Where Do Graduates Go?

"What Do Graduates Do" (see recent post) also contains a breakdown of the likely areas of the UK in which graduates are likely to find their first job, with some interesting analysis according to job sector.

Unsurprisingly, just over a third of all graduates ended up working in South East England and 21% went to jobs in London, although many were concentrated in the City of London and Westminster, a very small geographic area, whereas under 7% took up jobs in North East England and Northern Ireland.

But a look at destinations broken down by career sector showed up some other happy hunting grounds for graduates looking for jobs outside the centre of London:

• Marketing graduates also found work in the London Borough of Camden, Hertfordshire, Surrey, Oxfordshire and Manchester.
• Science graduates were most likely to start work in Oxfordshire or Cambridgeshire but Merseyside, Surrey, Norfolk and Aberdeen (also the main centre for oil and gas engineering) were popular destinations.
• Outside London, Surrey, Cambridgeshire, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Belfast and Tyne and Wear took on IT graduates in considerable numbers.
• Similarly, graduates in Art and Design subjects also found opportunities in Merseyside, Hertfordshire, Surrey, Manchester, Kent, Glasgow and Edfinburgh.

Of course, many career areas (e.g. retail management, energy, public sector jobs) offer a wider geographic spread of opportunities but the overall message is that graduates in less affluent parts of the country will struggle to find graduate jobs locally - and of course none of the areas mentioned fall within Cumbria or North Lancashire.

Incidentally, you can find an online version of "What Do Graduates Do?" 2012 on the HECSU website

What Do Graduates Do?

Although graduate employment levels for 2010-11 were slightly down on the previous year, there were considerable variations between different subjects of study, according to "What Do Graduates Do?" (WDGD) 2012, based on the annual survey of Destinations of Higher Education Leavers that takes place each year.

One career area that clearly bucked the downward trend was Computer Science and IT which showed an 8.5% rise in graduate employment and e-skills UK have forecast that growth in IT employment will grow at twice the UK average until 2020.  Of course, not all entrants into the industry will have studied IT as a main subject at University.

Less good news came unexpectedly from the public sector with a big fall in entrants and the trend extended to include occupational therapists, physiotherapists, radiographers, teachers and probation officers.  These areas each offered over 100 posts less than 2010-11 but the biggest drop was in the number of social work entrants, which fell by 420.  This is certainly not great news for the University of Cumbria, which offers courses in all the professions listed except probation.

The report once again showed the importance of self-employment to graduates from performance arts, media production and art and design. 64.6% or artists and 85.3% of musicians were recorded as being self employed or freelancers six months after graduation.

The Business Studies area is one that exemplifies the "mixed message" theme identified in the WDGD report.  Although it shows up with a higher level of unemployment than average (10.1%) and a sharp drop in the numbers going on to further study, each of the key disciplines of Accountancy, Business Management and Marketing showed high levels of graduates going straight into relevant employment.

They were also some of the subjects that produced less graduates working as Retail, Catering, Waiting and Bar staff, a denomination which covers a large number graduates yet to find a suitable career opportunity by the date of the survey - although longitudinal studies show that many succeed in doing so over a longer period of time.

FAQ: Is there a certain way to write a CV depending on what job you are applying for?

This is going to be a 'yes and no' type of answer!

Broadly speaking, third year students and graduates can feel fairly safe if they adopt the traditional, two-page, reverse chronological, approach covering the key headings of Education, Employment, Interests and Achievements and References (one academic reference and one from the world of work) or the skills-based approach where you have a strong section on your employment-related skills instead of much detail on your past jobs.  If you don't understand the difference between these two approaches, you might like to do some initial research using the resources like those mentioned at the end of this post.

However, there are some mainly slight differences that do occur according to your career interest.

For example, Law CVs tend to be highly traditional.  The skills-based approach is not favoured and neither are off-the-wall presentational features. Unlike other areas, all exam results including GCSEs should be stated, including all degree modules and results.

On the other hand, imaginative approaches that break the 'normal' CV mould can work in some employment sectors although it should be remembered that they are always a 'high risk strategy' that can succeed spectacularly or fail totally.  For careers in the creative sector it is probably best to stay with a fairly standard approach, but ensure the CV conveys a sense of good visual presentation, and include a link to your online portfolio.

For those whose degrees are recognised professional qualifications (e.g. teachers, health professionals), some useful pointers are:

• Quote your professional registration or PIN number in your personal details (or say that it's awaited) to demonstrate your eligibility
• Offer some comments about parts of your course you found interesting or significant
• You must include details of your course placements including what you did or learned on them

Probably the only area where the approach to the CV is completely different is the wonderful world of Acting and Performance, where it is usual (unlike UK CVs in general) to include a photograph of yourself but to omit your school qualifications altogether. Details such as your physical appearance, the ages and accents you can portray would however be included.

This is the latest in our occasional series of Careers FAQs.  For more information about CV writing, see the links we have provided at http://delicious.com/skillzone/cv  or one of the numerous books on the subject in the University and public libraries. University of Cumbria students can also find more information on the Jobs&Careers tab on the Blackboard Virtual learning Environment.

Creative Industries To Buck the Trend?

Careers staff at the University of the Arts, London have noted that in spite of all the bad news on the graduate jobs market, they have had a 30% rise in vacancies notified to their Creative Opportunities vacancy website.

Apparently employers are starting to favour recruiting new graduates (or interns instead of graduates) in place of those with more experience.

They markedly favour word of mouth sources of recruitment and many are turning to social networking sites like Facebook and Linked In to find recruits.