bike and is instead a talent that needs to be constantly refreshed.
I intend to write about the many trials and tribulations of finding a graduate job . In the months since my graduation I have come to the frustrating realisation that no matter how impressive your academic record, experience counts for everything. As a man with little experience of anything (such are the consequences of growing up in a quiet corner of rural Staffordshire), I have reached somewhat of an impasse in my search.
If anyone is prepared to listen, I'd also like to write about a few of my other interests from politics and current affairs to sport. Mix this in with a few observations on my current place of employment (the kind that won't get me fired) and perhaps this could become interesting, informative or even amusing. We shall see, particularly on that last one...
In all seriousness, if you are reading this and feel you are in a similar situation or would also like to comment on the struggles of recent graduates please get in touch. Many hands make light work and all.
That's all for now but I shall begin in earnest soon...
All the best, Alex
I, Alex Hough, an erstwhile student and incumbent ride host at a *cough* unnamed Staffordshire theme park (there are two...), have decided to start a blog.
For those of you who do not know me, I graduated with an MA in History in September 2011 from a good University. While my historical studies interested me greatly, it is writing that has always been my passion; in recent months I have had little opportunity to exercise my scholastic muscles and that is why I find myself here... I happen to believe writing is not like riding a bike and is instead a talent that needs to be constantly refreshed.
I intend to write about the many trials and tribulations of finding a graduate job . In the months since my graduation I have come to the frustrating realisation that no matter how impressive your academic record, experience counts for everything. As a man with little experience of anything (such are the consequences of growing up in a quiet corner of rural Staffordshire), I have reached somewhat of an impasse in my search.
If anyone is prepared to listen, I'd also like to write about a few of my other interests from politics and current affairs to sport. Mix this in with a few observations on my current place of employment (the kind that won't get me fired) and perhaps this could become interesting, informative or even amusing. We shall see, particularly on that last one...
In all seriousness, if you are reading this and feel you are in a similar situation or would also like to comment on the struggles of recent graduates please get in touch. Many hands make light work and all.
That's all for now but I shall begin in earnest soon...
All the best, Alex
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