BY GABRIEL PRINCEWILL
A report from the Chartered Institution of Personnel and development states that more than half of graduate students work in jobs that do not require a degree, and that these numbers have reached saturating point.
This unfortunate state of affairs, according to the report, leaves many young people with a huge burden of debt as they enter the workplace, as nearly 60% of graduates are in jobs inconsistent with their qualification.
Laying emphasis on an over qualification and skills mismatch in the graduate Labour market, the report highlights that countries with a history of strong vocational training such as Germany have only 10% or less graduates in none graduate positions, stating a graduate rate of 54% in the UK and suggests that an apprenticeship may be a better option for those who have just completed G.C.S.E’s or A levels.
CIPD chief executive, Peter Cheese said ”efforts need to be redoubled to ensure young people who are making choices after receiving their GCSE and A-level results can access good quality careers information, advice and guidance so they can make better informed decisions,” he said.
“Our report highlights why young people should think carefully about opting for university when, for example, going into an apprenticeship at 16 or 18 could be a much better choice.”Parents should make sure they discuss the alternatives to university with their children, it added.
Mr Cheese indicated that in many cases the ”skill premium” is ”simply wasted”, highlighting that only 45% of graduates earn enough to repay their loans. However, nowhere in the report, does it decipher between graduates of different achievements. Te best graduate jobs usually stipulate a minimum requirement of a second upper degree (2’1),with the competition for those jobs intense.
COMPETENT GRADUATES
Competent graduates are usually drawn from this higher bracket, though there is no doubt there are relative underachievers in the lower bracket who are inherently as competent as those students in the upper echelon of the graduate hiearachy. Notwithstanding, it is the graduates with second Upper and first class grades who are normally in the real competition for graduate jobs.
Those students with second lower(2.2) or third class degrees are generally marginalized and relegated to the fringes of the Labour market, since there are not even enough top class jobs to match the wide number of pupils with first class or Second Upper grades. Nevertheless, there are always exceptions to this general rule, because the race for prominent posts in Labour market involves connections, fortitude, and a range of social skills that also project confidence and attract graduates to employers either directly or indirectly through a medium.
NETWORKING/SECRET
Networking and utilizing good contacts become the only real avenue for the wider group of second tier graduates, who really must optimize their use of contacts. Contacts are a hit and miss thing, often determined by the positioning of a student or his connections, but they can also be created through good initiative.
A level students will know the target grade as soon as they enter University.
The real secret is for students to develop and harness the skills necessary to form positive alliances in the work place by either taking a placement year to work with companies, or even voluntary unpaid work in the summer period after their first year with reputable companies and organizations. The will and insight to operate this way is freely offered to students in some good and well informed Universities, whilst other students either have that wisdom naturally or acquire it through the knowledgeable company they keep or social set up they are a part of.
