My daughter has just completed her Standard Grades and so has 2 further years left at school. She is quite clever, confident that she will get the necessary qualifications over the next couple of years to get into uni, though probably not straight As that medicine or such like may require.
She doesn't have a clue what she wants to do - she is at that stage between "dreaming" of being an x, y, or z, and realising that all around her she hears of jobs being shed left right and centre.
Did want to become a PE teacher, but teaching very hard to get into and get a contract after qualification, some temp jobs maybe but struggle to get permanent contract.
She really fancies the police, and at 5'3" and wearing glasses I told her she would probably get there as she would tick some boxes on their anti-discrimination paperwork. But Strathclyde Police just announced a recruitment freeze for the forseeable future (including those that had went through the full process and just awaited a start date for their training.)
A Scientific lab near me has just announced its closing so 200 jobs including lots of lab ones are going there.
So what would you recommend? Try and get an apprenticeship and a skill? Take year out after school finishes and travel the world and see if anything develops elsewhere? Get a degree under your belt as you will always have it?
What will society and the economy be looking for in skill wise in 2012 onwards??
I am glad I am not at that age again!!!
|
Decide what her passion in life is - my wife when a teen, worked in a bingo hall and ten years later, funny enough shes back working in one, training in management. She genuinely seems to love to going to work, something to covet.
If you cant find a career, create one, ie start a business. Well worth looking into any grants available ( Princes Trust apparently is helpful ). Hopefully we are on the road to economic recovery so its a good time to start up if its a viable idea.
|
>>Hopefully we are on
>> the road to economic recovery so its a good time to start up if its
>> a viable idea.
We are only ont he road to consolidation, a long way from recovery yet.
|
My wife is practice manager (office man) for a Solicitors in Cornwall (2 offices)
She earns £23k which is quite good, for Cornwall,
She's the one who does the hiring & firing (another one today!) so her job is fairly safe?
She tells me some very sad stories (many tears) about the folk she's had to 'let go' since 08,
She receives stacks of CV's from grads with an armful of qualifications (but no work experience)
If I was in your daughters shoes (careful now!) I'd look into forensics as a career.
|
Dog my wife is a legal secetary paid as a fee earner. Specialises in commercial and agricultural law. 2nd to head of department. Knows her stuff.
Can your missus get her a job, would love to migrate to Cornwall. Im sure id find something.
Coming down again in Sept can't get enough of the place.
|
A degree will never hurt as long as she can get a place, but unless its a good degree from a good university she may be saddled with big debts that will cripple her for years.
Does she like animals? Vet?
IF its the police she likes - how about as scene of crime or forensic?
If it was me starting again, I would go for the degree, then take a gap year afterwards doing volantary work abroad to give me an edge over the fresh face grads in next years career milk round.
If it was me my ideal job would be the police, with the aim of going as a dog handler.
|
|
Something with an index-linked pension scheme.
|
|
she wont be working at all then. They will all be gone to new entrants in two years time.
|
>>>>If I was in your daughters shoes (careful now!) I'd look into forensics as a career.
Interesting as our 15yr old is just at the end of her 2wks year 10 work experience in a criminal law solicitors. She has always said she'd like some occupation related to crime/spying/law/etc and this two weeks has firmly consolidated that idea. As she is an A* science/maths student I'd thought about forensics too.
It would be such an advantage if Bobby G's daughter could aim for something that links to an interest of hers. Working life is a long long time if it's *just a job*.
|
There's a shortage of engineers starting already, and getting worse as the older generation retire. The pay is only going one way :-) An engineering degree is not the walk in the park / daytime TV watching fest the press would have you believe though! And you need an MEng to get Chartered these days, so an extra year at Uni.
Chemical Engineering is the best paid, but also the 'hardest'. But then I would say that.... (I'm CEng MIChemE)!
PS www.whynotchemeng.com explains the black art of what we get up to.
Last edited by: RichardW on Thu 22 Jul 10 at 09:54
|
Interesting on the forensics side - this is something she is really interested in. Receives very good reports in her sciences and was the only pupil from her school to get the 1 week work placement with Strathclyde Police and really enjoyed it. I had swayed her away from the forensics as I was thinking many people would be going into that due to CSI type of programs.
Another angle I thought of was maybe languages, with more and more non - nationals in, and coming into our country, there will be more and more demand for translators for the courts, police, NHS I guess as well? ButI guess that might not be regular work.
We have a neighbour who is an "engineer", not sure to what level or angle etc, but he is one of these guys who can turn his hand to anything from boats to cars to boilers to ovens to laying carpets and my daughter is always winding me up that why can I not do that!
|
|
Interesting to hear your comments on chemical engineering Richard. Our daughter is excellent at all sciences but says chemistry is the only one she really likes. She has just been asked to join something at her school where certain pupils are attached to science/engineering in the workplace with visits and seminars. I'm trying really hard to get het to get involved but as a *cool teenager* she says it will make her look a geek!
|
Sadly there's little that can be done about the 'geek' tag.... However, geek = reasonable salary. I look a the jobs in New Scientist, and am glad that I went for an applied science rather than a pure one - the salaries being offered are pants! As pointed out elsewhere, not in the bracket of city bankers or lawyers, but then someone actually has to make something so that the money shufflers can produce money out of thin air, and the lawyers can argue about it!
Chemical engineering does not necessarily involve a great deal of chemistry though - a thorough understanding of physical chemistry principles is required though. Some specialists of course apply chemical principles to scale up processes, but the real ' chemistry' will have been by the chemists in he lab - we just figure out how to make their recipes work at several thousand tonnes a year, usually continuously, rather than just a few gramms in a test tube a batch at a time. In my industry sector, Process Plant Contracting, we refer to ourselves as 'Process Engineers' which better describes what we do - we look after the process, making sure that we have the right ingredients at the right temperatures and pressures, and then let the mechanical and piping people concentrate on keeping it in the pipes / vessels and getting it to the right place, whilst the civil engineers concentrate on stopping it all falling over, and the instrument and electrical boys do lots of black box stuff!
I am, and always have been, fascinated by how things work - so the 'geek' tag is well and truly affixed here!
|
>>She is quite clever, confident that she will get the necessary qualifications over the next couple of years to get into uni, though probably not straight As that medicine or such like may require.
>>
>>So what would you recommend?
>>
You have a good basis for the future.
From my experience with our two offspring.
Both went to good state schools. Both were confident and both took three As and both got 2As + 1B so good but not boffins.
Son switched subjects at the very last moment so went to the interview with ZERO experience re the subject but Oxford took him.
Daughter did medicine in London after being " in the pool " at Cambridge.
We had no strings to pull to assist them just guidance as best we could.
IMO confidence is the key thing so if you can boost that all the better.
My daughter tells six formers that it is what you want not your parents aspirations (especially medicine).
A traditional degree from a good Uni will always be valued.
The grades are obviously important but other activities are obviously taken into account.
Good luck with the funding and I hope the Uni is not at the other end of the country.
|
I would suggest that she doesn't know exactly what she wants to do, then, instead of going straight on to university, it might be better for her to get a job - any job. Then, without the peer pressure and momentum of being pressurised to choose a career path she can work out for herself the best path.
Many of those I went to university with hadn't a clue why they were there, and so, they didn't work particularly hard, and spent their time and money in the bar. I wasn't exactly teetotal myself, but, I got all my work done to a high standard first!
|
I'd suggest that anybody going to University without 3 Bs at least shouldn't be going there. It will be a load of debt to have got into without any hope of a better job at the end of it.
If it's not a Russell Group University it's probably not worth going to.
Which is not to say that all tinpot degrees from tinpot universities are useless, merely that they're a very expensive way of acquiring something that's not very useful in terms of earning power.
With luck HM Government will now halve the numbers going to university - to about 20%-25% of the population. This would mean that we can afford to subsidise the ones whose degrees are going to be worth it.
|
Join the Armed forces plenty of choice of careers and the opportunity to travel the world get a career and get paid for it.
Whats her hobbies interests?
|
|
I would not recomend an engineering degree unless she is passionate about it. Most people on my course (not an engineering one, but had some engineering content) dropped out or did badly as they hated that side of it, I did as well. I really hated studdying things like Hufman coding
|
|
im not keen on the Huffman coding i prefer dolby c
|
|
I think Hanna & Barberra did it better.
|
|
I knew a muff diver, once.
|
Don't think they are even comptable. I seem to remember Huffman being all about image compression. I found it really boring and pointless but the guy who was teaching it (a UK robotics expert) was really passionate about it.
My course wasn't an engineering degree so essentialy was mickey mouse but there is no way it could have been taught in a college like the government is trying to do. No college could afford the facilities and where will they get lecturers that can teach it from? Just another silly plan.
|
Sorry BigTee, never in a million years would I recommend she join the armed forces.
I appreciate the sales pitch of travel the world etc, but don't like the realistic pitch which happens every day on the 6pm news!
|
Don't pick languages as translators get poor money unless maybe you can get into an EU job. Teaching is so tough now. We went through this agonising saga a few years back: there was no passion for anything - one minute it's American Studies then Italian. In the end she picked French & Philosophy at a Russell Group Uni. At the uni open days, they went on and on saying it was a transferable skill, the perfect degree, which could lead to so many things.
In fact nearly all doors to jobs seemed to be closed after graduating. Failing to get a job she did a year's teacher training and got a teaching job. Now only 3 years later she's still teaching and wait for it.... earning £40k - I kid you not! More by luck than anything the right decision was made.
|
You don't read languages to become a translator.
You read languages in order to become a partner of a major law/accountancy firm. Some (?) of them require you to be fluent in a (any) foreign language before you have any chance.
As a girl in the armed forces she won't be doing anything properly dangerous. But it's not a career for a girl if she wants to find a husband (or even a boyfriend) - who would want to go out with an army girl?
DE - I take it that's not in the state sector.
Last edited by: Mapmaker on Thu 22 Jul 10 at 17:53
|
>>
>> As a girl in the armed forces she won't be doing anything properly dangerous.
Twenty years ago that would be pretty much true. Nowadays, thanks to the power of equal opportunities, it is no longer a given. Whilst I have total respect for those girls who go into (or even near) the front line, I still don't think it's right.
|
Aerospace Engineering - quite a shortage in the UK, and the UK has a lot of quality employers.
At Airbus we have such a job recruiting that the rest of us are offered bonus's for introducing engineers to the company
Your Daughter may like to think about what area she plans to live in and what employment is already there
|
>>such a job recruiting
For most UK aerospace companies, it's no big surprise.
They don't understand that it isn't a large pay packet that provides the sole motivation, or even the strongest motivation to many engineers. As I wrote in another thread, the Dickensian practices of the company I worked for [which paid me the largest salary I've ever earnt] made me desperate to leave.
IIRC, there's a list [newspaper? Times?] of which employers are the best to work for. I have also worked for an engineering consultancy who did well in that ranking, and the difference in how staff were handled between the consultancy and the aerospace company was extreme.
Here's the list;
www.top100graduateemployers.com/employers/
Surprised to see Rolls-Royce do so well - from what I've seen of them, they're fairly typical in the way an aerospace company treats its engineers.
Last edited by: Number_Cruncher on Thu 22 Jul 10 at 19:04
|
The starting point should be not to paint herself into a corner by building her plans around a specific career before she's had a good look at as many possibilities as possible, then winnowed them a but. Just doing that will give her, and you, more confidence, about what sort of life she wants.
The next step is to zoom in a bit on a small number of options and find out what it's really like if she can. Use your own friends and networks - including this one - shamelessly to get her a bit of exposure to what she's interested in. If she is taken with the idea of being an optometrist for example, she should make sure she at least gets acquainted with one or two and learns what to expect and what different types of jobs are available. A week spent in a practice would be even better.
I know at least two people who've started nursing training and given up because it's just not what they imagined - that shouldn't happen.
Engineering has been mentioned. My daughter is an MEng and is very happy, but it's not a course for anyone who isn't strong in 'proper' maths and it's not a course anyone can blag their way through. Neither does she earn a huge amount (maybe £35k) for someone with a year's sponsored training, a four year course and a good degree from a top institution, and 5 years experience - I know illiterate, innumerate marketing folk with degrees in 'hospitality management' or whatever earning more than that in the south east. Maybe engineers pay will improve - but the big money is still in City law and financial services (not that I am recommending either).
Last edited by: Manatee on Thu 22 Jul 10 at 20:49
|
Don't be depressed that she doesn't have a clue what she wants to do yet. There's plenty of time to decide.
Let's be honest - university is not only a good thing to do but it also puts off for another three years the evil day of what to do for the rest of your life. But others above are right - it needs to be a good university and ideally a 2.1 or above at the end. Those who choose not to go are ideally those who have already chosen their career - nothing wrong with that as long as they can find a job.
I recruit graduates for a firm of chartered accountants, and often represent our Institute at schools' careers fairs. I'm forever advising boys and girls to choose the A-level subjects (Highers for your daughter of course) and degree / HND courses that they are actually interested in and know that they can do well in.
Believe me - as an employer we want high standards which show that recruits have it in them to work for our clients and also pass accountancy exams. What subject they've done is much less important.
I know it may be a little different in Scotland: accountancy firms there do usually recruit accountancy graduate as they get lots of exemptions from Scottish Institute exams. It may be similar in other Scottish professions in terms of university degrees - but I'd still suggest that Miss G should do Highers in subjects that she enjoys (if that's not too strong a word).
|
Thanks for all your suggestions so far, loads of great info here for her.
Avant, very interested in your comments, as that is what I would like to be the case ie. pick subjects she likes, do well in them, get to uni and then if she changes direction then so be it. Better that than doing subjects she doesn't like, not getting the best marks, not getting to uni etc.......
I went to uni when I was 16 (was 17 later in the month) straight after 5th year and I was so far out my depth, especially in maturity, that I left after one year having failed half my exams!
|
It is interesting to note that four of the top ten graduate employers are accountants.
My son is a fully qualified accountant with one of the four .I won't say which one in case Avant recruited him......He said he chose accountancy because he reckoned it was the highest remunerated work for the least amount of effort.....
He studied history at Cambridge because that was the subject which interested him.
He is now MA & M Phil ( Cantab ) and five years on has an ACAEW , is a manager who is on his way to director / partner , earns a fortune and works all the hours under the sun ( and moon) and has very little social life outside of work. We very rarely see him or even speak on the phone because he is always in meetings. Even 10 pm on a Sunday when we do manage to get him on the phone he is preparing for next days meetings....
So Bobby , all I would say to your daughter is pick something she enjoys. I too think the services are a good choice , the RAF in particular but I am biased......
|
Just my two cents worth. So you know where I'm coming from, I'm an industrial chemist now working in academia.
Seems to me BobbyG Jr's first choice is whether to try and find a career she wants to work towards no, whether to continue study now and find a career later, or whether to opt out of study until she has a better idea what she's interested in.
With the benefit of hindsight, I'd take a gap year if I wasn't committed to a choice of degree. Time and space to think away from the pressures of the school system is helpful. She might hit on a line of work that catches her interest during that gap year. And the acid test of giving up freedom and money in her pocket to return to college would tell her whether she was committed to whatever path she decided to take after th gap year.
If she's minded to do a degree, the most useful degree - in employment terms - is one that qualifies you for a job, be that as a doctor, an engineer, a solicitor, whatever. A degree that is recognised by a professional body (e.g. an accounting degree that gets you on the ladder towards being a Chartered Accountant) is more useful because it has demonstrable value to an employer.
Pick a discipline where its clear to you - and to the HR manager you'll eventually send a CV to - what you do. Most people have an idea what a B.Eng (Civil Engineering) does. But what does a B.Tech (Computer Aided Design) do?
Better again is a degree that gives you the choice of being self-employed or working for someone else. In my case, for someone with a liking for chemistry, a Pharmacist can run their own business, work for another pharmacy or work for the NHS. In contrast, as an Industrial Chemist I'm pretty much tied to Big Business.
As an aside, be wary of forensic science. Colleges gladly use the CSI phenomenon to recruit students, but check out the job prospects carefully. Most 'forensics' courses are rebadged 'analytical science' courses, and most graduates don't end up doing anything related to what we think of as 'forensics' (which is actually the work of a SOCO i.e. a police job).
However, if BobbyG Jr does decide to study for a degree, and doesn't have a career in mind, she'd be best off pick a subject she's interested in for its own sake and one that plays to her academic strengths. She's more likely to do well in it. Many graudate recruitment schemes don't mind what discipline your degree is in, but they do mind what grade of degree you hold. And if she decided to take on further study to specialise in a career in the future, a good degree will stand to her.
Also, if she may be interested in a career in academia (does she enjoy study for study's sake...I did when I was 16 [nerd!!!]), she should consider a discipline in which its easier to find niches. One example is social science: the research has to be done in the context of the society you are studying. You could realistically expect to become the expert on, say, care of the elderly in the UK. Becoming the expert on geriatric medicine is a taller order, as you are up against a pool of competitors from all around the world instead of all around Britain.
I'd also knock the idea that arts degrees are 'easy' on the head. Think about it: you can answer a maths-based technical exam paper perfectly correctly, score 100% on it and graduate with a first class honours degree. How do you write a 100% correct essay for an arts paper? Several graudates from my alma mater now hold perfect 4.0 grade average 1.1s...all in engineering.
There you have it - no closer a definitive answer, but hopefully some food for thought.
Good luck to BobbyG Jr whatever she decides!
|
>>Think about it: you can answer a maths-based technical exam paper perfectly correctly, score 100% on it and graduate with a first class honours degree.
Yes, but, there's another side to that particular coin. If you can't answer the question, it's also very easy to score zero! Write something close to sanity in an essay based question, and you'll get some credit for the BS!
|
>>However, if BobbyG Jr does decide to study for a degree, and doesn't have a career in mind, she'd be best off pick a subject she's interested in for its own sake and one that plays to her academic strengths. She's more likely to do well in it.
>>
I agree. A balance between study and "play" is also important. My son said " I have been told a first is possible but I am aiming at a 2:1 and having fun" - which he did and got involved in the UNI etc. not just getting blotto.
>>
>> Many graudate recruitment schemes don't mind what discipline your degree is in, but they do mind what grade of degree you hold.
>>
Very true but obviously the reputation of the Uni counts.
None of those doing the same degree as my son continued that subject but all were snapped up for a wide variety of roles.
He was told that if you went to a top UNI all you then need is a black book of contacts and that seems to be fairly true. Life is not a level playing field.
|
I don't think anyone has mentioned the international dimension yet. If she ends up dithering over a few final choices then she should seriously think about which qualification /career is internationally portable.
Good old UK has been in decline since Queen Vic popped her clogs and will in time rival countries like Belgium, Portugal and Holland for world influence - i.e. once great world powers but now blessed with virtually none. Getting out may not be a bad idea.
A qualification in UK law or UK tax will not be too useful abroad. Engineering, science and so on are universal in their knowledge base.
Just a thought.
|
>>and will in time rival countries like Belgium, Portugal and Holland for world influence<<
Belgium ... population c10m
GDP c$380billion.
Portugal ... pop. c11m
GDP c$230billion.
Netherlands ... pop. c16m
GDP c$660billion.
Great Britain ... pop. c62m
GDP c$2trillion
:-D
|
What a well meaning - but misguided - bunch of middle-trying-to-be-upper-middle class twits we've become.
Here we have a Lanarkshire lass who fancies being a polis or a PE teacher - active, hands on sorts of jobs.
And what do we advise?
Accountancy, international law, something in the city.
All this talk of Oxbridge, Cantab, MPhil and other ever so worthy professional qualifications is just so parents can show off down the golf club how well their offspring have done.
Given the preferences expressed by the OP's daughter, the services has to be a decent shout, with the idea of joining the police or moving into teaching when recruiting conditions improve.
Or how about starting a small business? A chance to have a go at everything involved in her chosen activity.
|
|
Let her travel especially to Austraila (holiday/working visa). Travel broadens the mind and will give her time to decide which way to go. The economic engine is now asia. Oz is crying out for people, my 21yr old girl with no qualifications is pulling 55k aud working in HR. She is on my visa but many of her friends have found their own way in Oz. Uni education is good and you may have somewhere in the sun to spend the UK winter.
|
>> Or how about starting a small business? A chance to have a go at everything
>> involved in her chosen activity.
doing what? wheres the business plan, the goals, the funding?
|
...doing what? wheres the business plan, the goals, the funding?...
That's the point Zero, the young lady is looking for something to do.
You've just outlined the first few steps, but I expect she could have worked that out for herself - she's got a few highers, you know.
|
|
Retirement is a good careerer.
|
>> Retirement is a good careerer.
>>
Pay isn't brilliant......
|
The stress levels are low tho, and the sun bleached hair and suntan is a good look.
I popped into the ex works earlier this week, those that are left look so white and pastey.
|
Would you two like to zip it ? ( Please )
:-)
|
|
What my shoe's undone again ?
|
Well daughter got her standard grade results today - eight straight 1's so onto her chosen 5 highers for this year..........
Thanks for all suggestions so far.
Was speaking to a surveyor type person today (not sure of proper job title) who is aprtner in his firm and he advised that of the graduates they take on, the best ones are the ones that have a degree unrelated to this discipline.
A recent recruit was a degree in history / politics and is now very successful with them after their dedicated training.
Certainly seems to back up the suggestions posted here that she concentrates in getting a degree in a field that she enjoys and more likely to succeed in and then worry about a career towards the end of that.
|
>>Certainly seems to back up the suggestions posted here that she concentrates in getting a degree in a field that she enjoys and more likely to succeed in and then worry about a career towards the end of that.
>>
That is exactly what occurred with my son.
In his first or second year he gatecrashed the company milk rounds ( recruiting fairs) that were aimed at final years. This had two effects , the following year he could quote the names of company employees ( that he had previously met ) and he persuaded a major company, who later employed him, to change their recruiting policy to target first and second years.
Confidence and communication skills are so important .
" We can easily recruit nerds but we need people who can communicate!"
|
>> What my shoe's undone again ?
>>
I thought you had zips on your slippers :-)
|
|
No zips - will be velcro......
|
Well a further upodate and another question!
My daughter got 4 As and 1 B in her Highers and so was able to apply to university. She applied to Glasgow, Strathclyde and Edinburgh to do accountancy type courses.
She has went on to do her sixth year at school but has, this week, received unconditional offers for every course she applied for. This means that she already has the qualifications needed for the courses she wants to do and therefore does not, in theory, need any more school exam results.
So my question is, she is in sixth year at school and doing 3 or 4 subjects - should she stay on and work hard for these although they won't theoretically count? Or leave school, try and get more hours in her part time job in Next and chill out, maybe do some voluntary work between now and going to uni in late Sept?
Thoughts?
|
|
Sorry Bobby I don't understand the Scottish education system. If Highers are (as I thought) equivalent to A-levels then what's gained in 'sixth year'?
|
>>Or leave school, try and get more hours in her part time job in Next and chill out, maybe do some voluntary work between now and going to uni in late Sept?<<
That would be the way I would encourage her to go Bobby.
There is so much more to learn in life as well as education and this is an opportunity to explore the discipline of work, the interaction of working with people, and the chance to meet an entirely different set of people and circunstances, through voluntary work and Next
It broadens the mind, and can only help her make the right decisions when she finally leaves Uni behind.
Pat
|
|
There's always the Forces, RN and RAF are still recruiting - get a good trade that sets her for civvy street.
|
>> There's always the Forces, RN and RAF .......
Good pension scheme.
|
>>between now and going to uni in late Sept<<
Am I the only one reading this properly?
Pat
|
>> Am I the only one reading this properly? Pat >>
+1
|
Whoops - you are right Pat!
So to answer latest question..... I think I would suggest she completes the final year at school to give her more time before flying solo!
|
>> >> There's always the Forces, RN and RAF .......
>>
>> Good pension scheme.
>>
Which is about to be changed for the worse.
|
Plus the Forces would put her, debt free, through University.
Young lady I know has recently started an apprenticeship with an engineering company at Bournemouth Airport, which she is loving.
My daughter took a gap year straight from A levels as she had changed her mind about her course [having done much better than she had anticipated]. She used the year to apply to 'better' universities offering the course she was after. Son spent several years doing a variety of jobs from catering to admin and care work and is now, aged 24, in his second year of a computing B.Sc, which he is loving - meanwhile he and his g/f are working 12 hour shifts at weekends to support themselves.
If she opts for University, make sure it is a subject she really enjoys or she will find it hard to stick to.
If she is thinking of studying languages, don't forget the British Institute in Paris. This is part of London University but based in Paris. Great advantages to this as you are immersed in the language, you get a good degree from a top university, the French govt. PAY student accommodation charges plus you get normal UK help .... and you provide good excuse for your parents to visit Paris.
Finally, if she enjoys retail, then get her to look at some of the management trainee schemes. John Lewis/ Waitrose are good I am told, as is Tesco.
|
>> Plus the Forces would put her, debt free, through University.
Provided she isn't, of course, killed or maimed. :-(
|
>> she is in sixth year at school and doing 3 or 4 subjects - should she stay on and work hard for these although they won't theoretically count? >>
What are these subjects beyond the Highers that she is studying?
As someone has already asked, can you explain the Scottish Highers etc. system/requirements for entrance to university.
Is there any chance of getting work experience/sponsorship with some of the major accountancy/finance firms for 6 months or so? www.ifsdglasgow.co.uk/
www.ifsdglasgow.co.uk/news/latest-news/glasgow%E2%80%99s-top-financial-students-recognised
Last edited by: John H on Fri 20 Jan 12 at 08:47
|
In Scotland:
Standard grades = GCSEs
Highers = AS levels done in one year
University is then 4 years for a std Honours course to account for the 'missed' year at school.
If you stay on another year at school and do A levels, then you can go direct entry to 2nd year of Scottish Uni or 1st year of English Uni.
If Bobby's daughter is doing relevant subjects then she can go direct to 2nd year (possibly, not sure of the admissions policy) - if she's not, then it's a year of alternative learning.
Given that the next 40+ years will be spent learning / at work I know which I'd do...
|
Thanks, RichardW.
"doing relevant subjects then she can go direct to 2nd year (possibly, not sure of the admissions policy) - if she's not, then it's a year of alternative learning."
So we now wait for further input from BobbyG.
|
...So we now wait for further input from BobbyG...
He works in a charity shop, so he'll not be in yet.
|
>> ..So we now wait for further input from BobbyG...
He works in a charity shop, so he'll not be in yet. >>
They must have locked him in to serve a life sentence of slavery, with no access to a computer.
|
Thanks for all the replies and suggestions and apolgies for the delay in returning to this thread!
I seem to have a bad luck when it comes to funerals - six in the last month, five of which were unexpected!
Anyway, back to the point in question - a few years ago I would possibly have agreed with the suggestion re the Forces but not anymore - I do not want my daughter running the risk of being maimed fighting someone else's wars. As I have previously mentioned in other threads, I just cannot get my head round these parents who say how proud they are of their children when they have been blown up in foreign countries. Just can't get it at all but thats another debate!
Daughter is going to do Accounts at Strathclyde University who had 100% success rate for employment at the end of the most recent degree course. Of course, up here in Scotland we don't pay University fees so a big attraction to stay put rather than travel further afield.
The school have encouraged her to stay on and do her last exams which will be in May and then she will be "off" until Uni starts late Sept so that will give her enough time to get her room tidied!!!! T
They are going to let her be more flexible with her free time between classes and she has already agreed to go to the local primary school and provide some gynastics training to the young kids there. There is also a youth club that she is going to help out at which I think will give her good experience and let her put something back into the community.
I now need to do some research to see if there are any accounts type sponsorships still available. I remember a few years ago BIL got sponsored through Uni which involved vacational work with the firm and a commitment to stay on for 1 year with them after university. Worked very well for him.
Again, apologies for delay in updating this thread!
|
Anyone care to recommend a career??
>>I seem to have a bad luck when it comes to funerals - six in the last month<<
Could be an answer to the OP.
|
|
She should choose something which has a good index-linked pension scheme. The Civil Service scheme looks good. tinyurl.com/7k7jm54 It's never too early to start thinking about (and paying into!) an occupational pension scheme.
|
I've not read all the posts here so apologies if I'm duplicating.
If she's keen on the outdoors and wildlife, what about trying for a career with the Forestry Commission or the Ordinance Survey.
I've often reflected on how much I'd have liked to be involved with either when I left school. Unfortunately there was no careers advice in those days and jobs were there ready to step into without much further thought. All my contempories had jobs mapped out and being city boys, the great outdoors never came up.
Ted
|
>> She should choose something which has a good index-linked pension scheme. The Civil Service scheme
>> looks good. tinyurl.com/7k7jm54 It's never too early to start thinking about (and paying into!) an
>> occupational pension scheme.
You can think about it, but I can guarantee you it wont be there by the time retirement comes, it will have been long dumped and dead.
|
"She should choose something which has a good index-linked pension scheme."
What a depressing thought.
Your pension should be the very last thing you consider when starting work. Embarking on a working life of 40 plus year and worrying about when you are old and grey rather than trying to find something you really want to do and find fulfilling would be madness. As Zero says in all likelihood that precious pension scheme won't be there anyway by the time you finally retire.
|
>>
>> "She should choose something which has a good index-linked pension scheme."
>>
>> What a depressing thought.
>>
>> Your pension should be the very last thing you consider when starting work
I planned my occupational pension such that I ended up getting the maximum that the Inland Revenue (as it was at the time) would allow. I funded it to a nicety and was only about £150 overfunded by the time I retired. I'm pleased I took that approach because I would hate to be now living on the basic State Pension. At one time people only used to live a short time after retirement but now with earlier retirement and longer lifespans you need a good income when you're retired so as to not end up living in poverty. I just wish I'd thought about my pension earlier in my working career ~ the earlier you start paying in the lower are the monthly payments needed.
|
Yes but given the choice of doing something a persons really want to do but doesn't have much of a pension scheme and a rather boring job that does surely you wouldn't recommend the latter would you?
Forty years of tedium in exchange for a pension that they may never live to reach or in all probability won't exist anyway by the time they retire?
Did anyone who ever made a huge success of their career or business ever consider the pension prospects when they set out?
|
...Did anyone who ever made a huge success of their career or business ever consider the pension prospects when they set out?...
Ambitious people probably don't consider the pension prospects, but I know several people who decided early on rising through the organisation was not for them, but the pension was.
Lots of coppers are content to remain PCs with the pension firmly in mind.
|
|
You are right Iffy.To stick with a job for the sake of a pension and not enjoy what you are doing is sad in my opinion.Live is to short.
|
Too right Dutchie.
I've done a few different jobs in my time, but I consider myself so lucky to have been able to go to work every Monday morning for the last 30 years with a smile on my face and a sense of anticipation in my heart.
It was the best career move I ever made.
Pat
|
>> I'm pleased I took that approach because I would hate to be now living on the basic State Pension. >>
Unfortunately, the only pensioners who will continue to have some comfort of anything approaching a "guarantee" of future pensions values/payments is where the scheme is underwritten by the State. Even then, as the case of Greece has proved, the payment can be slashed on the orders of a foreign power if the State gets in a dire situation and needs to borrow on the international markets.
"... pension liabilities have become too big and too volatile for companies to cope. This leaves them vulnerable to insolvency, even when the underlying business is healthy. According to KPMG corporate Britain currently faces a £295bn pension deficit.
“Any business that is old and has lots of employees – I can guarantee is struggling right now,” said one private equity boss. “Down the line these companies will either have to be separated from the pension liabilities or go bust all together.” "
You only need to read about the UK Kodak employees to see the problem:
www.car4play.com/forum/post/index.htm?t=7823&m=207791&v=e
or Silentnight:
"HIG, previously Silentnight’s largest debtholder, bought the company out of administration ..... for an undisclosed sum and was able walk away from the group’s £100m pension deficit."
|
|
I said earlier that I thought the Civil Service was a good organisation to work for. If you transfers from one branch to another your pensionable service transfers with you.
|
>> I said earlier that I thought the Civil Service was a good organisation to work
>> for. If you transfers from one branch to another your pensionable service transfers with you.
Transferable at value within the main departments and their executive agencies. Which is as it needs to be if people are to move around a bit and develop. Career management went out of fashion in the nineties but is now making a comeback as 'talent management'.
Some people transfer from one department to another 'en masse' under what are called machinery of government changes when one Minister's responsibilties are split between others. I know folks who moved from Home Office to (then) DCA and on to Comms and Local Gov - while still doing the same work.
Some such changes make sense; others are about whose Bailiwick is most important.
There are agreements about transfers to other Public Sector bodies but these are not necessarily on 1:1 terms.
|
"My daughter has just completed her Standard Grades and so has 2 further years left at school. She is quite clever, confident that she will get the necessary qualifications over the next couple of years to get into uni, though probably not straight As that medicine or such like may require."
For what it's worth.
Isn't it a bit early to be looking at jobs/careers with a pension in mind?
My "kids" are now in their 30s. Neither of them had a clue what they wanted to do at age 16.(Standard Grade age???) Both went on to do A levels in subjects they enjoyed and were good (not outstanding) at. Both then progressed to University to take degrees in subjects they enjoyed, still without careers in mind. My son even changed the main subject in his degree course in the second year because he found his subsid subject more interesting. My daughter had to take a degree in a subject that was not quite what she had in mind because of a shortage of places for what she wanted, but loved it, and it actually gave her a broader base for different careers.
Both graduated and did placements with companies. Both loved the placements and went into those areas of work, though it took daughter a good few months to find a job she felt would suit her.
Both are now (10 years later) doing well in their careers and earning far more than I ever did after 40 years in a profession!
In brief - encourage your kids to do what they enjoy (what could be worse than doing A levels or a degree in a subject you don't enjoy??). If they like and are good at studying go on to A levels and degree. If they are not keen on "bookwork/studying" go for a trade or skill - I always said to my kids "if you don't like school or the prospect of Uni, get training for a trade - there's often good money to be made"
I realise it is more difficult for today's youngsters, but don't push them in any direction too early - let them experience life and make their own decisions with a bit of guidance. Good kids make good.
Seen too many kids "forced" by parents in the wrong direction - just because I'm a teacher/lawyer/doctor/carpenter/bricklayer/ etc etc doesn't mean my kids want to go that direction.
She sounds like a good kid Bobby G - let her choose her own course for now - with a few wise words from Dad!
|
|
Sorry - I notice I said "in brief" somewhere in that post- and it's anything but "in brief" !!
|
>> somewhere in that post- >>
It is dated July 2010! ;-)
Things have moved on.
See www.car4play.com/forum/post/index.htm?t=2100&m=207719&v=e
Last edited by: John H on Fri 20 Jan 12 at 19:27
|
Am I the only one that reads the subject line as
. " anyone care to recmmend a good carer?"
Every time it gets to the top the page I get taken in!
:)
Last edited by: pmh on Fri 20 Jan 12 at 19:41
|
Medicine.
You get to be called doctor without doing anything difficult like a PhD.
|
"It is dated July 2010! ;-)"
Oops!!
Didn't see that bit!!
|
In case anyone digs up this thread again....
When choosing a career nowadays, it might be worthwhile to foresee whether that job can be outsourced easily in near future.
|
Anyone care to recommend a career?? - Stuu
