I work with interns, students and have young relatives who I often see stress out about their path forward. T.V. and newspapers are filled with stories about average graduate salaries rising and, in the U.K., even surpassing the median income. Of course, dig behind the headlines and you find these averages are calculated from the top 100 companies (which employ <2% of grads) etc... painting a totally un-representative picture.
In this vein I will share some very anecdotal stories about how me and my friends performed coming out of high-school / secondary school into university to illustrate it's rarely a simple straight path into top companies graduate programs, and that's not a issue.
My Experience
All these people are aged between 26 and 28 years old. They did not study at Oxbridge but at the level below in UK universities:
S:
Joined Uni, Summer internship abroad, failed second semester totally, no graduate offers, took Masters degree, joined fortune 500 company in full time role.
A:
Joined Uni, straight graduation, 6 month unemployed, 6 month on government work experience programmes, hired by work experience company, acting manager when boss takes leave to look after ill partner
M:
Joined Uni, dropped out, Joined different Uni course, graduated, unemployed 3 months, took admin job, left and took higher paying job
Joined Uni, one year placement, straight graduation, removed from "Big four accounting" intake programme, one year as on-call IT engineer, recruitment agency places into team leader role for national public transport agency, made acting ticketing department lead (4 staff) as manager steps into project role
D:
Joined Uni, straight graduation, turned down graduate programme at leading retailer, unemployed 3 months, moved to England in rural area to take role in desired field, significant travel, overtime and sponsored learning
D(2):
Joined Uni, straight graduation, work in customer service, return to uni for masters unrelated to bachelors, applying for full time work now
P:
Joined uni, finished final year abroad, odd jobs for 12 months, enrolled in Masters programme, returned home country for year in finance, joined large company grad programme but leave during probation, return home to work in "big four" accountancy firm
K:
Repeat university entrance, joined medicine school, drop after 2 years, rejoin actuary course, year placement, straight graduation
Again, this is my anecdotal evidence but most of these people are already satisfied with their work or at least or developing and growing in worthwhile roles. This is despite none of them going straight out of school into top company graduate programs as they initially planned for.
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