Only Graduates With Worthless Degrees Are On The Scrap Heap?

[Guest BoomBoomCrash]

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/art...rned/article.do

Guess again.

[Guest pioneer31]

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/art...rned/article.do

Guess again.

Nevermind

I'm sure a bar job will help you get a £150,000 mortgage, eh bulls?

[Y-QUERK]

As a recent graduate with a good private education, fluency in French and Italian and a 2:1 degree in Italian and history of art from the University of Edinburgh...

WHat kind of jobs do these people usually get, anyone?

[cashinmattress]

This is the future.

There is no budget for the large infrastructure projects which propelled our boomer forefathers into their vaunted and cushy positions in society.

It's going to be a hard slog for all youngsters, for their entire lives.

A nation that makes nothing has nothing.

[Georgia O'Keeffe]

WHat kind of jobs do these people usually get, anyone?

well it depends what the graduate wants to do, but when i graduated a few years ago and went into finance the employee wasnt really bothered about the actual degree studied within reason, a good classic arts / ology degree was thought of just as highly as a good science based degree when it came to recruitment

[bogbrush]

a 2:1 degree in Italian and history of art from the University of Edinburgh

Why isn't that worthless?

[Bloo Loo]

well it depends what the graduate wants to do, but when i graduated a few years ago and went into finance the employee wasnt really bothered about the actual degree studied within reason, a good classic arts / ology degree was thought of just as highly as a good science based degree when it came to recruitment

being able to do the job, not really what counts. looks good on the company brochure...lots of letters and things.

[cashinmattress]

Why isn't that worthless?

It's fine if you plan on working in an Italian museum or art dealers...

It's also fine if it was taken strictly for self interest.

It becomes worthless when you apply for a position in anything else though.

[SNACR]

Aren't History of Art degrees the preserve of middle class girls that whenever they speak all you can hear is 'Ra Ra Ra'?

[Guest BoomBoomCrash]

Aren't History of Art degrees the preserve of middle class girls that whenever they speak all you can hear is 'Ra Ra Ra'?

So being fluent in 3 European languages has no application that you can think of?

[Bloo Loo]

So being fluent in 3 European languages has no application that you can think of?

European...no

now Chinese...theres a goer.

maybe the person could set up a translation company.....join the thousands already out there...or be a teacher.

[cashinmattress]

So being fluent in 3 European languages has no application that you can think of?

If you are going down the translator route, its not just as easy as being fluent in a language. You will need to get a qualification in translation and also need to be proficient in the jargon/structure for whichever field you are translating for, ie law, politics, business; via with a further qualification.

[Georgia O'Keeffe]

being able to do the job, not really what counts. looks good on the company brochure...lots of letters and things.

thats not really got alot to do with the price of fish, it doesnt really matter why the employee wants to employ them if they still end up with the job

[bogbrush]

So being fluent in 3 European languages has no application that you can think of?

I can think of an apllication for a degree in flower arrangement. What's your point?

[Bloo Loo]

thats not really got alot to do with the price of fish, it doesnt really matter why the employee wants to employ them if they still end up with the job

thats true, but employers could be missingout on real talent if they narrow their search to degree "calibre" people.

[Guest BoomBoomCrash]

I can think of an apllication for a degree in flower arrangement. What's your point?

Your glib reply rather made it for me. Like most business owners the only skill set you attribute any real value to is running a business.

[this_prisoner_is_opting_out]

Stupid girl! Why on earth does she think she can get a secretarial job when she hasn't got a typing qualification or the like? Idiot! Trilingual from Edinburgh isn't to be sniffed at - but for god's sake, if you want to use your languages head east. All the way to Brussels is a jolly good start - minimum salary 18k tax free.

No fecking common sense any of them.

Edited July 19, 2009 by this_prisoner_is_opting_out

[stu2006]

We have been talking about this at work and with friends. Most of my mates have degrees including myself in various subjects. I went to uni in 1997 and basically did a subject that I enjoyed rather than focus on a degree that would lead to a specific career path. However this was the norm as far as i could tell as. To get onto a lot of grad scheme you just needed a degree, any degree. Thankfully I'm n my early thirties now and have changed career totally and am studying for professional qualifications. Employers now will be able to hand pick graduates and the ones in the last four years who have done useless degrees will find it very difficult to get employment. On top of that when or if you do land your 16k-20k first post you can look forward to paying off the huge debt that you have burden yourself with

[CrashedOutAndBurned]

But this trend has been there long before the slowdown. Since the late 90s, even a 2:1 in a traditional subject from a proper Uni was nowhere near enough for a 'graduate' job - these jobs just don't exist in any great numbers. Jobs growth has been in the low paid service sector and as organisations and businesses become more and more centralised there's no need for educated middle management - a few whiz-kids at head office dictating to plug-A-into-B monkeys is all that's needed.

Graduates, rather than, say, getting a £14k admin job and meet up with their old school friends who half-failed their GCSEs, they'll work for nothing for 'prestige' and the hope for a proper, paid graduate job for, er, £14k.

Edited July 19, 2009 by CrashedOutAndBurned

[Frank Hovis]

We have been talking about this at work and with friends. Most of my mates have degrees including myself in various subjects. I went to uni in 1997 and basically did a subject that I enjoyed rather than focus on a degree that would lead to a specific career path. However this was the norm as far as i could tell as. To get onto a lot of grad scheme you just needed a degree, any degree. Thankfully I'm n my early thirties now and have changed career totally and am studying for professional qualifications. Employers now will be able to hand pick graduates and the ones in the last four years who have done useless degrees will find it very difficult to get employment. On top of that when or if you do land your 16k-20k first post you can look forward to paying off the huge debt that you have burden yourself with

I too did a artsy degree I enjoyed, which in career terms was no better than the OPs Italian and Fine Art example and I would say, in narrow career terms, both are fairly worthless other than as a non-specific good degree from a good university.

However if I was taking out a huge great loan to do it I would probably have viewed it in more financial terms and done something that would have got me into a speciifc career.

[bogbrush]

Your glib reply rather made it for me. Like most business owners the only skill set you attribute any real value to is running a business.

Any chance of you answering the question? It might lead you towards some understanding you see.

[Number79]

I too did a artsy degree I enjoyed, which in career terms was no better than the OPs Italian and Fine Art example and I would say, in narrow career terms, both are fairly worthless other than as a non-specific good degree from a good university.

However if I was taking out a huge great loan to do it I would probably have viewed it in more financial terms and done something that would have got me into a speciifc career.

a symptom of easy credit? students are borrowing money to fund courses and have little idea of the value of money so do what they choose. Were they to have to spend their own cash, maybe saved up by them and their parents, then I am sure they would see it more as an investment in their future and be less likely to p1ss it away.

[MacGuffin]

But this trend has been there long before the slowdown. Since the late 90s, even a 2:1 in a traditional subject from a proper Uni was nowhere near enough for a 'graduate' job - these jobs just don't exist in any great numbers. Jobs growth has been in the low paid service sector and as organisations and businesses become more and more centralised there's no need for educated middle management - a few whiz-kids at head office dictating to plug-A-into-B monkeys is all that's needed.

Graduates, rather than, say, getting a £14k admin job and meet up with their old school friends you half failed their GCSE, they'll work for nothing for 'prestige' and the hope for a proper, paid graduate job for, er, £14k.

This hits the nail on the head. Middle management jobs are disappearing at a faster rate as globalisation and so-called efficiency takes hold. There are no guaranteed routes anymore, even if you study Accounting, Law, Engineering, etc

[General Melchett]

I work in a pan European role in a large international organisation. Let me be clear to all people considering the sort of degree taken by this lass: Companies like mine are looking for people with specific technical skills. We want some of them also to have multi-language skills (and there are plenty of tri-lingual qualified pharmacists etc out there, trust me, although maybe not so many from the UK). I cant see any use for someone with a degree in this or that language but no technical skills to apply it to: Only gubberments (if even them), like the EU, have use for such peoples' degrees.

[bogbrush]

I must admit to being a little confused by this thread, and the OP.

The argument the OP makes - so far as I can see one being made - is that it is revealed from this case that "valuable" degrees are no insulation from being unwanted by the jobs market. However, when I ask why a degree in flower arrangement is any less valuable, I am told that I only see value in business skills; this because of my being a "businessman".

The thing that confuses me is that I did not; I asked the OP why HE considers that a degree is valuable because it has an application. Myself, I consider education to be its own reward, what we do with it is up to us, and the value of our skills to others to be up to them.

I think taking into account is desire to think like a businessman, but his resentment towards all things businesslike, perhaps he is a frustrated businessman.