I've read a couple of articles today in the Independent Newspaper and The Guardian about graduate job prospects.
Now, I graduated in 2012 with a good 2:1 in English which, let's face it, is a good 'all rounder' degree which would be beneficial for most graduate jobs out there...unless it's something particularly specialised like, for example, accounting (my maths is really bad) or medicine (all my medical training comes from watching Holby City).
The articles discuss several things: (1) Graduate employment prospects are flourishing; (2) the average starting salary is £29,000, and (3) of the 10,000 graduates who secured employment (which did not require a degree), 20,000 graduates were still unemployed.
Let's start with the average starting salary. I can first-hand vouch that the starting salaries advertised for the graduate jobs in my surrounding area in the North West are NOT £29,000. Great, if you live in London or not far from London, but I can confirm that that starting salary does not travel past the Watford Gap to graduate jobs in my neck of the woods. You're looking at between £17,000 to £19,000 for a graduate job up here. So, unless you're prepared to relocate then great, fantastic, go for it! But, if like myself, you already have a mortgage or it's not possible relocate for whatever reason then you're a bit stuck.
Secondly, graduate prospects are flourishing. Yes, they probably are, but there are so many of us going after these precious graduate jobs that competition is so fierce that employers are becoming even more selective about who they choose to interview, with an average of 46 applications per graduate job. Part of the issue I have is that I was (and still am) a mature student. I'm 38 and unlike many of my peers I've already had a career, as a legal secretary. I don't mean that in a dismissive or derogatory sense but a large percentage of graduates are 21 or 22 fresh faced blank canvasses ready to be moulded into what employers are looking for. I am an old pro at the working for a living caper and I'm probably be seen as over qualified and therefore too expensive to employ. I'm not saying this is the case for every mature graduate out there, this is only the experience I've had. I know, the 'transferable skills' I've accumulated over the years would benefit many of the jobs I apply for but sadly, these employers are not willing to find out. It might also be that they just don't like what I write on my application forms, there is that.
Finally, graduate unemployment. This is still a major problem, but not just for graduates, for everyone. Whilst the demand for graduate jobs is on the increase it can quite easily be applied to the job market in general. For the jobs which are available, so many people are applying for them that it doesn't matter whether you have a degree or not, you're up against stiff competition from every single person who applies for that job.
We are still in a time of severe austerity...though, I had to laugh when George Osborne said in his Spending Review last week, that the rich people in this country have been hardest hit. Really George, are you sure about that??
As I said earlier, I'm still a mature student I went straight into a Masters degree after I finished my undergraduate degree, and I graduate (hopefully, you never know, my dissertation could end up being a complete car crash) in December. I'm also applying to study for a Phd starting this September (fingers crossed). All this studying though needs paying for. Sadly I don't have the looks or the body to take my clothes off for money (though a good friend of mine did once tell me I was a niche market, so I might have to reconsider that option), so I need to find gainful employment to be able to pay for my education. I'm happy to return to being a legal secretary to pay for it all, but because I refuse to omit part of my education from my C.V. so as not to appear over qualified, I'll just have to keep going until I'm the only person suitable for the job.
