What is the truth about Graduate Job Prospects?

The confusion about the earning potential of graduates has a particular poignancy for Careers Advisers. What do we tell the students and what do we tell those considering becoming students?

Do we subscribe to the Hesketh Brown view? Add up the numbers of traditional graduate jobs. Subtract that figure from the number of graduates, so that the resultant (very large) figure is a kind of graduate disappointment gap.

Or do we take the more comforting Purcell Elias view that graduates do move into satisfying work with a salary premium, even though this process is a slow gradual one?

And what of the latest findings that suggest a significant minority earning under £20000 at the age of 30?

Throw in the findings of the increased prevalence of the quarter-life crisis – young people in their mid to late 20’s experiencing serious anomie about their purpose and their roles.

And for good measure what about all those young males in the same age group who have mysteriously vanished – according to the last Census.

And what about the continuing crisis in the recruitment and retention of teachers, nurses, radiographers, social workers etc – graduate professions with a shortage of graduates?

The simple truth is that the existence of more graduate is bound to change a labour market which is in any case undergoing massive changes.

Low pay and lack of job security affect many graduates in many different occupations. Many of the staff working in Higher Education are a case in point – particularly contract researchers. Workers in the media endure similar conditions – check out the salaries of trainee reporters on a local newspaper. Advertising Agency creatives frequently spend long periods on unpaid ‘placements’ in the hope of securing a permanent job. Jobs in Think tanks, Charities, Research bodies are frequently preceded by spells as volunteers. Do students undertaking degrees in sculpture, theology, performing arts, philosophy, classics,  calculate a generous pay-back on their investment? It seems unlikely. Furthermore many students choose courses like this despite ‘advice’ from parents, teachers and other professionals.

If a student wishes to base their choice of course on job or even money prospects then there is ample scope for that in UK Higher Education. Thankfully there are  students  who factor a wider range of elements into their choice making: intellectual curiousity, a wish to understand society, global politics, environmental protection, an urge to make music or visual art.

The question of course is whether they will feel able to make such choices when they will be incurring large debts by so doing. It may well be that Higher Education choice becomes a more pragmatic process

CV writing tips

I thought I would share this little piece I wrote about the option for writing your CV.

CV data can be handled in 2 different ways to create subtly different effects:

1. Chronological

Mckinsey and Company         1/07 – 5/07     

Worked in the research and information department on a business project. Acquired research skills and was trained on Reuters and Bloomberg information systems. Worked closely with the management consultant commissioning the project and shared responsibility with one other person for its content and viability

Legal Technologies   1/05 – 12/06

Work included document indexing and discovery on a case for a multi-national company                                                                                                           

NEC Corp, Japan           10/03 – 10/04

Teaching and recruiting students for an English Language school in Kobe. A key aspect of the job was promoting the company and persuading prospective students of the strengths of the school. Strong organisational skills were required to co-ordinate lessons and structured paths of learning for students                                                        

Prior to going to Japan I completed some short assignments in several companies, including:

J Accountancy Services         May/June 03

Assisted a team of accountants by dealing with tax queries and doing various administrative tasks. Gained an insight into a high-pressure environment and developed my communication skills, as enquiries were dealt with mainly by phone.

Natwest Bank             March/April 03

Gained wide-ranging office experience and increased my knowledge of computer applications.            

2. Skills-based

Communication

• Acquired clear, structured, precise communication skills as a language teacher and customer services assistant.
• Learned to listen carefully to diagnose problems and speak persuasively to market and promote services

 

Teamwork

• Worked closely with other staff in support of professionals to complete a number of businesses, marketing educational and legal projects.
• Demonstrated the ability to adapt to different groups, promote corporate objectives, take and share responsibility. 

 

Information and Research

• Have briefed myself on a range of business areas using both the skills and knowledge of professionals and information systems such as Reuters and Bloomberg’s.
• Have mastered document indexing and a range of IT systems used in banking.
• Have taken joint responsibility for the content and validity of an important business research project

 

Business Awareness

• Gained insights into the operations of a number of major business professions including consultancy, accountancy, banking and law.
• Worked for several blue-chip organisations and absorbed their methods and procedures.
• Achieved success in the handling of existing customers and the winning of new ones in a tax consultancy and a language school

What is Guidance

We are going through a process of updating our definition of Guidance.  I discover that I am quite at odds with the one we currently use – and the proposed new one we are considering. It seems that we have come to see Guidance as something which is closer to what used to be known as career counselling. I think this is a mistake. Career counselling is a very necessary tool in the kit-bag of the Careers Adviser. But the beauty of the notion of ‘guidance’ is that it is able to include a whole varity of activities which help people choose what they do next in (or for) their career: a careers fair, an employer forum, the writing of a hand-out, a careers lecture, a careers workshop, a Facebook update or blog post. No one of these is ‘guidance’ but guidance could involve any or all of these things.

One key issue here is the role of ‘advice’. In advice the professional does not play the role of impartial facilitator. In ‘advice’ the practitioner offers ‘judgements’ based on knowledge of the matters under discussion. ‘Advice’  comes from an expert witness – one in our case who has made it his or her business to gather relevant information and assess it in order to relate it to the client. Some of our clients need and require this – and some complain when they do not get it.

It is a legitimate need and students are entitled to expect it to be met within reason ( No I have no idea of the job market for Circus performers).

The debate about advice and guidance is similar to the debates about teaching and learning. All professionals agree that the key element is ‘learning’. Teaching is hard to assess unless you place it against some template of learning. However, this should not detract from the way that ‘teaching’  can dramatically improve the quality of learning ( or dramatically damage it). Advice is a kind of Teaching process. It does not steer the client step by step through a series choice points ( helpful though that sometimes be) it invites the client to climb to a constructed eminence to view the future or a map of it. ” Applications to big 4 accountancy firms do not require you to have A-level mathematics – so you should not rule it out for that reason” So there’s a statement of ‘fact’ and a ‘should’. Risky things to offer: what if the fact were not true, and what is the force of ‘should’? Risky things but taking those risks is what the CA should be prepared to do. The clue, by the way, is in the job title.