Making your choice – Options for 16+ and 18+

More education or employment? How do you decide?

A Job

At 16+ you will be poorly paid if you go into employment. The national minimum wage for 16 year olds is currently £3.68 per hour. For a typical 38 hour week you would earn £139.84 per week, or £7 271 per year (compared to an ‘average’ wage in the UK of around £23 000). For 18 – 20 year olds it’s not much better at £4.98 an hour. ‘Ordinary’ jobs that you might get when you have few qualifications, skills or experience will rarely pay more than the minimum wage.  As ‘pocket money’, whilst living with your parents for example, this is not bad. However, you are never going to afford a home of your own like this. Rent on a very small flat would take more than half of your pay. Then you will have to pay bills for electricity, council tax, food, water etc.

If you want some of the good things in life, you need a very wealthy family or a well-paying job. Well-paying jobs generally require as many educational qualifications as you can get. For many young people, going to university or college will give you a much better chance of obtaining that good job. However, it is not guaranteed to be a financial benefit over the whole of the rest of your life. Many of the most successful people in Britain left full-time education early. Lord Sugar left at 14, for example and David Beckham has no educational qualifications.

If you want to enter the world of work and begin earning immediately, an apprenticeship could be for you. With an apprenticeship you will be paid a small wage (£2.60 per hour) whilst undergoing vocational training – training for a particular job. The apprenticeship will last between one and four years. They are available at three levels Intermediate; Advanced and Higher.

For more information on apprenticeships go here - http://www.apprenticeships.org.uk/Be-An-Apprentice/The-Basics.aspx or  here - http://www.apprenticeships.org.uk/

A Degree

Degrees and similar level qualifications are described as Higher Education or HE.

In general, you will enter employment at a higher pay level than non-graduates if you have a degree. The table shows some examples of starting salaries for graduates in 2010 – the latest year for which figures are available.

If you already know what degree you wish to do, then simply make sure you research the entry requirements fully. If you are undecided about your subject then it is wise to keep your options as wide as possible. This means you need to consider your ‘A’ level subjects carefully. Universities regard some subjects as more useful than others.

You may want to download the Russell Groups publication “Informed Choices” – here http://archive.org/details/InformedChoices (The copy from the ‘real’ website appears corrupt and will not open properly. Choose ‘view the book’ option on the left and pdf version)

The Russell Group consists of 20 leading UK universities, which are among the most selective in the UK.

Many students are not sure if the time and expense of a university degree is actually worth it. Go here for a discussion of the benefits of Higher Education -http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/EducationAndLearning/UniversityAndHigherEducation/WhyGoToUniversityOrCollege/DG_4016998

If you want an overview of the Higher Education  qualifications available, go here -  http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/EducationAndLearning/UniversityAndHigherEducation/DecidingWhereToStudy/DG_4016991

Higher Education is not free, and can be very costly. Go here for an outline of the cost of HE -http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/EducationAndLearning/UniversityAndHigherEducation/StudentFinance/index.htm

More than just qualifications

Getting a good job is about more than qualifications. When applying for very competitive jobs, you will need the highest grades in all your examinations plus that little extra something that others do not have.

In addition to educational qualifications, employers are increasingly looking for applicants with other skills. These are generally referred to as ‘employability skills’.  It is very useful to give consideration to these, and explicitly refer to them in applications and interviews.

Finally, many universities and employers look for candidates who have some work experience, experience of community service, or any form of volunteering. Do you have any such experience?