A Career Is Born!

Thanks to the efforts of the Beer Academy a new career has come over the horizon - that of a Beer Sommelier!

According to "Wetherspoon News", the Academy introduced its Beer Sommelier scheme in 2011 to help restaurateurs, publicans and bar staff develop on their expertise on many students' favourite subject on the lines of the more established wine sommelier.  As well as advising on quality, a key part of the sommelier's role is to suggest how beverages can be paired with food items on the establishment's menu. So, for example in the case of beer, it seems Belgian raspberry beer works really well with chocolate pudding and a tangy IPA is the perfect compliment for a Stilton at dessert.

To become a beer sommelier, candidates have to pass the Beer Academy's Advanced Training Course as well as a course entitled "How To Judge Beer" plus an 'oral' (presumably verbal) examination and a blind tasting in which they have to identify different styles of beer.  Examiners look not only for a high level of technical expertise but good communication skills to convey their enthusiasm about beer.  A written portfolio, showing the candidate's skills in pairing beer and food in practice is also required.

Apparently, the Beer Academy has identified a gap in the market for beer connoisseurs, but it is not yet clear whether we can expect a flood of vacancies coming through on the University of Cumbria Job Shop

Can Things Only Get Better? The Futuretrack Survey

Following on from the broad brush but optimistic approach of the last couple of posts the Futuretrack survey reported in "Graduate Market Trends" offers some contrasting insights as it studies the development of a group of students who started University in 2006.  In other words, most of them graduated at the time when graduate unemployment was at its highest (8.9%).

Unenployment and Under-Employment

Over 30% of those studied were still in what is classed as non-graduate level employment by the time of the latest survey in February 2012, although with considerable variations according to degree subject.  Looking on the negative side men, those aged 21-25 on applying to University (interestingly) and those from ethnic minority groups were found to be at most risk of unemployment after graduation, whereas (unsurprisingly) graduates achieving First Class Honours were much less likely to be on the dole.

There are also clear suggestions that those students who got involved in extra curricular activities, and especially those who held roles as a student representative or official were more likely to be in 'graduate level' jobs by 2012.  The interesting point here is that first generation graduates from poorer backgrounds are far less likely to have found the opportunity to take on this kind of function.  The same group are also more likely to be put off considering postgraduate study, which the survey finds has become less popular following the introduction of tuition fees.

Job Satisfaction

One of the tables in the Stage 4 Futuretrack report provides an insight into the degree-related skills used by graduates in their current job.  This is a subjective measure but suggests that the - by employers - much vaunted skills of spoken communication, teamwork and time management came out bottom, whereas the more academic sounding skills of research and critical evaluation made up the top two.  It would be fascinating to compare this finding with the original adverts for the jobs these graduates were actually doing at the time!

As well as providing some of the highest levels of graduate employment, students of engineering technologies and subjects related to medicine also recorded the highest levels of job satisfaction in their current roles.  bottom of the pile were architecture, building and planning with creative arts and design - so perhaps it's only two cheers for hopes of creative satisfaction in the longer term.

From Futuretrack Stage 4 Report p. 92

Gender

It's also only two cheers for gender equality as research into the respective earnings of men and women show that they remain strikingly uneven, in that women were much more strongly represented than men in the £15 - £24,000 range. Men were far more likely to be earning more, even though there was no substantial gender difference in the UCAS points held by those surveyed.

Almost 40 years after the introduction of the Sex Discrimination Act, there were only two silver linings for women in the research:

• In the not-for-profit sector alone, reported salary levels were roughly equal with those earned by men.
• The minority of women who were earning salaries of £40,000 plus actually recorded higher levels of job satisfaction than their male counterparts.

But the researchers reserved their most forthright comments on the subject for the Law sector: "Compared with the Education sector, female law graduates seeking a professional career should be aware that the profession remains some forty years behind the times with respect to the elimination of gendered career paths."

Strong words indeed!

But Are Things Getting Better?..

The work of Futuretrack shows some aspects of individual choice (degree subject, extra-curricular activity) that can affect future job prospects but you cannot unfortunately choose the year you graduate.

Since 2009, prospects for graduates have been getting better and more recently Careers Advisers are noticing an increasing number of vacancies, for example coming in to the University of Cumbria Jobshop

Even the public sector is starting to recover, with evidence of increasing numbers of vacancies for newly-qualified teachers and something of a shortage of qualified nurses.

FAQ: How can I go about looking for a job?

This is the second in our series of answers to frequently asked questions:

How can I go about looking for a job?

First, have you remembered the ‘University of Cumbria Job Shop’? 

1. Access the main page - http://cumbria.prospects.ac.uk
   
2. Press ‘Register Now’.
   
3. Create a user name and fill in your details.  Once Registered:
    
4. Select ‘Search for Vacancies’ in the ‘Main Menu’ on dashboard to access jobs by type, sector and location.
    
5. Sign up to receive email job alerts (optional).
    
   
6. To search for specific employers, type the employer name in ‘Keyword’ box.
   
   
7. Simples!

For more jobsearching tips, see the careers section on The University of Cumbria website.

New University of Cumbria Jobshop

The University of Cumbria Jobshop is our new online vacancy service for students, graduates and employers in the Cumbria and North Lancashire area.

Students and Graduates can access the system by registering at http://cumbria.prospects.ac.uk

You can search for current vacancies, placements, internships, casual and part-time vacancies notified to us. You can also ask to be notified of vacancies that are likely to be of interest to you and search to see which employers and other organisations have advertised previous vacancies. All employers advertising on the site have indicated that they are interested in applicants living in the North West of England.

Employers can access the system by registering at a separate portal http://employer.cumbria.prospects.ac.uk

You can input graduate vacancies, work experience opportunities, voluntary positions and casual jobs FREE of charge to our site. The system is quick and easy to use and allows you to create, edit and copy vacancies. Posting a vacancy online gives you control of the content of your advertisement and allows you to keep track of how many views your vacancy has received. Your adverts will also be sent out via job alert emails to the registered job seekers.

If you wish to advertise vacancies at other Universities in the North West, you can do this too at www.ucsm2.prospectsnet.com