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University and careers. Show me the data!
Last week we looked at the connection between going to university and getting a good job. We saw the hard reality that study alone will almost certainly not get you your dream job, but that university can be a great place to gain the knowledge, skills, experience and contacts to prepare you for your life and career ahead.
This week, we put that all to the test, by looking at some hard data on graduates, jobs and careers. In the real world of employment and salaries, is going to university worth it?
We’ll look at the UK government’s own graduate labour market statistics, and at the outcomes of a recent graduate and business leader survey by Universities UK.
“Go to university!” they said. “It’ll get you a good job!”
Perhaps university will get you a good job, and perhaps it won’t, but one thing is for sure: if you think that university study alone will land you your dream job, you are going to be very disappointed in a few years time.
I have appointed more than a hundred people in my career, and not one of them got their job on the basis of their university study alone. They got their role because of the knowledge and experience they had, the skills they could demonstrate, the motivation they showed, and their aptitude to learn.
The world is changing. What does that mean for jobs and the skills you need?
Every couple of years, the World Economic Forum publishes their Future of Jobs report, which looks at the impact of world-wide issues on jobs and the skills needed by employers. The latest version came out in May this year. It’s quite a piece of work, the fourth of its type in a decade, and based on a large-scale, world-wide survey of employers.
It is an absolute gold-mine of information, data and insight into the future of careers, and as you make important decisions about your future studies and career, you are going to want to know about it!
However, it’s 300 pages long, so you’ll be delighted to know that I’ve read it, so you don’t have to.