23yr old graduate needs to find a career.....
Discussion
Hello all. I need some advice. I graduated last summer with a 2.1 Ba(hons) in Digital Music and i am in a bit of a rut career wise. It's been just over a year since i finished uni and i still have no idea where my career/life is going. I currently work about 4 days a week just outside of Henley-on-Thames for a 4 person company where i do all the mundane tasks such as packing, filing etc. It's just a job i took because i desperately needed the money, and it fits in with a big commitment of mine - rowing. I also am passionate about my motors so thought i would post this on here.
Does anyone have anywords of advice?
Does anyone have anywords of advice?
What am i good at? Hmmm. Well i'm considering becoming school teacher, as i have a degree in music. I feel teaching music could be ok, pay isn't crazy high but it would get me by, and with an average of 13weeks holiday it would allow me to still row full on. I am just worried that if i do my PGCE next year, i'm accepting the fact that i will never be a high flyer so to speak. I would love to be on a high income one day, but wouldn't we all! I love rowing and am always improving, but i will only receive an income from it if i row GB, which is my aim, hopefully in the next 24 months. It's not a career though, and the most you can get from lottery funding is about £20k.
I absolutely love cars though. A friend suggested doing an MA in journalism and getting into writing about cars, which would just be brilliant. Can't see how i'd make a living from it though, and i would have to cut down on rowing due to the hours and only 4 weeks holiday with a conventional job. Still a little unsure about what to do though.
I absolutely love cars though. A friend suggested doing an MA in journalism and getting into writing about cars, which would just be brilliant. Can't see how i'd make a living from it though, and i would have to cut down on rowing due to the hours and only 4 weeks holiday with a conventional job. Still a little unsure about what to do though.
What do you count as a high income?
The heads of department in our area are on 45k + per year and thats obviously goes up for assistant/deputy and head teachers. Experienced heads who are top of their game reach 100k easily. Then they become education consultants and get 150k a year.
Anything higher than that and congrats on aiming high but realism will hit soon enough!
Mart
The heads of department in our area are on 45k + per year and thats obviously goes up for assistant/deputy and head teachers. Experienced heads who are top of their game reach 100k easily. Then they become education consultants and get 150k a year.
Anything higher than that and congrats on aiming high but realism will hit soon enough!
Mart
Somouk, thanks for the post. What you say is very true, and having studied a lot of literature regarding teaching as a career i was aware of the salaries involved. Heads can earn up to £109k i believe, though i would be going in at £20-£29k, and probably at the lower end of that to start off with. The next band up means you have more responsibilities, possibly head of a department etc and i would not want the commitment due to my current rowing activites. Then again getting a teaching qualification could be a good thing, always something to fall back on. I know the government wants teachers at the moment so it could work well, and i don't think i would find it boring.
Having had a few good friends go in to teaching I'd just point out one small thing - don't take the idea of 13 weeks of holiday as being a major reason for wanting to enter the profession. A decent teacher seems to need to put in a lot of overtime effort outside of the idealistic view of them working 8-3.30pm. A lot I know stay on till 5pm quite often and have huge amounts of marking to do in their own time. Of course this will vary depending on the subject you teach. If you were interested in teaching music I'd hazard a guess that the workload would be lower than for say a Maths teacher - but you'd no doubt be relied upon to do significantly more after school stuff - concerts, etc.
As for all that holiday - take Easter this year - in the last week of term a friend was given 30 reports to mark for her class. Being relatively new to the job it took her about 2 hours per report to do them. The more experienced teachers managed to do them in 1.5 hours per report. Suddenly those easy 8-3.30pm hours and 13 weeks holiday don't look quite so hot!!!!
As for all that holiday - take Easter this year - in the last week of term a friend was given 30 reports to mark for her class. Being relatively new to the job it took her about 2 hours per report to do them. The more experienced teachers managed to do them in 1.5 hours per report. Suddenly those easy 8-3.30pm hours and 13 weeks holiday don't look quite so hot!!!!
Get real!
The only way you'll get a high salary is
one - work hard, very hard, from the bottom up, in competition with others and climb the corporate ladder oh and forget serious rowing - you'll be in competition with others with more focussed degrees who will be at least as ambititous to get to the top. You'll have a maybe 20% chance of getting to the next level each time and your luck will run out...
two - go into a high risk / high return job or an expat job - not many rivers in the Middle East though!
three - start your own business
four - go into crime!
so follow your dream of rowing give it a 120% get into the GB team and enjoy! Earning a living can wait!
The only way you'll get a high salary is
one - work hard, very hard, from the bottom up, in competition with others and climb the corporate ladder oh and forget serious rowing - you'll be in competition with others with more focussed degrees who will be at least as ambititous to get to the top. You'll have a maybe 20% chance of getting to the next level each time and your luck will run out...
two - go into a high risk / high return job or an expat job - not many rivers in the Middle East though!
three - start your own business
four - go into crime!
so follow your dream of rowing give it a 120% get into the GB team and enjoy! Earning a living can wait!
Edited by ian in lancs on Monday 29th October 18:30
I've got a few friends that took / take their rowing very seriously - GB / Olympic level. I can honestly say that their dedication drove them to reaching the goals in rowing that they had always aimed at - unfortunately for them this did not involve earning very much money. They were all sponsered to some extent by lottery funds but all were struggling to find where the next bit of money to keep them going was coming from.
They have all quit now after some reached their goals and some didn't. A few have gone on to be coaches at private schools, which pays them OK, others have gone into the city in client facing rolls.
I would say that you need to decided what is really important - if you want to be a high roller tnen you could apply the same dedication that rowing takes to get there but my feeling is that the two cannot go side by side. Friends in recruitment actively look for high level sports people that have ended their carrers to hire as they are usually very driven and dedicated people who will apply the same pricinples to their working life.
They have all quit now after some reached their goals and some didn't. A few have gone on to be coaches at private schools, which pays them OK, others have gone into the city in client facing rolls.
I would say that you need to decided what is really important - if you want to be a high roller tnen you could apply the same dedication that rowing takes to get there but my feeling is that the two cannot go side by side. Friends in recruitment actively look for high level sports people that have ended their carrers to hire as they are usually very driven and dedicated people who will apply the same pricinples to their working life.
Clearly from your read, you've got a gift and talent to row, your only 23, so you've still got time to make it professionally. I would say give it a go for a couple of year and see how it goes. If you truly believe in your ability and fell you can do it then, wot the hell have a go. You can always go and work in the corporate sector with the rat race later. It won’t look bad on CV, as you pursued a life long goal. Come on, allot of us take a year off and doss about by going travelling, so it sounds like your not quite ready for the full time 8-6 job just yet. But on another note if its money your after, then rowing becomes a hobby and you've got to take your career seriously, and as some of the chaps mention, hack it out, work your way up from the bottom. Yes it’s hard, and pay is shit to start off with, but every ones got to start some where. Best of luck with it all mate.
You say you're considering becoming a music teacher, so how about trying to become a music teacher at a school/college near a river? That way you could still keep doing the rowing.
You might even be able to start a school/college rowing team or offer to become an extra teacher for an existing one (split between music classes).
Then you could even get paid to keep on rowing.
You might even be able to start a school/college rowing team or offer to become an extra teacher for an existing one (split between music classes).
Then you could even get paid to keep on rowing.
Wayney said:
Clearly from your read, you've got a gift and talent to row, your only 23, so you've still got time to make it professionally. I would say give it a go for a couple of year and see how it goes. If you truly believe in your ability and fell you can do it then, wot the hell have a go. You can always go and work in the corporate sector with the rat race later. It won’t look bad on CV, as you pursued a life long goal. Come on, allot of us take a year off and doss about by going travelling, so it sounds like your not quite ready for the full time 8-6 job just yet. But on another note if its money your after, then rowing becomes a hobby and you've got to take your career seriously, and as some of the chaps mention, hack it out, work your way up from the bottom. Yes it’s hard, and pay is shit to start off with, but every ones got to start some where. Best of luck with it all mate.
All very true. I can't just put rowing on the backburner yet as i'm getting closer and closer to where i want to get. At the moment it's more important to me than a proper salary no matter how much i want money! I think i've decided now that next year i will start my PGCE in september which will allow me to row whilst studying through 2008-2009. The serious motor purchase will just have to wait unfortunately.i was in the same rut as you mate i left uni last year and relay couldn't see where to go but its only now i understand that theres so much more than career - car - cash etc my mum told me that she expected me back at uni in a year or so and she should know what with 3 degrees i didnt belive her at first but its true the first is only the begining some timesas my problem was having a fine art degree was like having leprosy to most employers agency's were not interested because i was a gard and would bugger off at site of a better offer its taken a year and going back to college and well back again in the new year but im in the process of setting my own bussines so theres light at the end of the tunnel hats off for keeping rowing i gave up when i goto to uni as you basicly had choice of rowing or a life from our coach and i knew i was never going make GB etc
CharlieViper said:
Hello all. I need some advice. I graduated last summer with a 2.1 Ba(hons) in Digital Music and i am in a bit of a rut career wise. It's been just over a year since i finished uni and i still have no idea where my career/life is going. I currently work about 4 days a week just outside of Henley-on-Thames for a 4 person company where i do all the mundane tasks such as packing, filing etc. It's just a job i took because i desperately needed the money, and it fits in with a big commitment of mine - rowing. I also am passionate about my motors so thought i would post this on here.
Does anyone have anywords of advice?
Same course I did! Same grade too, 2:1. What Uni and have you not thought of getting into the studio game?Does anyone have anywords of advice?
Brighton Uni - awful in my opinion. Far too arty farty. I have tried to get into some studio work, but most studios round here (South Bucks) are small operations run by the 2 or 3 guys that jointly own them. So they normally don't expect to pay you a salary really, and i'm just not in the position to work for nothing for any length of time, maybe a week or 2 at max. Can i ask what you have done since graduating with a similar degree?
Gassing Station | Jobs & Employment Matters | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff