EmployEr pErspEctivE 45
ticket to
success
Work hard, balance your academic studies
with your social life, get your degree, ideally
a 2:1 or higher, and you will in turn get a
great job…or will you? Simon Reichwald
explains how the value of a degree has
dropped and what you should be doing to
improve your chances of success
The tough reality today is that getting a to identify the best graduate talent and And what kind of skills and attributes are
degree is no longer the fast-track ticket quickly, and this tends to start with our CV they looking for you to have developed?
to a great job, like it once was. But why or online application form. Again there is a huge list of possibilities,
is this? but the following are the more obvious:
What they really, really want team working; leadership; communication;
Some 44 per cent of young people in What do employers look for and how project management; influencing;
the UK go through higher education so do they differentiate one graduate from commercial awareness; delivering a result;
getting a degree no longer marks you another, especially on paper? problem solving; creativity; and, ultimately,
out as the elite. Add to that the fact that that you are a hard-working achiever.
59 per cent of all graduates get a 2:1 Increasingly employers are asking graduate
or better so that achievement no longer applicants “what else have you done with The moral of this article…
marks you out as special either. your time at university?” They believe, with Do not rely on just getting a good degree
good reason, that individuals who have grade. Get involved in other activities
In years gone by employers when been involved (and in key ways) in other during your time at university and reflect
recruiting graduates used the 2:1 as a activities, over and above the academic, on the skills you learn as a result. Today’s
tool to significantly reduce the volume of will have both developed many of the key employers really do want to recruit
applications they had to wade through. employment skills needed but also shown graduates but they want graduates who
But this is no longer effective as it seems the desire to do more and be more – that offer more than a degree – they want those
nearly ‘everyone’ (and the evidence backs ‘desire’ is one of the key behaviours that all who understand they need to do more to
this up) has a degree and most have a employers seek in those they employ. get the best result in life. Why? Because
2:1, with good A-level grades to boot. these kind of people are the ones who
So what might these activities be? From make businesses great!
And if that were not enough, recent the work related such as internships,
research and current employer industrial placements and work experience
Simon Reichwald runs the national
experience clearly proves that academic to volunteering in the UK or abroad; Duke
team for The Bright Futures Society,
success does not always lead to of Edinburgh Awards; the CRAC Insight to
a not-for-profit organisation operating
work-based success. In other words, Management; any form of achievement in
in 26 universities across the UK. He is
just because you get a 2:1 it does not music, sport, drama, etc; participation and
also Managing Director of Graduate
mean you will be a top performer at work success in business games; being in the
Success, a specialist graduate selection
– good news if you get a 2:2 or lower, committee of a student society (like Bright
and development consultancy. For more
I suppose! As a result of such findings, Futures – www.bright-futures.org.uk). The
information visit www.bright-futures.org.uk
employers are looking for new ways list is endless!
GradJobs Magazine | Autumn 08
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