I recently graduated from university, and to be completely honest, with a masters degree in maths/physics from a top university I felt that I was above menial work. I don't think it makes me a snob (I worked for 6 years at ASDA whilst at college/uni), I just don't see why I should sell myself short and accept a job I am clearly capable of doing better than. I didn't want to lower my chances of getting a graduate level job because of a ty minimum wage job.

The graduate job applications are an absolute nightmare, It was pretty much a full time job, and I genuinely don't think I would've been able to give myself the best chance of getting a job if I were working.

I don't think older people have any idea how time consuming graduate job hunting is. To give you a rough idea, for each job I applied to I probably spent a full day initially researching the company, then another full day filling out the application form, and answering all the motivation/competency questions (the average was probably 5 questions, 300 word limit for each) Then there's the online tests (one of the big 4 made me do 5 separate tests). When I passed these stages I spent maybe 3 or 4 full days researching the company/preparing for the interview. Then another day or two revising everything before my assessment day/second interview. I did about 20 graduate applications, and got to the interview stage of most.

Also, I think there are a lot of snobby recruiters out there, and I think that a lot of the prestigious companies would be put off from hiring someone who graduated from uni then went to work at Starbucks or Morrisons. Yes being unemployed looks worse, but if you do some charity work/travelling like I did, and sell it as a gap year it looks a lot better.

Before I get any abuse, In my time unemployed I'm not claiming JSA or any benefits - I'm doing a bit of maths tutoring, and I'm lucky that my parents can help me out a bit.

If I did a subject with limited opportunity for tutoring and my parents couldn't help me out, then I would've claimed JSA whilst I was job hunting, and the forced employment would've lowered my chances of getting a top graduate job compared with those not forced to claim JSA.

Yes there are loads of people with a 2.2 in media studies from a poor uni who probably need to get used to menial work, but not at the expense of punishing talented, poor graduates by forcing them to work at poundland when they should be doing job applications.

I would have thought brighter minds than those of us who inhabit the Sin Bin would have thought of this before and so for reasons beyond us decided the new car route was the way to go. Just a theory. EDIT - just been explained by BG.

However that isn't the issue. Under the new PIP rules about 500,000 people will no longer qualify for the equivalent higher rate of DLA which is the point at which you qualify for access to the Motability scheme.

So it doesn't really matter if Motability qualified them for a heap of junk or brand new motor. They aren't going to get either when it comes in. [iThat is the issue[/i.

You never bothered reading my response to Sal Paradise then?

That is all true, I've had the wool pulled from my eyes a few years ago - to be precise, when I started to have to pay for my own car instead of the luxury of having the company pay for it.

It was a blinding flash of inspiration when I realised that none, absolutely NONE of the car mechanics I have known over the years have ever owned a brand new car, not even the mechanis I've known who OWNED the bloody garages have ever had a new car, they all buy them at 3+ years and just maintain them for ever.

I have two cars in the family that I pay for myself, one is an Aug 06 with only 36k miles, its needed a new battery in all of that time and three regular service visits, the other is an Aug 05 with 65k miles and it just reaching the point where what you'd call "major" things are going wrong, I replaced the clutch & had the gearbox reconditioned last year and have had a new starter motor fitted none of which will need doing again in its lifetime, total cost last year around £800 for maintenance, sounds a lot but if I'd been running a company lease car still then that would have been between two and three months non-maintained lease cost.

As regards early years "depreciation" a big chunk is the 20% VAT you incur at t=o. That is the biggest argument against buying a new car. Not sure how it works for Motability but they presumably recover the VAT on the cars they acquire by way of their business? So, their early "depreciation" costs are that much less.