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The respondent to this survey is Zoe who is from a White British background.
| What qualifications did you hold prior to starting university? | A levels: History (A), Psychology (A), Sociology (B), Computing (B), Psychology and Crime (C) |
| What was the name of your course? | Archaeology & History - BA/ArchMed |
| While at university have you worked part-time? | Yes |
| While at university have you performed any voluntary work? | No |
| While at university have you undertake any work experience? | No |
| Please give details of your experience? | I worked part-time at C & A in the first semester of my third year. |
| How useful did you find this work experience when it came to find a job after graduating? | No use whatsoever. |
| What is your status? | Studying |
| Do you feel you have a career plan? | Yes |
| If so, how does your current situation fit into this plan? | I want to work in academia so need a PhD. |
| When did you start thinking about what you wanted to do after graduation? Thinking back did you leave enough time for this? | I started thinking about it at the start of my second year, when I realised I wanted to keep studying, and eventually work in, my chosen subject. The thing I didn't leave time for was thinking through what I wanted to write my doctoral thesis on, so I put off applying for a year after my MA - I didn't have time to write my application and complete my MA coursework to a decent standard. |
| Did you experience any difficulties when it came to finding work after graduation? If yes, please describe some of the problems you faced? | I did have problems finding work during my year out before my PhD. My aim was to get any job and save as much money as possible. Getting a job in the heritage sector would have been almost impossible, given that I had never done any voluntary work in this sector - I always had to get a paying job during vacations. Despite having done numerous admin jobs during time out from studying, it was very difficult to get an admin job after completing my MA. Job agencies were particularly closed-minded about my ability to do such jobs, despite being computer-literate in a number of different software packages and having RSA qualifications. The attitude seemed to be that a university education had not given me the necessary skills. As I desperately needed to earn money I was prepared to take on anything and eventually got a job as a temporary office junior through an agency, where my sole duty was filing. The reason I got this job was that the previous person sent by the agency had fallen asleep in the office. As it turned out that I could both stay awake and put pieces of paper in alphabetical order the construction company I was working for kept me on beyond my contract doing numerous other tasks. Eventually I got another temporary job working for West Yorkshire passenger transport executive, which was supposed to last only two months but my contract kept being renewed each month until I left in the September to commence my PhD. The reason that I got this job was that no one else applied. Throughout my year off from study I applied on numerous occasions for jobs in the NHS and at the University of Leeds, both of which were frequently advertising for office staff, but never even got an interview. |
| What do you wish you had known before you started applying for jobs? | I wish I had had more information on filling in application forms as I still don't know why I never got an interview for these posts. |
| What advice would you give to someone applying for jobs now? | Take full advantage of the careers service and any courses they run on applying for jobs, interview techniques etc. |
| Would you have done anything differently while at university to prepare for your career? Please give details. | Use the careers service more, learned to type properly and get a decent wpm speed, as job agencies always want this. |
| How do you feel your degree has prepared you for today's labour market? | I once rang the Halifax bank to enquire about its graduate training schemes and asked them if they would consider any degree subject. They assured me that they would. When I told them I had an archaeology degree, they said that they didn't think it would be of much use after all. My degree is excellent for working in academia, which fortunately is what I want to do, less good for other sectors. I could have done with more on making the most of my transferable skills for the job market but I don't even know whether courses on these were available! |
| What impact did your course have on your career aspirations? | Affirmed job choice |
| Did you make use of the careers service at university? | No |
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