Pretty sure those are benefits in kind – the discount especially is… That would entitle any volunteer to legally be paid the national minimum wage according to s.44 of the National Minimum Wage Act…

Has anyone signed on after Uni? How was it for you? Is it a good idea?

I know I can’t survive on the remnants of my student loan forever, but I would like to try and get a job before doing what I view as ‘giving up’ and signing on.

I think it’s just a massive pride thing.

So what would my advice be? If I were giving advice to someone in a similar position.

I would tell them to target graduate jobs rather than grad schemes. That doesn’t mean applying to lots of graduate level jobs whilst you are studying. Pick an industry you would be interested in working in; take a look at job requirements for entry level roles, roles with a years work experience, and a few roles requiring five years experience etc. Try and get a feel for the kind of jobs which are on offer in the industry. Ask yourself where you could be in 2 years time, is there potential for progression, are there certain niche jobs which pay more? This will give you a more realistic mid-term plan.

You need to get some feel for how the industry operates, there’s always information online or in books. If you want a job in the city, there’s a book called how the city works.

When I graduated I was told by a rather helpful recruitment consultant that my CV was too general, it didn’t shout what industry I wanted to get into. Make you CV shout the industry, don’t think of your CV as a history of you. Think of it as a way to show an employer what you can do for them (and not in a used car salesman way either), make sure it shows direction and commitment, if you have the cash to spend on that 1st professional qualification then go for it. But if you don’t write down the name and say you are reading toward it!! it shows that you have done your research and that you have some direction and passion.

Really you want to try and get some work experience in your chosen field, I ended up spending three months working for free before I got my current job. But don’t limit yourself to three month internships, and paid/unpaid work experience. Try and get talking to someone in the industry, send out emails, then follow up with a phone call. You are not looking for a job!! tell them that you are really interested in working in the industry and that you would like to ask them some questions over a coffee/ lunch if they have time. If it seems appropriate to ask, then see if their is any chance of getting some work experience. My brother got his first graduate job cold calling smaller firms & consultancies, don’t be afraid to pick up the phone as it demonstrates good communication skills (if you have them), talking to someone is more tangible than email. If you have friends or family in the industry then you really meed to make the most of those connections, it’s not fair on those who don’t have them, but life’s not fair (sorry guys).

I think that if you do stuff like this think out of the box a little, and use a little strategy, you can still find your way into great jobs. But it’s important to remember also that you can be doing everything right and things still won’t work out for you. Life is chaotic, it’s like chemistry sometimes you need just the right orbital overlap to start a reaction, and for that you need a little luck lol. So don’t beat yourself up. Oh and if you want to work in finance etc. or something numerate for god sakes learn how to use excel, it’s such a selling point.

Anyway not sure if anyone will bother reading this but never mind, hope it helps someone.

Btw I got my graduate job. “back in the game….” “I am the f****n’ game pal!”DRama