Internship or job? Don’t discount the low-paid option.
There are lots of reasons to go to university. It’s a time to experience life away from home, to expand your horizons and meet new people, as well as to gain extra education. But the reason at the end of all that is to access the graduate jobs market. Given the debts that are now associated with three or more years at university, that reality will be uppermost in the minds of many matriculating or graduating this year. But going directly into a job isn’t the only way to progress after uni. A graduate scheme is another option, as is an internship. (In fact, internships are available while you are at uni, in the holidays, sometimes for stretches of up to three months in the summer or for a few weeks at other times. These can be a great way to see life in the workplace and get to know a particular company. With such a hard jobs market, you would be right to take any opportunity you can get along those lines.)
Research out recently suggested that the average student could soon be racking up debts of around £50,000 over the course of a three year degree. That figure is disputed, with others thinking it will be nearer £40,000, but either way, that’s a lot of money to have to pay back when you leave. However, this is a different kind of debt to other loans like a mortgage. The tuition component is extremely low interest, and only has to be repaid after you pass a particular threshold of earnings. You also have to remember that the average graduate will earn an additional £100,000-plus over the course of their working lifetime, above and beyond the debt their student days involved.
Nevertheless, £40-50,000 is a massive amount of money – more if you are thinking about a longer degree, such as for engineering, which usually involves a ‘sandwich’ year in industry. With that in mind, you should do everything you can to prepare you for getting graduate jobs. A graduate scheme will introduce you to a company and introduce you into their organisation, but these are currently in short supply. Another idea is an internship (after uni, this time). These are often low-paid or expenses-only but are a foot in the door in many cases. Whilst you won’t want to be collecting more debts, if the internship leads to a good job at the end of the term, then it will have been worth it.
Please visit http://www.careerplayer.com/ for further information about this topic.
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