The truth behind the Statistics

Recently a University (From now on label this university x) recorded that they had an 96.1% of graduates employed after they graduated, that is startling figure especially during the current graduate unemployment crisis.

But what does that statistic actually mean, does it mean that university x is a great university to go to if you are looking for full time job after you graduate or is that number extrapolated to justify that university x is a great university for employment. In my opinion it probably means both.

Students looking to go to university now should be weary about the future job prospects after they graduate. This might seem a strange thing to say, but by the time you have got through your first couple of years, you should have a mental and physical picture of what you want to do when you graduate, therefore the statistics of people employed should be a very useful guide on which university you want to go.

However there is more to these statistics that originally first thought?

What you have to consider is what the statistics do not take into account, is your job entirely related to your degree. Is this job part time / full time or even is this casual work, just to stop the annoying people who conduct the survey to stop bugging you.

Css-tricks conducted a survey based on how related is degree to current job. Of 5,500 votes casted online, 40% (2,187) said that it was not related and only 37% (2,011) said it was directly related. This suggests that graduates leaving university are most likely faced with going into a job which isn’t entirely related to your degree. Would you say this was money well spent?

It would also be interesting to see how many of the students were actually employed on graduate schemes? Obviously these figures would reveal the naked truth of our education system. Furthermore whether there are enough graduate schemes for the number of students coming through. Of course research organisations would be scared to release this information and the detrimental impact it could have.

Persistent Pays | Persistent Pays off in the End

Typical Scenario: You have just submitted an application, you have spent ages attempting and filling out the questions and it’s been two weeks and you haven’t heard anything? They said they would get back to you in ten working days but this is clearly not the case.

What do you do? Sit back and wait for them to contact you? NO that will only leave you pondering where your application has gone. Should you Call, Email a follow up to your application? YES, you have got your foot in the door its time to widen that door now and follow up your application.

The key here is that persistence pays off in the end. By following up your application with an email or phone call, reiterating your interest in working for Insert Company then this could be beneficial to support your application.

A typical follow up response could be as highlighted here:

Dear Mr. James,

I submitted a letter of application and a resume earlier this month for the programmer position advertised in the Times Union. To date, I have not heard from your office. I would like to confirm receipt of my application and reiterate my interest in the job.

I am very interested in working at XYZ Company and I believe my skills and experience would be an ideal match for this position.

If necessary, I would be glad to resend my application materials or to provide any further information you might need regarding my candidacy. I can be reached at (555)555-5555 or jdoe@abcd.com. I look forward to hearing from you.

Thank you for your consideration.

Following up your application with an enquiry also means you are catching the employer unaware, this could mean they have been slow to react to your application and actually they should pick their feet up and review your application. Employers love candidates to catch them unaware, it also shows your are persistent and you want to reiterate your interest and that you are still very much interested in working for the company you applied in the first place.

Moreover the phrase 'If you don’t ask you don’t get' is never more so true in this scenario, the ability to follow up your application with an email enquiring about the status is much as important as submitting it. You want your employer to know about you, you want to work for this organisation not that they want you to work for their organisation.

Graduate Schemes or Jobs or a mixture of both?

My friend recently attended an assessment interview for a finance leadership graduate scheme. When he got there he was startled to find out that the company had over 30,000 applications for all graduate positions within the company he was applying too.

This statistic proves that it is increasingly difficult for perspective graduates to get their foot on the career ladder.

I am in the process of submitting applications for graduate programmes, although this is still my main focus; I am applying speculatively to other companies too, just because they don’t have vacancies on their website, doesn’t mean they don’t have vacancies at all. In some cases they will have vacancies and want people to fill.

Furthermore there are loads of companies out there who don’t have graduate schemes, but have vacancies for jobs instead. Yes graduate schemes are impressive and if you are fortunate to land yourself on one then congratulations, but what’s really the difference between a normal jobs in the industry, than a graduate job? They both still pay equivalent or near enough the same amount. They both allow you to progress within the company.

It seems every article these days in the media is centered on how many graduate jobs there out there for prespective graduates. What is a reality however is that you are probably better off just applying for a normal job in the industry such as a sales executive, marketing executive. These roles aren’t specifically graduate jobs, but the process in which you apply for these may be shorter and may lead you to less competition with other prespective graduates all in the same position as you.

Moreover I am concentrating on finishing my degree. Your degree is one of the most important elements, without a good degree these days you will find it difficult to get on the career ladder. Whilst graduate programmes are important and after you graduate you want to be able to work in several big organisations, the foremost and most important element should be your degree.