The number of UK graduates opting for a career in IT is creeping up slowly, but the profession is not attracting students in anything like the numbers it used to.
Back in 2001, nearly one in 10 final year undergraduates were entering IT.According to the UK Graduates Career Survey 2011, conducted by recruitment firm High Fliers, just 3.9 per cent of final year students applied for IT-related positions. That’s a small increase on the previous year, when just 3.5 per cent did so.
These days, bright young things are heading for jobs with investment banks or staying in further education, the High Fliers survey reported.
Today’s students are planning their future careers at the early stages of their undergraduate education, said Martin Birchall, managing director of High Fliers.
“A record number of students have made job hunting a key priority during their studies and started researching their career options in the first or second year of their degree, rather than leaving their job search until their final 12 months,” he said.
The implication for UK IT is clear: if the brightest youngsters are to be attracted into the profession, they need to be won over at an early stage – perhaps even before entering university.
The slight increase in the number of final-year students applying for jobs in IT is in stark contrast to the potential openings.
In 2010, the number of IT graduate vacancies rose by almost 80 per cent, according to specialist IT recruitment consultancy IntaPeople.
The High Fliers survey was based on nearly 18,000 face-to-face interviews with final year students from 30 of the UK’s universities.
Source: Gareth Morgan, Computing.co.uk, Thursday 19th May 2011
Jobsbody provides a dynamic forum in which businesses can view and connect with graduates.
Tuesday, 31 May 2011
Monday, 30 May 2011
Research reveals graduate salary in the regions
Graduates in the regions should expect a starting salary of between £15,000 and £18,000 according to new research from the UK’s leading graduate recruiters.
The Graduate Employer Survey 2011 has revealed that over 80% of employers in the regions pitch starting salaries for university leavers at this level, compared with a UK average of £25,000 which includes London’.
The inaugural survey of national employers, carried out by the Graduate Network, and led by Graduates Yorkshire and West Midlands based Graduate Advantage, set out to establish realistic salary benchmarks and industry trends in the regional graduate recruitment market. Previous research had focused on graduate recruitment in London which failed to truly reflect the market outside of the capital.
The survey found that nearly two thirds of the regional employers polled have recruited a graduate over the last 12 months, with over 60% of graduates being offered permanent positions and 20% paid internships. A slightly smaller number are expecting to recruit a graduate over the next 12 months in permanent roles and both paid and unpaid internships.
Interestingly, a tiny percentage, (just 1.5% of those polled), believe that the graduate’s degree result is the most important factor when recruiting at graduate level. Instead, three quarters believe that a positive attitude and employability skills are the most important attributes.
Martin Edmondson, chief executive of Graduates Yorkshire, comments on the findings: “This survey was carried out for the benefit of employers and graduates to give them a realistic view of the market and salary expectations. If you go by some of the previous research carried out, graduates will be leaving university and expecting to walk into jobs with a salary of £25,000 or more. Whilst this is not the case in all areas of the UK, the opportunities for graduates are on the increase as employers recognise the business benefits of recruiting university leavers who can introduce new ideas and increase productivity.
“I am not surprised at the disparity between the average graduate salaries revealed in the regions compared to other research findings. The Graduate Employer Survey focused on SMEs across a number of different industries in the regions, and explored businesses’ perceptions of graduates and graduate opportunities outside London, where the job market, cost of living and overall quality of life differs quite significantly.”
Graduate internships schemes, including those operated by HEFCE (Higher Education Funding Council for England), Regional Development Agencies and the Department for Business Innovation and Skills, have been drawing to a close over the last couple of months and graduates have not been offered further support from the Government at this stage.
Businesses and higher education experts will be joining in the debate about the future of graduate employment and internships at the fourth annual Graduate Employment Conference in Leeds today (Thursday 19 May). The results will be analysed in more detail to identify what it means for universities, graduates and businesses.
Graduates Yorkshire and The Graduate Network, the UK’s graduate employment provider, have come together to host the event to explore businesses’ perceptions of graduates and graduate opportunities outside London. Delegates will also examine new trends in using social media for recruitment, job hunting and careers advice.
Nicola Turner, acting director of employability at Graduate Advantage, said: “With a lack of support from the Government for graduates leaving university and the unemployment rate amongst young people reaching its highest rate since the 1990’s, competition in the jobs market is fierce. Our job is to identify the future trends in the graduate job market and help to stimulate opportunities for both employers and graduates.
“The results of this survey will help us to identify the trends in graduate recruitment in the regions which will help us to predict the key issues facing graduates in the job market over the next 12 months and put real measures in place to address these challenges.”
Source: Onrec.com, Thursday 19th May 2011
The Graduate Employer Survey 2011 has revealed that over 80% of employers in the regions pitch starting salaries for university leavers at this level, compared with a UK average of £25,000 which includes London’.
The inaugural survey of national employers, carried out by the Graduate Network, and led by Graduates Yorkshire and West Midlands based Graduate Advantage, set out to establish realistic salary benchmarks and industry trends in the regional graduate recruitment market. Previous research had focused on graduate recruitment in London which failed to truly reflect the market outside of the capital.
The survey found that nearly two thirds of the regional employers polled have recruited a graduate over the last 12 months, with over 60% of graduates being offered permanent positions and 20% paid internships. A slightly smaller number are expecting to recruit a graduate over the next 12 months in permanent roles and both paid and unpaid internships.
Interestingly, a tiny percentage, (just 1.5% of those polled), believe that the graduate’s degree result is the most important factor when recruiting at graduate level. Instead, three quarters believe that a positive attitude and employability skills are the most important attributes.
Martin Edmondson, chief executive of Graduates Yorkshire, comments on the findings: “This survey was carried out for the benefit of employers and graduates to give them a realistic view of the market and salary expectations. If you go by some of the previous research carried out, graduates will be leaving university and expecting to walk into jobs with a salary of £25,000 or more. Whilst this is not the case in all areas of the UK, the opportunities for graduates are on the increase as employers recognise the business benefits of recruiting university leavers who can introduce new ideas and increase productivity.
“I am not surprised at the disparity between the average graduate salaries revealed in the regions compared to other research findings. The Graduate Employer Survey focused on SMEs across a number of different industries in the regions, and explored businesses’ perceptions of graduates and graduate opportunities outside London, where the job market, cost of living and overall quality of life differs quite significantly.”
Graduate internships schemes, including those operated by HEFCE (Higher Education Funding Council for England), Regional Development Agencies and the Department for Business Innovation and Skills, have been drawing to a close over the last couple of months and graduates have not been offered further support from the Government at this stage.
Businesses and higher education experts will be joining in the debate about the future of graduate employment and internships at the fourth annual Graduate Employment Conference in Leeds today (Thursday 19 May). The results will be analysed in more detail to identify what it means for universities, graduates and businesses.
Graduates Yorkshire and The Graduate Network, the UK’s graduate employment provider, have come together to host the event to explore businesses’ perceptions of graduates and graduate opportunities outside London. Delegates will also examine new trends in using social media for recruitment, job hunting and careers advice.
Nicola Turner, acting director of employability at Graduate Advantage, said: “With a lack of support from the Government for graduates leaving university and the unemployment rate amongst young people reaching its highest rate since the 1990’s, competition in the jobs market is fierce. Our job is to identify the future trends in the graduate job market and help to stimulate opportunities for both employers and graduates.
“The results of this survey will help us to identify the trends in graduate recruitment in the regions which will help us to predict the key issues facing graduates in the job market over the next 12 months and put real measures in place to address these challenges.”
Source: Onrec.com, Thursday 19th May 2011
Sunday, 29 May 2011
We're learning the hard way! Six undergraduates reveal how they're funding their fees
Next year’s rise in tuition fees will be just the latest in a long line of financial burdens for students. But there are ways of making ends meet – even without parental support. Ruth Tierney meets six can-do undergraduates who are funding their education with part-time jobs.
Claire Thomas, 21, relies on promotional work to fund herself through a degree in public relations at Leeds Metropolitan University.
I’m from a very working-class family in Middlesbrough who can’t spare anything towards my university costs, so if I didn’t work, I wouldn’t be here. My mum’s a kitchen assistant at a school and my dad works for a compensation firm, but he’s been made redundant from three jobs in the past six years. When I decided to go to uni, I assumed a student loan would pay for everything. But despite the fact I get a loan for tuition fees, a maintenance loan of £1,000 a term, and a full grant of £900 a term, that still doesn’t cover the cost of living in a city like Leeds. My £250 average monthly wage is essential for bills, shopping, bus fares and driving lessons.
In the three years I’ve been at uni, I’ve worked as a barmaid and shop assistant – both jobs I’ve had to quit because of going home over the summer holidays. Having contracted hours was stressful because no matter how many lectures I had, I still had to turn up for work. In my second year (I’m now in my third), I was diagnosed with stress after I broke down in hysterical tears one day. I left my job, but then found myself £1,500 overdrawn in the space of a term. So I started doing casual promotional work through an agency a year ago, and the hours are flexible, allowing me to choose when I work depending on how busy I am at uni. Some of the work has been embarrassing, such as walking up and down the street with a sign on my back advertising the opening of a new store. But other times I really enjoy the campaigns, such as talking about Revlon mascara to customers in Superdrug.
After graduating I’m going to carry on doing promo work while I decide whether to move to London, where most of the good consumer PR agencies are. I don’t know whether I’ll ever be able to afford to live in the capital, though. When I do start earning a proper wage, I’ll have to pay back around £15,000, which is a lot less than some because my uni has quite low tuition fees in comparison. There’s been talk that the fees for my course are going to go up to around £8,000 a year soon, so more students will have to find part-time work like me.
Jodie McTaggart, 22, is studying fashion writing and culture at Solent University, Southampton, and works in customer complaints for British Gas.
It would have been impossible for me to go to university without also earning a living to pay my way. My mum, a social worker, and my dad, a courier, would love to support me, but there’s no way they could afford to. Besides, I’m the one who made the choice to study for three years, so I should be the one who pays for it. It scares me when I think about the £22,000 of student loans I’ll have to pay back at the end of this.
I had a couple of years out after school, which was when I got a job in the customer complaints division of a British Gas call centre. I was working full time, supporting myself, and had moved into a shared house with friends by the time I went to uni. Because I’d been independent for less than three years, the maintenance loan I received (which is for accommodation and is part means-tested) was based on my parents’ earnings. This meant I got less than I’d imagined. Although my tuition fees of £3,500 a year are covered by the loan, there’s barely enough left for my rent and bills. Luckily, my boss said that I could go part time at British Gas, so I now do 17.5 hours a week. I show my boss my timetable at the start of each term, and I’m given hours that fit around lectures. I take home around £620 a month after tax, which covers the rest of my rent, bills, food, travel and books.
Although I only have six hours of lectures a week, I’m in my final year so I’m also trying to write a 10,000-word dissertation. I know I can handle it because I’m so organised. I work three days or evenings a week at British Gas. Because I’m dealing with angry customers shouting down the phone it can be very stressful. It’s giving me transferable skills though, such as assertiveness and the ability to work under pressure.
I’m exhausted on Sundays – my only day off – but it will be worth it in the long run. When I graduate I’m going full time at British Gas while I find a job as a fashion journalist. It’s such a competitive market that who knows how long
that will take?
Alex Hemsley, 22, works as a Butler in the Buff to pay the bills while he studies law at the University of the West of England, Bristol.
Why would I work as a half-naked waiter at hen nights and parties full of raucous, tipsy women? Because the £25-an-hour rate, which can see me earn around £1,500 a month at busy times, means I can pay my way through uni. The maintenance loan I receive is only £2,000 a year, yet my rent alone is £500 a month. Although my parents can help (my mum’s a photographer and my dad’s in financial services), it doesn’t feel right for them to be supporting their 20-something son.
I’m in my second year now, but when I started uni I was a barman in a pub, getting minimum wage and doing 40-hour weeks to make ends meet. My grades suffered and I only just scraped a pass in my first-year exams. When a friend told me he’d got a job with Butlers in the Buff, which involves serving at functions with a bare chest and dickie bow, I thought, ‘Why not?’ My first booking was for a hen do, and I was pretty nervous – especially as they’d requested we just wear pinnies (and no trousers). But after five minutes, I’d almost forgotten about my lack of clothing.
Most people just laugh about my job. Even my parents find it hilarious. There are ten other Butlers who go to my uni, so it’s a common way to fund your studies. And because it’s nationwide, I get gigs when I go home to Cambridge.
The pay’s so good that I can work fewer hours (between ten and 20 a week) and dedicate myself to the 12 hours of lectures and 30 hours of reading a week required by my course. My grades have improved and I’m now on track to get a 2:1 or first. I’m then hoping to do a master’s in law before becoming a solicitor, and will continue doing this work to fund it. I’ll need all the help I can get as I’ll owe about £25,000 in student loans.
Carys Thomas, 20, is studying art and design at the London College of Fashion (LCF), while working evenings and weekends as a concession manager for clothing company Reiss.
Living in London is so expensive that even my well-off student friends have difficulty getting by. So if you come from a middle-income family like my own, working is a necessity. My parents are separated, so money is even more of an issue. When they split up, my dad left the PR agency they owned to go freelance. My mum found another business partner, but that meant her income halved. Asking for handouts isn’t an option.
After school I had a year out, working full time as a shop assistant at Reiss’s flagship store in Barrett Street, London, taking on more responsibility with styling and visual merchandising. I got a flat with three other girls and paid the £500 a month rent myself, while putting away £200 a month for college. Before long, I was promoted to concession manager for the Reiss department in John Lewis, Oxford Street, as well as continuing to work as a sales assistant at the flagship branch. For this I get an extra £100 a month. I was working a minimum of 40 hours a week, taking home £1,500 a month after tax.
When I got on to an art foundation course last September at the LCF, my employers let me keep my managerial role because they knew that I was hardworking enough to fit it
in around college. My tutors are delighted I have a job because they can see what great experience I’m getting. I now do 20 hours a week at Reiss, working evenings and weekends, to fit around the 16 hours of lectures. Sometimes I don’t get home until 9pm and have to stay up until midnight doing coursework, which is tiring. Because I’m over 19, I had to pay £850 for the year’s tuition fees. I don’t get any kind of loan, so my mum pays half my rent each month (£250) and I pay the other half. I pay for everything else, from my Tube fares (£130 a month) to my mobile bill (£70 a month).
When I start my fashion degree in September, my mum will stop giving me money because I’ll qualify for a tuition loan and a maintenance loan. I’ll carry on working at Reiss – I couldn’t do this otherwise. I bring home £700 a month now after tax. It will be worth it when I graduate, because I’m hoping that Reiss will take me on as a buyer.
Samantha Dane, 22, studies human resources (HR) management at Manchester Metropolitan University all week, and works as a sports-centre supervisor at weekends.
It’s hard enough now being a cash-strapped student, but I pity the ones who will face almost triple the tuition fees. Although I earn £300 a month as a part-time supervisor at a leisure centre, I still have trouble making ends meet.
A loan takes care of my degree fees, a maintenance loan (£2,000 a term) covers the rent of my city-centre flat-share, and I get a bursary of £1,000 a year. It sounds manageable, until you consider the high cost of living, and hidden extras such as the £400 deposit I needed to secure a flat last summer. This, my third and final year, is the most expensive yet because I have to fork out for more books, while it costs £50 to get my dissertation bound and £100 to hire a graduation cap and gown.
The majority of students I know need to work part time and have jobs in supermarkets and bars. In fact, my university supports it, letting any students with jobs take one less module a year in order to cope. I started at the leisure centre while resitting an A-level after school, and within a year I’d been promoted from lifeguard to supervisor, managing between two and five members of staff each shift. This meant my hourly rate went up by £2 an hour (it’s now £8), plus I’m gaining managerial experience that will hopefully help win me a job.
When I got into uni, my boss allowed me to go from full time to weekends. This means it doesn’t affect the six hours of lectures I have a week, or my coursework. I work full time during the holidays and save money to pay for the year ahead. My boss understands that uni is my priority, but knows I’m a hard worker, so he didn’t want to lose me.
Having a responsible job at an early age meant that I never expected my mum (a housewife) and dad (a mechanic) to support me. They help when I’m really stuck.
I’ve applied for graduate schemes in HR at Marks & Spencer and Rolls-Royce so hopefully I’ll have a job when I leave. Hanging over me is the £20,000-plus in loans that I’ll have to pay back as soon as I’m earning £15,000 a year – the only comfort is that everyone I know is in the same boat.
Lauren Moulsley, 19, is juggling an event management degree at Bournemouth University with selling Avon cosmetics.
On my first day at university, I came into campus with a stack of books under one arm and a pile of catalogues under the other. As everyone else introduced themselves,
I took the chance to promote my Avon business, signing up fellow students as new customers. There are about 110 people on my course, all of them women, and the majority now buy their beauty and skincare from me. While most students I know are deep into their overdraft, my business venture means I’ve always been in the black. This is more important now than ever because my mum was recently made redundant so my parents don’t need me asking for handouts.
I started my own Avon business on my 18th birthday, while still at school. The flexi hours appealed and I’m passionate about make-up. I was assigned the Reading street I lived in, and within a month orders were flooding in. While friends had to give up part-time jobs when they relocated for uni, I was able to continue mine, keeping my original customers (who I sell to when I’m home) and adding new ones. I live in a hall of residence with 500 other students, so I’m never short of doors to knock on.
I deliver catalogues, pick up orders and bag products in the evenings, for around three hours a week, which doesn’t interfere with the 13 hours of lectures I have. My tutors think it’s fantastic that I’m running my own business.
I make around £60 a week, which pays for food, bus fares and stationery. Although my tuition fees are covered by a government loan, the maintenance loan of £3,560 a year doesn’t cover my rent, which is £4,050. My mum and dad (who works in marketing) cover the deficit, but earning extra means I don’t have to ask them for additional money. I feel bad enough that they’re contributing to my rent, but they insist on helping as they know I’ll be in debt to the tune of £30,000 on leaving uni (I’m in my first year of a four-year degree).
There are always ways to earn extra, which I did recently to cover the cost of buying two printer cartridges. I ran a promotion giving customers a free perfume sample for every £5 they spent and sales doubled that week. When I graduate I want to organise charity functions, but will keep Avon on the side. It’s taught me so much about selling, promotion, accounts and deadlines. I used to be shy, but having to knock on strangers’ doors has boosted my confidence.
Source: Ruth Tierney, Dailymail.co.uk, Saturday 28th May 2011
Claire Thomas, 21, relies on promotional work to fund herself through a degree in public relations at Leeds Metropolitan University.
I’m from a very working-class family in Middlesbrough who can’t spare anything towards my university costs, so if I didn’t work, I wouldn’t be here. My mum’s a kitchen assistant at a school and my dad works for a compensation firm, but he’s been made redundant from three jobs in the past six years. When I decided to go to uni, I assumed a student loan would pay for everything. But despite the fact I get a loan for tuition fees, a maintenance loan of £1,000 a term, and a full grant of £900 a term, that still doesn’t cover the cost of living in a city like Leeds. My £250 average monthly wage is essential for bills, shopping, bus fares and driving lessons.
In the three years I’ve been at uni, I’ve worked as a barmaid and shop assistant – both jobs I’ve had to quit because of going home over the summer holidays. Having contracted hours was stressful because no matter how many lectures I had, I still had to turn up for work. In my second year (I’m now in my third), I was diagnosed with stress after I broke down in hysterical tears one day. I left my job, but then found myself £1,500 overdrawn in the space of a term. So I started doing casual promotional work through an agency a year ago, and the hours are flexible, allowing me to choose when I work depending on how busy I am at uni. Some of the work has been embarrassing, such as walking up and down the street with a sign on my back advertising the opening of a new store. But other times I really enjoy the campaigns, such as talking about Revlon mascara to customers in Superdrug.
After graduating I’m going to carry on doing promo work while I decide whether to move to London, where most of the good consumer PR agencies are. I don’t know whether I’ll ever be able to afford to live in the capital, though. When I do start earning a proper wage, I’ll have to pay back around £15,000, which is a lot less than some because my uni has quite low tuition fees in comparison. There’s been talk that the fees for my course are going to go up to around £8,000 a year soon, so more students will have to find part-time work like me.
Jodie McTaggart, 22, is studying fashion writing and culture at Solent University, Southampton, and works in customer complaints for British Gas.
It would have been impossible for me to go to university without also earning a living to pay my way. My mum, a social worker, and my dad, a courier, would love to support me, but there’s no way they could afford to. Besides, I’m the one who made the choice to study for three years, so I should be the one who pays for it. It scares me when I think about the £22,000 of student loans I’ll have to pay back at the end of this.
I had a couple of years out after school, which was when I got a job in the customer complaints division of a British Gas call centre. I was working full time, supporting myself, and had moved into a shared house with friends by the time I went to uni. Because I’d been independent for less than three years, the maintenance loan I received (which is for accommodation and is part means-tested) was based on my parents’ earnings. This meant I got less than I’d imagined. Although my tuition fees of £3,500 a year are covered by the loan, there’s barely enough left for my rent and bills. Luckily, my boss said that I could go part time at British Gas, so I now do 17.5 hours a week. I show my boss my timetable at the start of each term, and I’m given hours that fit around lectures. I take home around £620 a month after tax, which covers the rest of my rent, bills, food, travel and books.
Although I only have six hours of lectures a week, I’m in my final year so I’m also trying to write a 10,000-word dissertation. I know I can handle it because I’m so organised. I work three days or evenings a week at British Gas. Because I’m dealing with angry customers shouting down the phone it can be very stressful. It’s giving me transferable skills though, such as assertiveness and the ability to work under pressure.
I’m exhausted on Sundays – my only day off – but it will be worth it in the long run. When I graduate I’m going full time at British Gas while I find a job as a fashion journalist. It’s such a competitive market that who knows how long
that will take?
Alex Hemsley, 22, works as a Butler in the Buff to pay the bills while he studies law at the University of the West of England, Bristol.
Why would I work as a half-naked waiter at hen nights and parties full of raucous, tipsy women? Because the £25-an-hour rate, which can see me earn around £1,500 a month at busy times, means I can pay my way through uni. The maintenance loan I receive is only £2,000 a year, yet my rent alone is £500 a month. Although my parents can help (my mum’s a photographer and my dad’s in financial services), it doesn’t feel right for them to be supporting their 20-something son.
I’m in my second year now, but when I started uni I was a barman in a pub, getting minimum wage and doing 40-hour weeks to make ends meet. My grades suffered and I only just scraped a pass in my first-year exams. When a friend told me he’d got a job with Butlers in the Buff, which involves serving at functions with a bare chest and dickie bow, I thought, ‘Why not?’ My first booking was for a hen do, and I was pretty nervous – especially as they’d requested we just wear pinnies (and no trousers). But after five minutes, I’d almost forgotten about my lack of clothing.
Most people just laugh about my job. Even my parents find it hilarious. There are ten other Butlers who go to my uni, so it’s a common way to fund your studies. And because it’s nationwide, I get gigs when I go home to Cambridge.
The pay’s so good that I can work fewer hours (between ten and 20 a week) and dedicate myself to the 12 hours of lectures and 30 hours of reading a week required by my course. My grades have improved and I’m now on track to get a 2:1 or first. I’m then hoping to do a master’s in law before becoming a solicitor, and will continue doing this work to fund it. I’ll need all the help I can get as I’ll owe about £25,000 in student loans.
Carys Thomas, 20, is studying art and design at the London College of Fashion (LCF), while working evenings and weekends as a concession manager for clothing company Reiss.
Living in London is so expensive that even my well-off student friends have difficulty getting by. So if you come from a middle-income family like my own, working is a necessity. My parents are separated, so money is even more of an issue. When they split up, my dad left the PR agency they owned to go freelance. My mum found another business partner, but that meant her income halved. Asking for handouts isn’t an option.
After school I had a year out, working full time as a shop assistant at Reiss’s flagship store in Barrett Street, London, taking on more responsibility with styling and visual merchandising. I got a flat with three other girls and paid the £500 a month rent myself, while putting away £200 a month for college. Before long, I was promoted to concession manager for the Reiss department in John Lewis, Oxford Street, as well as continuing to work as a sales assistant at the flagship branch. For this I get an extra £100 a month. I was working a minimum of 40 hours a week, taking home £1,500 a month after tax.
When I got on to an art foundation course last September at the LCF, my employers let me keep my managerial role because they knew that I was hardworking enough to fit it
in around college. My tutors are delighted I have a job because they can see what great experience I’m getting. I now do 20 hours a week at Reiss, working evenings and weekends, to fit around the 16 hours of lectures. Sometimes I don’t get home until 9pm and have to stay up until midnight doing coursework, which is tiring. Because I’m over 19, I had to pay £850 for the year’s tuition fees. I don’t get any kind of loan, so my mum pays half my rent each month (£250) and I pay the other half. I pay for everything else, from my Tube fares (£130 a month) to my mobile bill (£70 a month).
When I start my fashion degree in September, my mum will stop giving me money because I’ll qualify for a tuition loan and a maintenance loan. I’ll carry on working at Reiss – I couldn’t do this otherwise. I bring home £700 a month now after tax. It will be worth it when I graduate, because I’m hoping that Reiss will take me on as a buyer.
Samantha Dane, 22, studies human resources (HR) management at Manchester Metropolitan University all week, and works as a sports-centre supervisor at weekends.
It’s hard enough now being a cash-strapped student, but I pity the ones who will face almost triple the tuition fees. Although I earn £300 a month as a part-time supervisor at a leisure centre, I still have trouble making ends meet.
A loan takes care of my degree fees, a maintenance loan (£2,000 a term) covers the rent of my city-centre flat-share, and I get a bursary of £1,000 a year. It sounds manageable, until you consider the high cost of living, and hidden extras such as the £400 deposit I needed to secure a flat last summer. This, my third and final year, is the most expensive yet because I have to fork out for more books, while it costs £50 to get my dissertation bound and £100 to hire a graduation cap and gown.
The majority of students I know need to work part time and have jobs in supermarkets and bars. In fact, my university supports it, letting any students with jobs take one less module a year in order to cope. I started at the leisure centre while resitting an A-level after school, and within a year I’d been promoted from lifeguard to supervisor, managing between two and five members of staff each shift. This meant my hourly rate went up by £2 an hour (it’s now £8), plus I’m gaining managerial experience that will hopefully help win me a job.
When I got into uni, my boss allowed me to go from full time to weekends. This means it doesn’t affect the six hours of lectures I have a week, or my coursework. I work full time during the holidays and save money to pay for the year ahead. My boss understands that uni is my priority, but knows I’m a hard worker, so he didn’t want to lose me.
Having a responsible job at an early age meant that I never expected my mum (a housewife) and dad (a mechanic) to support me. They help when I’m really stuck.
I’ve applied for graduate schemes in HR at Marks & Spencer and Rolls-Royce so hopefully I’ll have a job when I leave. Hanging over me is the £20,000-plus in loans that I’ll have to pay back as soon as I’m earning £15,000 a year – the only comfort is that everyone I know is in the same boat.
Lauren Moulsley, 19, is juggling an event management degree at Bournemouth University with selling Avon cosmetics.
On my first day at university, I came into campus with a stack of books under one arm and a pile of catalogues under the other. As everyone else introduced themselves,
I took the chance to promote my Avon business, signing up fellow students as new customers. There are about 110 people on my course, all of them women, and the majority now buy their beauty and skincare from me. While most students I know are deep into their overdraft, my business venture means I’ve always been in the black. This is more important now than ever because my mum was recently made redundant so my parents don’t need me asking for handouts.
I started my own Avon business on my 18th birthday, while still at school. The flexi hours appealed and I’m passionate about make-up. I was assigned the Reading street I lived in, and within a month orders were flooding in. While friends had to give up part-time jobs when they relocated for uni, I was able to continue mine, keeping my original customers (who I sell to when I’m home) and adding new ones. I live in a hall of residence with 500 other students, so I’m never short of doors to knock on.
I deliver catalogues, pick up orders and bag products in the evenings, for around three hours a week, which doesn’t interfere with the 13 hours of lectures I have. My tutors think it’s fantastic that I’m running my own business.
I make around £60 a week, which pays for food, bus fares and stationery. Although my tuition fees are covered by a government loan, the maintenance loan of £3,560 a year doesn’t cover my rent, which is £4,050. My mum and dad (who works in marketing) cover the deficit, but earning extra means I don’t have to ask them for additional money. I feel bad enough that they’re contributing to my rent, but they insist on helping as they know I’ll be in debt to the tune of £30,000 on leaving uni (I’m in my first year of a four-year degree).
There are always ways to earn extra, which I did recently to cover the cost of buying two printer cartridges. I ran a promotion giving customers a free perfume sample for every £5 they spent and sales doubled that week. When I graduate I want to organise charity functions, but will keep Avon on the side. It’s taught me so much about selling, promotion, accounts and deadlines. I used to be shy, but having to knock on strangers’ doors has boosted my confidence.
Source: Ruth Tierney, Dailymail.co.uk, Saturday 28th May 2011
Saturday, 28 May 2011
Meerkat ambassador job bagged by student Josh Mitchell
Undergraduate Josh Mitchell has landed a £40,000-a-year job as ‘ambassador’ to the television meerkats.
Mitchell will represent the creatures from the comparethemeerkat.com adverts at sporting and musical events.
He beat off competition from 1,500 other applicants to get the bizarre role after setting up a website and putting promotional videos on YouTube.
His campaign to get the job was supported by DJ Sara Cox and television presenter Davina McCall.
‘I graduate this summer and I’ve landed a dream job in an increasingly competitive market,’ said Mr Mitchell, of Hayling Island, Hampshire.
‘My life has just changed.’
Rival applicants for the role of representing the Russian creatures included Russian exiles in Britain, a surfer, a former officer in the Royal Navy and a Cambridge graduate.
Mr Mitchell, who is studying international hospitality at the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff, will go on promotional trips to Wimbledon tennis championships and Lord’s cricket ground with his new job.
His summer rota will also include visits to the Glastonbury music festival and the Last Night of the Proms at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
Mr Mitchell’s other duties include organising social media campaigns for the meerkat family, headed by Aleksander Orlov.
Mitchell will represent the creatures from the comparethemeerkat.com adverts at sporting and musical events.
He beat off competition from 1,500 other applicants to get the bizarre role after setting up a website and putting promotional videos on YouTube.
His campaign to get the job was supported by DJ Sara Cox and television presenter Davina McCall.
‘I graduate this summer and I’ve landed a dream job in an increasingly competitive market,’ said Mr Mitchell, of Hayling Island, Hampshire.
‘My life has just changed.’
Rival applicants for the role of representing the Russian creatures included Russian exiles in Britain, a surfer, a former officer in the Royal Navy and a Cambridge graduate.
Mr Mitchell, who is studying international hospitality at the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff, will go on promotional trips to Wimbledon tennis championships and Lord’s cricket ground with his new job.
His summer rota will also include visits to the Glastonbury music festival and the Last Night of the Proms at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
Mr Mitchell’s other duties include organising social media campaigns for the meerkat family, headed by Aleksander Orlov.
Source: Joel Taylor, Metro.co.uk, Thursday 26th May 2011
Friday, 27 May 2011
Third of government website internships 'unpaid'
Almost one in three internships on a government website for graduate job-hunters this year has been unpaid, a Freedom of Information request shows.
In a political row earlier this year Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg called for interns to be paid.
But the Graduate Talent Pool website, set up by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), continues to offer many unpaid internships.
A BIS spokesman said businesses should be open and fair about what is offered.
University leavers face tough competition in the jobs market - and internships are seen as a way of getting a foot on the ladder.
But a Freedom of Information request, submitted by a graduate recruitment company called Give A Grad A Go, shows that 30% of the internships advertised so far this year on the government's official Graduate Talent Pool website have been unpaid.
Up to 6 May, more than 2,200 vacancies advertised on the website, out of a total of more than 7,600, were unpaid.
The website itself shows that out of the 2,239 vacancies currently available, only 1,235 are paid vacancies.
Among the unpaid internships are full-time posts lasting for several months, with a number of agencies appearing to use the website to recruit such unpaid interns.
The Graduate Talent Pool website was set up by the government as a way of connecting graduates with internships being offered by businesses.
But there have been criticisms over how internships can be misused as unpaid labour by some employers - and warnings about the need for them to comply with the minimum-wage regulations.
There have been particular warnings about the impact of the intern system on social mobility - with claims that it gives an unfair advantage to the well-connected and those who can afford to work without being paid or only receiving minimal expenses.
Mr Clegg highlighted his concerns in his social-mobility strategy - sparking a political row about his own access to work experience and differences of opinion with the prime minister.
"We want to improve understanding of the application of national minimum-wage legislation to internships and ensure that employers comply with it," said Mr Clegg's social-mobility proposals.
"Where an individual is entitled to the minimum wage they should receive it and we take failure to do so very seriously."
The Graduate Talent Pool website also warns employers that: "If an intern is effectively performing as a 'worker', then in most cases they will be entitled to the national minimum wage."
Cary Curtis, managing director of Give A Grad A Go, said: "Recent social-mobility debate between the prime minister and his deputy has highlighted the lack of a coherent approach to internships and work placements.
"Nick Clegg's new Social Mobility Strategy is a step in the right direction, as we believe all graduates should be treated as employees and paid accordingly, regardless of the position's label or their social standing.
"The word 'internship' carries no legal definition and therefore often leads to graduate exploitation," said Mr Curtis.
He also criticised the finding that the government department did not keep a record of how many graduates found a job through its internship website.
A spokesperson for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills said: "We encourage businesses to offer internships openly and transparently and to provide financial support to ensure fair access.
"Some interns don't qualify for the national minimum wage and we encourage employers to pay reasonable out-of-pocket expenses in these cases."
A spokesman for the Deputy Prime Minister urged employers of interns to pay heed to minimum wage legislation, and to consider paying the minimum wage or out of pocket expenses to "ensure fair access".
"But this is as much about opportunity as it is about money," the spokesman said.
"Too often, such opportunities can only be taken by well off, well connected families," he said, adding that the deputy prime minister "welcomes schemes like the Graduate Talent Pool that provide an open and transparent means for people from any background to find the right opportunity for them".
In a political row earlier this year Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg called for interns to be paid.
But the Graduate Talent Pool website, set up by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), continues to offer many unpaid internships.
A BIS spokesman said businesses should be open and fair about what is offered.
University leavers face tough competition in the jobs market - and internships are seen as a way of getting a foot on the ladder.
But a Freedom of Information request, submitted by a graduate recruitment company called Give A Grad A Go, shows that 30% of the internships advertised so far this year on the government's official Graduate Talent Pool website have been unpaid.
Up to 6 May, more than 2,200 vacancies advertised on the website, out of a total of more than 7,600, were unpaid.
The website itself shows that out of the 2,239 vacancies currently available, only 1,235 are paid vacancies.
Among the unpaid internships are full-time posts lasting for several months, with a number of agencies appearing to use the website to recruit such unpaid interns.
The Graduate Talent Pool website was set up by the government as a way of connecting graduates with internships being offered by businesses.
But there have been criticisms over how internships can be misused as unpaid labour by some employers - and warnings about the need for them to comply with the minimum-wage regulations.
There have been particular warnings about the impact of the intern system on social mobility - with claims that it gives an unfair advantage to the well-connected and those who can afford to work without being paid or only receiving minimal expenses.
Mr Clegg highlighted his concerns in his social-mobility strategy - sparking a political row about his own access to work experience and differences of opinion with the prime minister.
"We want to improve understanding of the application of national minimum-wage legislation to internships and ensure that employers comply with it," said Mr Clegg's social-mobility proposals.
"Where an individual is entitled to the minimum wage they should receive it and we take failure to do so very seriously."
The Graduate Talent Pool website also warns employers that: "If an intern is effectively performing as a 'worker', then in most cases they will be entitled to the national minimum wage."
Cary Curtis, managing director of Give A Grad A Go, said: "Recent social-mobility debate between the prime minister and his deputy has highlighted the lack of a coherent approach to internships and work placements.
"Nick Clegg's new Social Mobility Strategy is a step in the right direction, as we believe all graduates should be treated as employees and paid accordingly, regardless of the position's label or their social standing.
"The word 'internship' carries no legal definition and therefore often leads to graduate exploitation," said Mr Curtis.
He also criticised the finding that the government department did not keep a record of how many graduates found a job through its internship website.
A spokesperson for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills said: "We encourage businesses to offer internships openly and transparently and to provide financial support to ensure fair access.
"Some interns don't qualify for the national minimum wage and we encourage employers to pay reasonable out-of-pocket expenses in these cases."
A spokesman for the Deputy Prime Minister urged employers of interns to pay heed to minimum wage legislation, and to consider paying the minimum wage or out of pocket expenses to "ensure fair access".
"But this is as much about opportunity as it is about money," the spokesman said.
"Too often, such opportunities can only be taken by well off, well connected families," he said, adding that the deputy prime minister "welcomes schemes like the Graduate Talent Pool that provide an open and transparent means for people from any background to find the right opportunity for them".
Source: Sean Coughlan, BBC.co.uk, Friday 27th May 2011
Thursday, 26 May 2011
Dramatic rise in graduate job applications, yet graduates fail to find suitable employment
A recent survey has revealed a dramatic 33% increase in graduate job applications over the past year. Yet despite this renewed initiative and confidence in the graduate recruitment market, data has also revealed that 60% of recent graduates have failed to find a graduate job, and are either unemployed or in jobs which do not match their skill level or qualifications.
The two contrasting data sets reveal the uncertainty that still remains in the graduate job sector, which is slowly regaining strength but remains precarious and highly competitive.
Data released by independent research company High Fliers Research has revealed an unprecedented 33% rise in the overall number of graduate job applications made in 2010-2011. Students at the thirty universities surveyed by High Fliers made approximately 343,000 job applications this year in comparison with only 257,000 in 2010 and 244,000 in 2008.
The High Fliers Research also showed that a record 37% of final year students had made early job applications and started applying to graduate employers at the very start of their final year at university. Only 31% applied early in 2009 and 28% in 2006.
However a survey by SHL revealed that 60% of graduates over the past three years have not yet found a graduate job and are either unemployed or underemployed. This accounts for up to 611,682 who were unsuccessful in their search for graduate employment.
WikiJob co-founder, Ed Mellett, suggests that the two sets of results are evidence of the precarious and fluctuating state of the graduate job market. ‘University students are clearly very aware of the perilous state of the job market and by putting in early applications for graduate positions are making a very positive step’, says Ed. ‘However, this increase in competition and applications will mean a lot of disappointed graduates and perhaps an exacerbation of the youth unemployment crisis. There should be an equivalent rise in the number of graduate positions offered by firms. We are already seeing this in the accountancy sector where PwC and Ernst & Young have increased graduate uptake, and hopefully this will continue throughout the employment market’.
The two contrasting data sets reveal the uncertainty that still remains in the graduate job sector, which is slowly regaining strength but remains precarious and highly competitive.
Data released by independent research company High Fliers Research has revealed an unprecedented 33% rise in the overall number of graduate job applications made in 2010-2011. Students at the thirty universities surveyed by High Fliers made approximately 343,000 job applications this year in comparison with only 257,000 in 2010 and 244,000 in 2008.
The High Fliers Research also showed that a record 37% of final year students had made early job applications and started applying to graduate employers at the very start of their final year at university. Only 31% applied early in 2009 and 28% in 2006.
However a survey by SHL revealed that 60% of graduates over the past three years have not yet found a graduate job and are either unemployed or underemployed. This accounts for up to 611,682 who were unsuccessful in their search for graduate employment.
WikiJob co-founder, Ed Mellett, suggests that the two sets of results are evidence of the precarious and fluctuating state of the graduate job market. ‘University students are clearly very aware of the perilous state of the job market and by putting in early applications for graduate positions are making a very positive step’, says Ed. ‘However, this increase in competition and applications will mean a lot of disappointed graduates and perhaps an exacerbation of the youth unemployment crisis. There should be an equivalent rise in the number of graduate positions offered by firms. We are already seeing this in the accountancy sector where PwC and Ernst & Young have increased graduate uptake, and hopefully this will continue throughout the employment market’.
Source: Onrec.com, Thursday 26th May 2011
Wednesday, 25 May 2011
Graduates more hopeful about their job chances
Students about to leave Britain's universities are as optimistic about their job prospects as they have been at any time in the past decade, according to research published today.
The class of 2011 also expects to earn higher starting salaries – £22,600 a year on average – after two years in which pay has been frozen at £22,000 as they embark upon a headlong rush for jobs.
A study of 17,851 final-year students at 30 of the country's leading universities shows they have put investment banking top of their list for job applications for the first time since 2008.
No-go areas for graduates include the police force, the armed services and working in government or the public sector – where applications are down by a fifth.
The police force is the least popular occupation with only one in 200 making an application to join – compared to 17 seeking a job in investment banking.
Today's graduates are also much better prepared for entering the graduate market with a record 37 per cent making early job applications – applying in September or October last year. On average, they have sent in 6.8 applications – compared with 5.7 last year.
In all, 40 per cent expect to either have a graduate job by the autumn – or still be confidently searching for one. This compares to 36 per cent last year.
Martin Burchall, managing director of High Fliers Research, which conducted the research, said: "During the worst of the recession, many of the country's brightest university leavers opted out of job hunting and instead enrolled for further study or went travelling after graduating in the hope that employment prospects would be better when they returned.
"Our latest survey of final-year students shows that confidence in the graduate job market is finally improving and that more of the UK's top students are expecting to find work after graduation."
Today's survey also reveals that just over half – 51 per cent – say they would not have gone to university if fees had already gone up to £9,000 at the time they were seeking a place.
They are also graduating with an average debt of £18,700.
The class of 2011 also expects to earn higher starting salaries – £22,600 a year on average – after two years in which pay has been frozen at £22,000 as they embark upon a headlong rush for jobs.
A study of 17,851 final-year students at 30 of the country's leading universities shows they have put investment banking top of their list for job applications for the first time since 2008.
No-go areas for graduates include the police force, the armed services and working in government or the public sector – where applications are down by a fifth.
The police force is the least popular occupation with only one in 200 making an application to join – compared to 17 seeking a job in investment banking.
Today's graduates are also much better prepared for entering the graduate market with a record 37 per cent making early job applications – applying in September or October last year. On average, they have sent in 6.8 applications – compared with 5.7 last year.
In all, 40 per cent expect to either have a graduate job by the autumn – or still be confidently searching for one. This compares to 36 per cent last year.
Martin Burchall, managing director of High Fliers Research, which conducted the research, said: "During the worst of the recession, many of the country's brightest university leavers opted out of job hunting and instead enrolled for further study or went travelling after graduating in the hope that employment prospects would be better when they returned.
"Our latest survey of final-year students shows that confidence in the graduate job market is finally improving and that more of the UK's top students are expecting to find work after graduation."
Today's survey also reveals that just over half – 51 per cent – say they would not have gone to university if fees had already gone up to £9,000 at the time they were seeking a place.
They are also graduating with an average debt of £18,700.
Source: Independent.co.uk, Wednesday 18th May 2011
Tuesday, 24 May 2011
Academics lose confidence in government's lack of direction
Oxford dons are lining up to vote in a no confidence motion against David Willetts. So what does this mean for the government's higher education strategy? Asks Jonathan Black.
Oxford dons are to vote on a motion of no confidence in David Willetts, but I believe behind this discontent is an increasing loss of confidence – in the purest sense of the word – in the coalition government and, just perhaps, in the direction of our society. It remains unclear whether the government has a joined-up strategy for higher education, economic wellbeing and quality of life. These are big, national issues that the government is expected to address, debate and lead on. Instead, there is disappointment and some disbelief that over this first year in office, ministers have been distracted by single issues that they engage on with rapidly considered solutions and little apparent thought as to the knock-on effects on other parts of the economy or society. Are ministers capable of developing strategy, specifically in higher education, to address long-term economic and social doldrums? Or are we collectively condemned to four more years of frenetic trench warfare between government, universities, schools and students, against a background of continuing gradual national decline?
The result of the last few months in higher education funding policy has been to convince students that university is a financial transaction: £27,000 cost set against a future profit of a graduate salary premium. Reducing education to the implicit but increasingly flawed "learn to earn" contract is having its effect: this year's national student survey reported that gaining employability skills has become one of the highest priorities for students.
Senior university administrators are becoming concerned about students' rising preoccupation with jobs, to the seeming exclusion of all the long-term benefit a university education offers. Furthermore, we see evidence that should be alleviating students' concern: HighFliers' recent report and our latest vacancy data show both a historic and forecast growth in graduate jobs.
So, if there are more opportunities and increasing engagement with employability issues, what purpose is served by making students more focused on short-term job prospects?
Like student careers, economies are long games. Others have written extensively on the relative merits of the UK focusing on financial services while Germany, China and others have built economies on manufacturing. The Bank of England foresees several years of low growth. While not advocating a central command economy, perhaps the collective loss of confidence lies in the absence of any sense of overall direction, neither signing up to today's situation nor rejecting it, but relying on the invisible hand of the market.
Maybe Oxford dons' confidence could be restored if there were a clear sense of strategic direction from which an internally consistent plan for all parts of our nation, including higher education, would clearly flow. Doing nothing will leave UK plc with business as usual: high pay attracting the brightest students to the City. For the students, it is definitely not business as usual. Tripling fees will be counter-productive, increasing anxiety, leaving social mobility unchanged and driving short-term behaviour: £50K jobs in the City will usually trump science, engineering, teaching and healthcare graduate jobs.
Confidence is dropping in ministers' ability to set strategies for how higher education can support the long-term health, wealth and happiness of us all. As we have seen, this government is evidently capable of pausing, reviewing and even reversing its initial plans: it may not be too late to take time now to initiate a strategic review, with a full and open discussion on how higher education can help to build a cohesive, functional, content and economically buoyant society.
Oxford dons are to vote on a motion of no confidence in David Willetts, but I believe behind this discontent is an increasing loss of confidence – in the purest sense of the word – in the coalition government and, just perhaps, in the direction of our society. It remains unclear whether the government has a joined-up strategy for higher education, economic wellbeing and quality of life. These are big, national issues that the government is expected to address, debate and lead on. Instead, there is disappointment and some disbelief that over this first year in office, ministers have been distracted by single issues that they engage on with rapidly considered solutions and little apparent thought as to the knock-on effects on other parts of the economy or society. Are ministers capable of developing strategy, specifically in higher education, to address long-term economic and social doldrums? Or are we collectively condemned to four more years of frenetic trench warfare between government, universities, schools and students, against a background of continuing gradual national decline?
The result of the last few months in higher education funding policy has been to convince students that university is a financial transaction: £27,000 cost set against a future profit of a graduate salary premium. Reducing education to the implicit but increasingly flawed "learn to earn" contract is having its effect: this year's national student survey reported that gaining employability skills has become one of the highest priorities for students.
Senior university administrators are becoming concerned about students' rising preoccupation with jobs, to the seeming exclusion of all the long-term benefit a university education offers. Furthermore, we see evidence that should be alleviating students' concern: HighFliers' recent report and our latest vacancy data show both a historic and forecast growth in graduate jobs.
So, if there are more opportunities and increasing engagement with employability issues, what purpose is served by making students more focused on short-term job prospects?
Like student careers, economies are long games. Others have written extensively on the relative merits of the UK focusing on financial services while Germany, China and others have built economies on manufacturing. The Bank of England foresees several years of low growth. While not advocating a central command economy, perhaps the collective loss of confidence lies in the absence of any sense of overall direction, neither signing up to today's situation nor rejecting it, but relying on the invisible hand of the market.
Maybe Oxford dons' confidence could be restored if there were a clear sense of strategic direction from which an internally consistent plan for all parts of our nation, including higher education, would clearly flow. Doing nothing will leave UK plc with business as usual: high pay attracting the brightest students to the City. For the students, it is definitely not business as usual. Tripling fees will be counter-productive, increasing anxiety, leaving social mobility unchanged and driving short-term behaviour: £50K jobs in the City will usually trump science, engineering, teaching and healthcare graduate jobs.
Confidence is dropping in ministers' ability to set strategies for how higher education can support the long-term health, wealth and happiness of us all. As we have seen, this government is evidently capable of pausing, reviewing and even reversing its initial plans: it may not be too late to take time now to initiate a strategic review, with a full and open discussion on how higher education can help to build a cohesive, functional, content and economically buoyant society.
Source: Jonathan Black, Guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 24th May 2011
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