Postman as long term career

[LinChong]

As a Postie you can do a morally 'clean' job where you don't have to tell lies to people to get them to buy stuff or ideas. Teachers generally don't tell kids that its who you know that matters more than what you know and that if you are super productive, you will be exploited.

You are lucky to work in a unionised firm. If you want development, go for union rep. Shop stewards are one of the few examples of truly democratically elected representatives in the UK as MP and local councillor candidates are all chosen for us. Shop stewards are the sort of the people that would be running the country if the public were allowed to chose the candidates they vote for.

[Darren Bent]

I would think teaching is better career than postie. If you don't like young kids, you can do college and university teaching. There is plenty of option for teaching. If you get a job as postman it will be part time job with bit of overtime, and you might not be able to get full time job that easily. It is ok for short term job.

[catch22]

I would think teaching is better career than postie. If you don't like young kids, you can do college and university teaching. There is plenty of option for teaching. If you get a job as postman it will be part time job with bit of overtime, and you might not be able to get full time job that easily. It is ok for short term job.

depends on what he's already chosen for schooling, what his degree is in, what his grade was... you need a masters to teach college or uni.
sounds like he's done a PGCE, which is a years course, and his degree needs to be in an area he wants to teach. He would need to go back to school if he wanted to be a college teacher, and he would need to support himself. And if hes not keen, whats the point.

i say good luck... its a well paid job, with pretty basic career opportunities....

Are you all not surprised though, with amount of graduates working as posties? its a well paid job. And what jobs are out there when your a graduate. what options are there? its one thing getting a piece of paper... it another thing getting a job with that piece of paper.

And i've got graduate mates, working as carers, in call centres, as cleaners... the only ones i know who did well, had someone paying to support them, while they looked for the 'perfect' job...

[mickeymacca]

I would think teaching is better career than postie. If you don't like young kids, you can do college and university teaching. There is plenty of option for teaching. If you get a job as postman it will be part time job with bit of overtime, and you might not be able to get full time job that easily. It is ok for short term job.

depends on what he's already chosen for schooling, what his degree is in, what his grade was... you need a masters to teach college or uni.
sounds like he's done a PGCE, which is a years course, and his degree needs to be in an area he wants to teach. He would need to go back to school if he wanted to be a college teacher, and he would need to support himself. And if hes not keen, whats the point.

i say good luck... its a well paid job, with pretty basic career opportunities....

Are you all not surprised though, with amount of graduates working as posties? its a well paid job. And what jobs are out there when your a graduate. what options are there? its one thing getting a piece of paper... it another thing getting a job with that piece of paper.

And i've got graduate mates, working as carers, in call centres, as cleaners... the only ones i know who did well, had someone paying to support them, while they looked for the 'perfect' job...

I have to agree with you there Catch22 there is a belief held by some that a degree is an automatic guarantee of a good job or a successful career. I have a 2:1 in History and have been on the post for about 6 years now, initially my career choice was teaching but after going in for some work experience prior to taking a course I realised it was n't for me. I also completed an accounting qualification a year or so ago, which I began while in a dead end job before RM. My intention was to pass part of the course and then get an entry position with an accountancy practice, however I have loved the job at RM so much that this never materialised. The job has become a lifestyle choice for me* and as I don't follow a consumerist lifestyle nor have kids it provides with enough money to live a comfortable life as well as a lot of free time to pursue other interests.

It does seem that times they are a changing though and the job is becoming much harder with target driven management dictating operations. Fortunately I have n't experienced the worst of this yet, but I am sure it is only a matter of time before the job deteriorates in its appeal to me. You will get a good idea of some of the issues RM staff have to contend with on this site, so that should help you come to the right decision, although remember this is not an exhaustive list of RM staff opinions.

Good Luck

[OnAFlyer]

My wife is a teacher. It's hard work, especially mentally, with long hours as well, but it's a hell of a lot better paid than being a postie.

My wife takes home £800 per month more than I do (that's after a big pension payment and student loans) but she probably works 60 hours a month more than me.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Operations Graduate Programme
Royal Mail

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[silly suffolk]

Operations Graduate Programme
Royal Mail

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can I get on this programme with a couple of cse's .

[k979aaa]

Operations Graduate Programme
Royal Mail

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The reason to do this is royalmail is a top down organisation if you can replace the middle to lower management structure with graduates on less pay and knowledge of how the business works you can also convince them of the way senior management want them to indoctrinate us all in the operational grades the trouble is they know f**k all about the job!

[mickeymacca]

Operations Graduate Programme
Royal Mail

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I subscribed to this website when I graduated teebs. A fantastic resource for graduates, but really depressing when you see the vast amount of graduate jobs on there are essentially sales jobs.

[R@YAL F@IL]

Stick to teaching matey, it will be the worst decision you will ever make going from teaching to this circus that is going to be slavery in 3 years time, some already say it is slaved labour now, the grass always seems greener on the other side DO NOT BELIEVE IT

[de91]

My wife is a teacher. It's hard work, especially mentally, with long hours as well, but it's a hell of a lot better paid than being a postie.

This pretty much sums it up - the mental drain of the long hours was unbearable, I managed to scrape through my final placement but had already decided that it wasn't for me. Maybe one day, but I need a big break before that day comes.

Just a quick update, got my job offer today as a postman - haven't heard back from the graduate application as of yet. Had an interview for customer assistant in a train station, meant to hear back from them at the end of this week.

Will have to see what news I get back from the trains job - but at the moment it looks like I will be starting my 3 month temp as a postman pretty soon. I am definitely going to try and use it as a stepping stone, and hopefully the hard work will convince me that teaching wasn't so bad after all ! Thanks for all your input, it definitely helps to put things into perspective.

[Judgee]

Will have to see what news I get back from the trains job - but at the moment it looks like I will be starting my 3 month temp as a postman pretty soon. I am definitely going to try and use it as a stepping stone, and hopefully the hard work will convince me that teaching wasn't so bad after all ! Thanks for all your input, it definitely helps to put things into perspective.

I'm betting you'll run back to teaching, screaming like you've just seen a ghost! Seeing what posties have to deliver these days usually makes new starters whimper and cry for thier mommies!

[martin the green]

on delivery and we use to get up in the middle of the night, now do not start till 6am and finish mid afternoon if lucky. ask staff at your local office who have long service. I know in ours the top 10 would snap your hand off if offered evr "early voluntary redundancy" what does that tell you