AHEAD Careers Committee News

Thoughts from The Careers Subcommittee –Update on the current Graduate employment market.

The Higher Education Statistical Agency conducts an annual survey on the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education (DLHE). The Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services organisation sources the information, and ‘Prospects’ publishes these results, and has recently produced the ‘What Do Graduates Do’ for the 2017 leavers: see: https://luminate. prospects.ac.uk/what-do-graduates-do This is the only nationally recognised report on the employment of all new graduates.

The overall picture described was encouraging with the percentage in employment being up on the 2016 figure, and the unemployment rate slightly down. It appears that more were employed in ’professional’ level employment, though there was an increase in the percentage working with ‘zero hours’ contracts’. A slightly higher percentage proceeded onto further study, maybe to acquire a professional qualification (eg Teaching, Law, etc) or for a Higher Degree developing their degree subject.

First degree Graduates destinations (2017):

Source: ‘What do Graduates Do?’ 2018 edition (www.hecsu. ac.uk)

Future reports will show results after surveying graduates 15 months after graduation which should produce a much more comprehensive view of graduate employment as evidence suggests surveying destinations only six months after graduation is too early to gain an accurate picture. However, for the 2018 cohort and beyond, given the possibility of an uncertain market ‘post Brexit’, some reduction in large employers’ recruitment, an increase in the number of graduates, and some low morale regarding a competitive market, students need to be as active as possible to improve their chances of securing employment. Clearly a positive attitude to researching opportunities and obtaining good academic results helps, but two other factors for success stand out, and Old Millhillians help with both. Work Experience and Networking.

One of the most important factors for success in finding employment is having some Work Experience. This work experience helps students acquire not only technical skills, but also to develop work awareness, and generic employability insights. Employers increasingly use evidence of real life work experience to select suitable entrants. Research conducted in 2018 by the ‘High Flyers’ organisation found a third of ‘The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers’ indicated that students with no work experience would be unlikely to be successful in their graduate recruitment processes.

The world of work has become far more fragmented with the growth of smaller entrepreneurial organisations, gig economy, global markets, increased mobility, and the decline in a ‘job for life’. Furthermore, The Resolution Foundation reported recently that 75% of the working population don’t know what their weekly income will be. It is often quoted that around 60% of jobs are never advertised, existing within ‘The Hidden Job Market’. To improve the chances of being successful students need to develop networking skills, alongside the more conventional methods of researching careers and jobs, to uncover unadvertised opportunities, and market themselves.

What the OMs are doing to help.

The Club has, of course, been active for many years in running an annual series of well attended networking events covering a wide range of different occupational areas including: The Medical Professions, Engineering, Media, Legal, Property, Accountancy and Finance. The club hopes to increase the range of such events; one on Creative Arts is taking place this autumn. These events provide excellent opportunities for both students and young professionals to meet practitioners and discover about the work.

Also, as announced in the last edition of Martlet, the Careers Committee conducted a survey of Old Millhillians willing to help pupils and YOMS with their career development. The response was impressive with over 200 OMs replying positively, including many potentially offering some form of work experience, and others to help with the school careers education programme. The committee is working now on analysing the opportunities revealed, and creating systems to make them useful to students and YOMS. The results will be published in due course.

Extract from the Old Millhillians section of the Mill