You've studied for three years, you spent the weekends of your third year in the library, you didn't go to house parties and you were president of 6 student societies The time is now right for you to receive your prize. You attend your graduation, your name is called, you receive your badge of honour, your degree certificate. Your hopes for employment are high, a nice management consultancy, with lots of fringe benefits and perhaps a company car. You apply and nothing, you apply some more and still no joy, months pass and you are still unemployed.
This is the reality which faces many graduates, especially since the financial crisis of 2008. The current labour market is awful. In a recent guardian article, up to 40% fail to get graduate-level work two years after gaining degree. Also a study by Warwick University (2012) found that 10% of the 17,000 surveyed had significant levels of unemployment.
What can you do to avoid being one of these statistics?
- Don't rely on just having a degree it's all about extra curricular, work experience of any kind is better than none, baby sitting, gardening any thing. Get your money's worth out of your tuition fees.
- Voluntary work make sure you get involved in any thing you're interested in at University, college or school.
- Write a proper CV- there's no good just listing experiences, go to your careers centre, talk to family and friends, look at templates on word. There is no excuse for a poorly written CV.
- Make the most of your experiences, if you have a part time job, get experiences in the areas you want to develop yourself in. If you don't ask, you won't get!
- Only embark in postgraduate study if it is a requirement of your chosen career or you think it will help you in the job market. Do not rely on postgraduate degrees as a 'get out of jail free card'
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