Careers advice (potentially worthless degree content)

As a bit of background: I’m 23, with a BSc in Sport and Exercise Science from Bath. To get onto that degree I needed 3 As at A level. I also did a year working in industry as part of my degree (in Vancouver). Since graduating I have worked in a relevant job for 8months in the city of London, and hated living there while the job wasn’t quite as described. So I quit and moved to Swindon with my GF (she has an excellent job at the hospital here).

The upshot is I now don’t have a job, and the sports science sector nationally is tiny, Nd only open to those with postgrad qualifications really. No problem, I can get any job, I’m an intelligent graduate (?!?). So started applying to all sorts of places, from warehouse floor, to management and grad schemes locally. The responses seem to fall into two categories- too overqualified to work for a low wage in a manual job, or not enough management experience to get a “better” position. Thirdly, many large companies direct me to their grad schemes which are fine, but hugely over subscribed, and in many cases far more than I really need at this stage.

As a bit of thinking out loud, I see that I have a few options:
A) persevere and try to get any job and work from there
B) get some experience in a different industry (unpaid internship?)
C) go and get some different qualifications (probably someone more vocational but upon idea what)

Apologies if this sounds like a typical student saying it’s too hard to get a job, but from my perspective I’m more confused about the best way to build skills in an as yet unknown industry/sector.

Swindon? Start with all the local sports teams?
Get a map and draw a circle on how far you would drive and mark the furthest you would travel by train.

After that some of it would be keep trying, possibly look back at academia for post grad/research in your current field.

As someone who has leapt from industry to industry over the years what you need is something unfashionable but technical, mine was stack testing which let me build up enough of a skill set to move on. I now sell and consult in niche software so anything is possible.

Start with thinking about what job / which sector you want. Work the path out from there. Good luck.

PE teacher?

You needed 3 A’s to get on that course!? I needed less than that to study law…things have changed a bit….anyway depends what you want to do? How about setting yourself up as a personal trainer / take some qualifications to be a physio or osteo? Not huge pay but pretty satisfying work.

Re grad schemes, do you really want to work for a corporate? Given your choice of degree I would have thought not. I had some trouble finding employment for my first year post uni. I picked the company I wanted to work for and got a temp admin job with them, converted it to perm and then was successful on their IT grad scheme. I had been unsuccessful applying direct. And yes they are oversubscribed, lots of people all fighting it out for a few roles.

You need to sit down and have a good think about what type of job you want and you would enjoy and then focus on local employers and get on board any way you can.

A book you might find useful (it is a bit cheesy though) is ‘what colour is your parachute’

Just as an example of what you can do…

My brother did the same course as you at a substantially less prestigious university and graduated with a 2:2. He got into a sales role for a household name in the fast moving consumer goods (not my terminology!) world and then jumped ship to the big Korean electronics firm that isn’t LG. He really enjoys it and was earning 35Kish plus car allowance at the age of 28. With your Bath degree and excellent A Levels there’s no end to the list of directions you could take your career in.

Apply to Graduate Training Schemes of companies in the Times “Top 100 Employers” list. Start with those closest to Swindon and move outward.

Firstly decide what you actually want to do. There is no point getting on a grad placement management scheme if you hate it…. You will just leave and be back in the same position in 6 months.

If your just looking for a temporary job just leave you degree of the cv when applying for lower paid jobs.

Have you tried the bath careers office. Very helpful when I graduated from there. And it doesn’t matter how long since you graduated you can always ring them up/go there in person (only 30mins from Swindon) and they can sort you out.

If its a post grad you need then the uni will be able to advise you on the best way of funding it

Back when all this was fields, there were three standard choices when I was at university: accountancy, management consultancy and law. I chose the last. Don’t make the same mistake.

My question to a friend who was recently presented with the chance to leave the law and do something different was “what would you love to do?”. For him, it wasn’t being a lawyer. He’s now doing something completely different (working for himself designing and selling kitchens). I’m going through a similar process.

I’d say the same to you. Work out what you’d love to do and set about finding a way to make it happen.

Thanks for the advice- lots to think about.

DT78 is probably right with the corporates thing, but all the careers info seems to push graduates that way. Mikewsmith seems to have taken the path I think would suit me best- be good at one niche thing and apply it to whichever opportunity you think works best.

PE Teacher seemed a good suggestion, whole lot better than being unemployed.

One question, didn’t you look into what job opportunities might be available before you did the degree?
Thought that was the idea, get a university education so you could find a better paid job along with more choice.

RAF or Army Officer. Physical Training Corps?

Are the nationwide not taking on?

Man Utd manager?

Man Utd manager?

😆

Any opportunity to piggy back on the bike trade – I know for example that there’s been huge growth in some areas in road bikes with bike fit being an area that’s getting a lot of focus too. Plenty of bike shops could make extra money offering proper bike fit service in store.

Tijuana Taxi- that’s exactly the point. But I missed that aged 17/18 and can’t/ wouldn’t want to change it now.

Would also love to be Man U manager having been to carrington as part of my previous job, probably don’t have the management style that they would like though.

Wot clubber said. I’d be looking into the plausibility of offering VO2 Max tests to roadies as well

Cheers,
Jamie

If you are out of work then I would actively seek out any opportunities to gain some experience in your degree – coaching, personal training, whatever you can get. Volunteer if you have to. This will give you something to talk about at your next ‘proper’ interview, show you are motivated, and maybe open some new doors.

If you chose the Sports degree because that’s your passion then be very wary of finding yourself in a generic management job in insurance / banking / IT. Whilst this may feel like progress and pay the bills you may well regret it in 5 or 10 years time when other commitments make it harder to change direction.

Military officer would be a good option if you’re that way inclined.

Take some risks and go with your interests rather than chasing money.

If you chose the Sports degree because that’s your passion then be very wary of finding yourself in a generic management job in insurance / banking / IT. Whilst this may feel like progress and pay the bills you may well regret it in 5 or 10 years time when other commitments make it harder to change direction

Beats being skint and unemployed though

Still find it hard to believe that people invest so much time and money without an idea of what they might do with their qualifications.

Unemployed is exactly that, not an unemployed whatever, just on the dole

I’ve had two major career changes. Best advice I got was from my ex’s dad who said do what your happy doing. I know it’s vague but after ten years of unhappy employment, I put his advice to the test and it’s worked for me. I had to travel to do it so another bit of advice is don’t put down deep roots until you know you’re sorted.