Graduate EmployabilityWednesday 13 March 2013

Being Employable

To be employed is to be at risk, to be employable at risk, to be employable

is to be secureDr Peter Hawkins (1999)

The present

The increasing diversity of the graduate

labour market and the graduate population

has meant that new graduates have had to

'carve-out' career routes rather than follow 'carve-out' career routes rather than follow

in the footsteps of their predecessors.

The Graduate Jobs Market

70% of ‘graduate jobs’ don’t specify subject

discipline

Reliance by some employers on pre

university grades as well as degree

Graduates to earn significantly more over their lifetime than non-

graduates

Relevant vocational degrees required in

some areas

Many fields have high numbers who are self

employed

Significant number of formal

placements/internships lead to jobs

Feedback from the Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR) & High Fliers Survey 2012

Degree

• 70% of jobs require a 2:1 or above

• 27% of employers demand specific degrees

• Increase of 6.4% in 2012 following a rise of 2.8% in 2011

• Almost half of employers expect to recruit more graduates in 2012

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Graduate Recruitment

• Almost half of employers expect to recruit more graduates in 2012 whilst more than a quarter plan to maintain their intake at 2011 levels

Graduate Jobs

• Starting salaries in 2012 are expected to remain unchanged for a third consecutive year – at a median of £29,000. Graduate starting salaries increased by 7.4% in 2010 and 5.9% in 2009

• Graduate recruitment at the UK’s leading employers remains below pre-recession levels

Statistics (From HESCU Survey, 2012)

• Business and management studies graduates entering

employment and working and studying leads to 74.3% in

employment six months after graduation, which is an increase for

the second year running

• Graduates with a media studies degree have a high employment • Graduates with a media studies degree have a high employment

rate with 71.8% in employment or working and studying

• 2010/11 Sports Science have a higher than average rate of self-

employment compared with all 2010/11 graduates

• Art and Design graduates are more likely to be self-employed or

freelance and are less likely to go into further study

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Statistics

• 66.1% of economics graduates who finished their study in 2010

were either in employment or working and studying six months

later.

• A 2012 HESA survey of 2011 graduates indicates that six months

after graduation, nearly 65% of graduates with travel and tourism after graduation, nearly 65% of graduates with travel and tourism

degrees had entered paid work.

• A third of law graduates from 2011 chose further study/training as

a sole activity.

• A higher number of Performing Arts graduates move into

education than from any other degrees in the arts, creative arts

and humanities

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Statistics

• Employment of environmental scientists and specialists is

projected to grow by 19% from 2010 to 2020.

• The number of sociology graduates as opposed to other social

science graduates in employment is above the national average

for graduates as a whole. for graduates as a whole.

• The percentage of computer science & IT graduates in

employment six months after graduation (64.2%) is higher than

the average for all 2010/11 graduates (61.8%).

• 20.7% of accountancy students were working and studying

compared with 7.6% of graduates from all subjects

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What do employers look for?

A good degree

Skills Skills –specific &

generic

A good job application

Mindset

21st Century Skills

Team work & Self management

Project management & Problem

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Project management & Business/Commercial awareness

Cultural sensitivity/awareness

Communication

Problem solving

Managing learning & career

Experience

“Experience is not what happens to you; it’s what

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happens to you; it’s what you do with what happens to you”

Aldous Huxley

Work experience is important

Even though the total number of vacancies is set to increase in 2012,

recruiters have confirmed that a third of this year’s entry-level

positions are expected to be filled by graduates who have already

worked for their organisations – either through industrial

placements, vacation work or sponsorships – and therefore are not

open to other students from the ‘Class of 2012’.

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open to other students from the ‘Class of 2012’.

More than half of recruiters warn that graduates who have had no

previous work experience at all are unlikely to be successful during

the selection process and have little or no chance of receiving a job

offer for their organisations’ graduate programmes

High Fliers Survey 2012

Message for students

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The key to unlocking potential:

Take personal responsibility

Middlesex University’s provision

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Placements InternshipsPart time/vacation

jobsVolunteering

ConsultingStudent

Ambassador

Careers Advice

Mentoring

The employability journey

Enhancing the student’s journey

from curriculum to career

Linking with Industry and professions

Embedding employability

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Sourcing work placement/

volunteering opportunities

Careers guidance

Introducing employers to

Middlesex students

Access to professional

bodies

Networking

Employers

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Employers

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The winning formula

Qualifications

Work Experience

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Skills

contacts

Employability

The Graduate Jobs Formula: How to land your dream career

Paul Redmond, Liverpool

University (2009)

Any Questions?

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