Many engineering graduates are struggling to get graduate job opportunities

A quarter of graduate engineers taking non skilled or non graduate jobs after university.

A new report indicates that graduate engineers are having a hard time getting into graduate level positions related to their degree with many taking ‘unskilled’ positions in shops or restaurants. Many key figures within industry have highlighted that this may be to do with poor quality of engineering graduates coming through universities however a new report from Birmingham University questions this.

The report called ‘is there a shortage of scientists’ was based on the proportion of engineering and science based graduates entering related jobs between 1986 to 2009 and it suggests that less than half of engineering graduates entered related jobs with only 46% finding relevant graduate jobs, 20% were in unrelated roles and 24% were in non graduate employment.

The report went on to argue that it was unlikely that there is a shortage of quality science based graduates such as in engineering and rather it was more likely that there was no jobs waiting for all of these graduates or that graduates were dropping out of courses.

Emma Smith Author of the report commented ‘It is astonishing, in the light of claims of science graduate shortages, that so few new graduates go into related employment. The figures suggest it is not easy or automatic for qualified engineers to get related employment in the UK, despite the purported shortages."

However the CBI still argue that quality is still an issue and that graduates must branch out and get work experience and graduate positions that will enable them to “develop skills like team-working and self-management to have the best possible chance of finding a job."

Professor Nigel Seaton also argued that engineering degrees are perhaps undervalued and that they are good degrees that equip graduates for many graduate jobs such as management, finance and more.

Source: Pareto.co.uk, Saturday 24th September 2011