Goodbye and thank you: We’re off to see the world

Why do nearly all of our university students leave after they graduate?

Student Heta Preese is looking forward to the day she graduates.

With only a few weeks left of university lectures and assignments, the criminology and English literature student is set to start a graduate job in August.

But like many of her fellow students at Staffordshire University, Heta, aged 21, will not be staying in the city she moved to three years ago.

Instead, the soon-to-be graduate will be broadening her horizons as she moves to Manchester to start work with the Enterprise Rent-A-Car company.

Heta said

I’m really excited to begin. I will gain a management qualification and, with a 78 per cent retention rate of graduates, eventually manage a branch of my own.

I like being in the position of authority and it appealed to me straight away.

Heta, who moved to Stoke-on-Trent from her hometown of Wolverhampton, will be one of an estimated 83 per cent of graduates who will move away from their city of study.

It is argued that this is causing a ‘brain drain’ for the city, with graduates transferring skills and experience learnt at university into jobs in other towns and cities.

Although Heta will be moving over 30 miles to Manchester, she admitted that she didn’t keep Stoke-on-Trent out of the equation when looking for a job.

She added

Ruling Stoke out would have been ruling out a whole host of opportunities.

I did look around, but the job market here seemed to be largely based around teaching jobs and commission based work, which is not ideal for the majority of graduates in current society.

Graduates have been one of the demographics that have been hit hard by the country’s economy.

Last month, it was revealed that the national figure of unemployment for those who graduated in 2011 stood at around 18.9 per cent.

And for Stoke-on-Trent, unemployment is an issue that could be causing graduates to be drawn away.

Between December 2010 and December 2011, the city saw a 16 per cent rise in 16 to 24-year-olds claiming unemployment benefit.

Psychology student Gemma Sweet feels happy to stay in the city after graduation, but fears the job market and current unemployment levels might persuade her otherwise.

Gemma, originally from Coventry, also moved to live in student accommodation three years ago, and is now on the hunt for an assistant psychologist job.

She aspires to get on a doctorate course, but must commit to 100 hours of voluntary work first.

She said

I check for jobs more than once a day and usually can’t find anything. It’s extremely frustrating and scary too, because I finish in two months and I want to go straight into something when I finish so I can build up experience as soon as possible.

It’s all down to location really. There are jobs going in Scotland, Devon but when it comes to the Midlands, it’s difficult.

But for graduates who want to stay in Stoke, it can be argued that there are opportunities out there.

At Staffordshire University, based in Shelton, business-savy students are encouraged to take part in a business start-up scheme.

The scheme, branded under the title ‘be inspired’, encourages graduates to start their own company, with funding provided through the European Regional Development Fund.

It has been a feature in the university’s Business Village for 11 years, and, although the scheme lasts for a maximum of 12 months, 60 per cent of businesses that have taken part are still thriving today.

Project officer Dorota Wiernikowska told how the scheme brings in those from different educational backgrounds.

She said

It’s not just graduates from business degrees, we get a range of ex-students from all walks of life. And the companies that have worked with us vary, with careers in ceramics, computing, film and media to name just a few.

Some of our success stories include a film company we worked with, who were approached to help film the Royal wedding. It shows how businesses can be given the financial support they need to then go on and grow.

But in terms of businesses developing, it seems that it isn’t uncommon for those to follow the larger trend of graduates, and move out of Stoke-on-Trent also.

Eighty3 creative, a branding agency, received a £10,000 boost from the start-up scheme in 2009.

Started by Craig Slater, now aged 29, and Amie Whale, aged 28, the two graduated from a graphics design and communications degree in 2005.

However, the duo are now seeing their business thrive in Wolverhampton, and are two examples of graduates who have moved away from the city.

Craig, who is originally from Sedgley, in Dudley, admits that staying in the city was an option, but there were more opportunities elsewhere.

Their offices lie in the Technology Centre at Wolverhampton Science Park, and the company reportedly has a £200,000 turnover.

He said

We did look into staying in Stoke because it was where we studied, but there were bigger opportunities elsewhere at the time.

It definitely wasn’t something we ruled out- my first job was near the area at a branding agency in Stafford and we both kept our eyes on vacancies in the city.

It was a case of looking for places to set up our offices and coming across these great premises in Wolverhampton, which were not available in Stoke.

However, according to the careers centre based in Staffordshire University’s Thompson Library, opportunities for graduates to ‘buck the trend’ of moving away from the area are widely available.

At the time of writing, 30 per cent of the careers centre’s users were final-year students.

The centre, which consists of 20 staff members, runs a graduate internship scheme, which is targeted by employers from around or near Stoke-on-Trent.

Careers advisor Jacqueline Hartley told how these employers have changed the way they target graduate employees.

She said

Today, 65 per cent of graduate jobs do not specify the degree they are after, which shows that employers are more open-minded about who they want.

Graduate employers contact us from all over the country. One of the biggest areas of employment is London, where a lot of students in the arts, media and design field are targeted.

That’s not to say that jobs aren’t available in Stoke, because they are. We have many graduate employers in the local area, some being our biggest contacts.

So for graduates who want to continue to live in the city, is there scope for them to move on in their career?

According to Kerry Bonfiglio-Bains, managing director of recruitment agency Appointments Personnel, there are jobs out there, but graduates are not matching up to employer’s requirements.

The agency has been based in Newcastle-under-Lyme for 13 years and at the time of writing had five graduate-level jobs advertised for office-based work.

Kerry said

Employers want graduates with at least a 2:1 in their degree, but we are seeing an increasing amount applying without that.

Our current jobs aren’t having a fantastic response, so I think this could prove that a lot of graduates who meet their requirements have moved out of the area.

I absolutely believe this is causing a brain drain, because the skills learnt at university are needed for jobs in the area

It’s not all about a degree though, it’s about having communication skills, being switched on and standing out from the crowd. This is what employers want on top of that requirement.

Source: Lee Kettle, Pitsnpots.co.uk, Monday 9th April 2012