Last year in the UK approximately 650,000 people attended university and that’s approximately an increase of a third on the year before. For some young people going to university is viewed as a right of passage. It’s a time when they can focus on a subject or career field that interests them while, for many, experiencing living away from the family home for the first time.
While some of the degrees studied are vocational, specialised and ultimately lead to specific career fields, others are more general. So what are the options for graduates and what is the value of a university education to employers.
Graduate Programmes
Graduates of universities are eligible to apply to graduate programmes. Such structured training programmes allow graduates to fast track into management and senior roles in public bodies, such as the police.
The value to the employer is that they get to shape your learning to take account of their company values, procedures and brand.
An attractive proposition for many newly graduated job seekers, but there’s a catch. Graduate programmes are well established and highly competitive. This means they tend to ask for graduates with top grades and can pick from a large pool of qualified applicants. This also means that the majority of graduates may find it difficult to obtain a place on a graduate programme.
Internships
Internships are usually formal work experience opportunities. They are useful if you want to build experience with a particular company or in a field of work and make valuable contacts to pursue your career ambitions. As work placements they may be unpaid or minimum wage, which may preclude some people from participating.
If you do decide an internship is right for you be prepared to take full advantage of the opportunities it offers you. Network and make a good impression. Employers often use internships to vet potential employees and if there are no vacancies, making contacts within the industry can be very useful. Internships are also an opportunity to develop the soft skills you need to get ahead in your career choice.
Try to learn any job specific technical skills while on the job and gather as much knowledge related to the career field and industry as possible. The kind of experience you gain while on an internship may help you breeze through a competitive interview or provide the contacts to find work via social media.
Work experience placement
Industry and career specific work experience doesn’t have to be formal internships. If you are ambitious, you can create your own opportunities. Contact the employers you are interested in, explain who you are, provide a well written CV and ask if they would be interested in providing the opportunity for a short, unpaid work placement. The same opportunities offered by an internship might be available within a work experience placement you create yourself. The added benefit is the initiative you would have shown in identifying the opportunity and setting it up. Initiative is a soft skill employers are constantly interested in.
Value of a degree in the job market
Some careers require a specific degree to enter the field, for instance, a doctor, architect, teacher, dentist, chartered engineer, etc. In this section I’m referring to other career fields such as a language, history, business, marketing or even IT.
In a competitive job market people sometimes believe a degree is a prerequisite. Holding a degree level qualification will certainly enhance a CV so the value of a degree to show knowledge is clear. Some employers may request a recent graduate within the description for an advertised vacancy. However, the reality is that many people find themselves in a job, once they graduate, for which they feel over qualified. Others may feel unable to find the right role for their qualifications.
Employers, often overwhelmed by the number of applicants holding a degree level qualification, look for other factors to distinguish between applicants. They focus on soft skills which come with experience. Confidence and a thorough knowledge of the industry and the role for which you are applying are all highly valued. So, while a degree level qualification for some career fields is useful, it isn’t enough on its own for a competitive career field.
And finally…
A university degree is about more than the qualification. This is particularly important today where people in most countries have to fund their own higher education. The value of a degree should be considered in the context of the whole university experience.
Developing your soft skills, such as being a confident communicator, able to use and illustrate the use of your initiative and problem solving skills all matter in a competitive job market. Even if a degree level qualification is typically requested or expected in the descriptions of advertised job vacancies, it’s the soft skills and experience which will get you the job.
If you are willing to take advantage of all the opportunities a higher education can offer to develop as a person you might be able to establish yourself as a real contender in the job market. And by doing this you will ensure the value of the degree you have studied is realised.