Many graduates aren’t ready for the world of work

There are so many graduates that have gone to a respectable university and completed a degree in Business Management. Many graduates feel that this is a good degree, with a broad base of modules covering marketing, business, human resources, psychology and operations management.

The graduates have qualified with a 2:1, and look set to get their dream job with a FTSE 100 company, yet the graduate market has become diluted, with so many graduates and many achieving a 2:1. Graduates are feeling disillusioned with their university education, and many feel they haven’t received the correct career advice. A survey conducted by Totaljobs.com found that 46% of graduates feel they are not ready for the world of work.

With this many employers believe that graduates are lacking the necessary skills or experience to take on a role within their company. According to the survey, 43% of graduates also believe that in hindsight they wouldn’t have chosen their degree course. So it is quite clear that with so many graduates in unemployment and failing to get their dream job because of their lack of experience, employers/recruitment agencies need to provide closer links to universities to provide this much needed experience to graduates.

Many graduate assessment centres tend to look at a graduates ability to cope with work, shown by the competency based questionnaires and group exercises. Their technical and academic achievements are what got them so far, but employers need to see these workplace skills that many graduates don’t possess upon leaving university.

Graduate recruiters are trying to get universities to incorporate more work life skills into their curriculum, yet many academics would argue that university isn’t a prep-school for the world of work and rather a place for learning. Yet they do both agree that university careers services need to develop a better service for their graduates when they are starting their graduate job search.