Letter: Letters : Typecast

From Rob Buckland

Sheffield

Further to Frank Harburn’s observations on graduate unemployment
(Letters, 7 March, p 54),
as a recent graduate with a 2:1 in environmental biology, I have
discovered that there are two types of job in the world of science.

First, there is the “type A” job, the menial laboratory position (salary
about £9000 a year) that requires applicants to possess a relevant BTEC
and GCSE maths. Then there is the “type B” job, the science position (starting
salary about £11 000) that requires a good degree and at least two years’
experience.

I can’t get a type A job as I am overqualified and “will just leave when a
better job comes along”. I am therefore unable to gain the experience required
for a type B job. It seems that I am unemployable in my chosen field.

Until employers realise that they can pay a qualified scientist peanuts to do
a menial job for at least the two years needed to gain experience, I will
continue to be unemployed.