Will paying £9,000 a year for higher education land you a better job? Not an unreasonable question you might think but in these austere economic times the answer is a bit more complex; graduates may need all the help they can get.
All the evidence points to the fact that graduates fare better in any labour market than non-graduates; unemployment rates are consistently lower than for those with A-level equivalent qualifications and lifetime earnings among graduates soar ahead of non-graduate earnings in virtually all occupational areas.
Despite concerns to the contrary, graduates have maintained their lead in the job market even during periods of massive increases in graduate numbers which reinforces the view that graduate skills are being absorbed by the economy in general and by employers in particular. However, things are getting tougher for graduates; some of them think they need more help than they get.
The Futuretack study is tracking the career development of more than 50,000 students from UCAS application until two years after graduating.
We are currently at the final stage, but the findings already show us that students of non-vocational courses are much more likely than those on vocational courses to take up career services. This might be explained by the assumption that those on vocational courses have already made a job choice and feel they don't need so much career advice. If only it were so simple.
The current economic climate is producing a good deal of turbulence and uncertainty; for example, the near collapse of the construction industry means that it's harder for architecture graduates to find jobs in architecture – fewer house sales affects demand for solicitors - and so on. So it may be counter-intuitive, but graduates of non-vocational subjects could be finding it easier to get a job in some industries and those with vocational specialisms may need to think creatively about how to make good use of their learning.
It may now be the case that all graduating students have need of career support, irrespective of the subject they studied, because the old assumptions just don't hold up anymore.
If it's true that the early-bird catches the worm, it follows that graduates who begin their career planning early, by taking opportunities to develop their experiences and skills, will land the job, and universities are stepping up to the plate by providing increasingly sophisticated forms of career support to students throughout their time in HE.
Long gone are the days of just getting a bit of help to compile a CV or a nice chat with a friendly adviser; now students and graduates can expect career development support to be integrated into the curriculum, work placement opportunities to be provided and to engage in innovative work-related learning.
Far from being forced down a previously chosen vocational route, students and graduates are encouraged to explore and assess their own skills and interests and use their higher education flexibly. Which may be just as well, because if you are one of those who chose a subject three or four years ago, and the bottom has just dropped out of that particular labour market, then degree learning has to be transferable to other, new and emerging job contexts.
There is much speculation about the proportion of jobs that will be taken up by graduates that have not yet been envisioned. This can be borne out by just looking back 10 to 15 years, and asking how many jobs for website optimisation manager were around then? The labour market is dynamic and unpredictable.
A feature of the UK graduate labour market is that around six out of 10 graduates are recruited to jobs where their particular subject was not the deal-breaker and graduate employers look for more than subject knowledge. Countless studies have confirmed that what employers want from graduates are such attributes as, innovation, flexibility, problem-solving with strong interpersonal and communication skills and a global as well as local focus.
It's a complex world that awaits the newly graduated. Yet they remain optimistic. Futuretrack has found that those graduating in 2009/10 were acutely aware that the current economic climate makes it more difficult to find 'suitable' employment but the overwhelming majority are optimistic about their long-term career plans.
What we really need to know now, is how those graduates of 2009 and 2010 have progressed in the labour market; what are they doing now? How have their plans developed? With hindsight, what kinds of career support would have benefited their entry into the labour market? Whould universities do things differently to promote employability now that students are facing substantial bills for fees?
All of these questions will be answered at the final stage of Futuretrack. To take part visit https://www.snapsurveys.com/futuretrack?u=hmed – you must have applied though UCAS to attend UK full-time undergraduate courses between September 2005 and September 2006.
Jane Artess, director of research, Higher Education Careers Services Unit
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