So, I think this is it, guys! A final blog from me, after what has been a very pleasant two years writing for the University.
I hope you all have enjoyed reading these blogs as much as I have enjoyed writing them!
And how fitting, I think, that my final blog will focus on that final key step of finishing University; getting yourself a job, and moving on with your own life after a great three years.
Now you’ve got through the interview stage and secured the job, you can afford to relax a little bit… at least until your job actually starts! 😉
It can be difficult moving on from University, but securing your first full-time, permanent job post-Uni is so exciting! And most definitely well worth the stress it took to find it and land it.
So now you have reached this point, I don’t really have any further advice to give! The only thing I would say is to make sure the job is completely right for you, and that you won’t be waking up every morning dreading going to work, and living only for the weekend. It’s an easy trap to fall into to take one on purely for money, not joy, and in some cases it has to happen. We all know that enjoyable lifestyles, or indeed living at all, does not pay for itself.
However, there is often a way around having to take on a job that makes you wish you were watching paint dry, and a way of ensuring you find the right balance between enjoying what you do and making enough money.
And once you have found the job with the right balance, it is important that you know a few key things… such as how much you actually get paid from that job, how often you will get paid, and if you will be making enough from these installments to cover your overheads. Now you are out of full-time education, income tax and national insurance will begin to come into play significantly.
And if you’re paying rent on a place, you will actually have to properly pay council tax for the first time! Amongst various other things.
There are some brilliant tools out there you can use to calculate how much income tax and national insurance will take off your yearly wage, including a great one set up by Martin Lewis on his Money Saving Expert website, and these are obviously very important, so you can make sure your job covers the cost of the lifestyle you choose to live.
Overall, your first full-time job and place properly to yourself will provide you with more money, independence, and (hopefully) happiness than you have ever had before. But it will also provide you with more responsibility!
So, fellow Graduands/Graduates…. enjoy your first proper full-time jobs after University. Make the most of every moment of them. And enjoy being one of those ‘adults’ we have so often heard so much about! 😉
It has been an absolute pleasure getting to write these for you all over the last two years, and even more of a pleasure becoming a proud graduate of the University of Worcester.
So I hope you have enjoyed my final series of blogs, and I wish all of you all the best for the future!
David out.
Worcester Student Life 