Graduates discuss their dire situations after university

The UK is currently in recession, and unemployment – particularly among young people – is at an all time high.  Many graduates are experiencing the full force of the economy, having their hopes for starting of their ideal careers dashed and working in jobs unrelated to their degree.

Many graduates are struggling to find a job in the tough climate despite their degree and degree classifications – a degree increases a person’s employment and graduate jobs usually require a graduate to have a degree classification of a 2:1 or above.

Empire08 graduated in 2011 and he talks about his struggles to find a job in his field:

“Graduated with a degree in Computer Science from Newcastle. Applied for many many jobs in the field, graduate schemes and entry level jobs. No luck there, so broadened my search to just ‘any full time job’. Couldn’t even get that.  I’m now working 20hrs a week in a call centre.”

Graduates are finding that despite having a degree, their lack of work experience or volunteering work is holding them back from getting a job.

Aggster graduated in 2011 but is currently unemployed.  She is struggling to find a job, expecially since she has no experience:

“I graduated with a 2.1 from Birmingham and am STILL job hunting! Wish someone had told me back then that experience is valuable on the job market, much more than your grades even. I find my lack of experience is stopping me from getting a job, and without a job I cannot get experience…and so the vicious cycle continues.”

However some graduates have managed to get into employment, through persistence, networking and work experience.

lcsurfer got her job through networking and work experience via her university:

“Nowadays it’s all about who you know and not what you know.  Within my degree it’s all about the contacts.  Our lecturers gave us loads of networking opportunities and job opportunities and ways to gain experience so we can boost our CV making us more employable!  I’m much better off when I start my job in Nepal this summer, and even got that job through networking.”

Nowadays, many students at school and sixth form/college are often expected to go to university after completing further education, to improve their employment prospects in order to land a graduate job.  However, times are difficult for graduates at the moment, especially with no work experience and no qualifications.

Even with students graduating from universities with degree classifications of 1st and 2:1s and struggling to get a job, it is definitely a sad reality for graduates who had hoped that their degrees would have improved their employment prospects.

What’s your view on the graduate job market, tell us in the comments box below…