Should Students Be Taught How To Search For A Job?
The graduates leaving university this year have left knowing that the current job market is at its most competitive for decades
. An estimated 300,000 graduates are leaving university and entering the job market this summer alone. Graduates who attended English Universities are statistically likely to be the most in debt. Statistics also show that an estimated 40,000 graduates were expected to still be desperately searching for a job over six months after graduating.
Figures recorded from a survey of final year students show how the students involved slowly became more and more depressed at the job prospects that would be open to them after graduation. Back in summer 2009 the students questioned seemed fairly upbeat about their prospects but jumping forwards a year it is clear to see that the students became confronted with the reality of the after effects of the recession.
Students have also expressed how they have had to think in terms of what is realistically open to them rather than thinking in terms of what they had wanted to do or indeed attended university to do.
Some of the students quizzed were still confident that within six months of graduation they would have found a high powered and well paid role. Some of them even suggested that they would not consider earning anything less than 30,000 per year. The survey also showed that some of the graduates asked had a genuine belief that they would get a perfect job just because they had obtained a degree pass.
Graduate careers fairs are intend to educate students as to what may be available after graduation although when these events are held students often skip attending as they are too busy concentrating on studying for final exams or completing coursework.
With the number of students ever increasing this problem seems unlikely to go away. Perhaps it is time for the universities to take a more active role in helping graduates find work.