It’s the first day back at work for me after Christmas and also maternity leave. It’s also the first Monday in 2014 (in case you haven’t noticed!). I imagine many of you have set up new year’s resolutions, getting fit, saving money and finding a new job being in the top three of most people I know. I could talk to you about getting a new job but it’s so predictable and anyway, you can find lots of information from us about job searching
here.
Nope, I have a new year’s goal of my own: to blog about things going on in the world which might have an impact on you or on the advice we give out. I hope that it will be interesting for you to read and will aim to keep up to date with what is going on in different areas which our members work in. I shall start with graduates:
The graduate job market can be a minefield, ridiculous competition for little or no jobs, thus catapulting all graduates into low paid jobs – right? Not in my experience, sorry to burst the bubble. I am not saying that ALL graduates will find their dream job immediately but then how many people actually do? As a graduate you may have to take a lower salary than you hoped, but it will go up and you will gain that valuable asset - experience. In fact, many graduates find excellent jobs; their secret? They are proactive before they finish studying, provide a good application and get advice, from everyone.
The Guardian posted an interesting article on
predictions for the graduate market in 2014 with the following headlines:
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In 2013 there were more graduate opportunities
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Employers are more relaxed on your academic achievements, so don’t get hung up on your grades if you didn’t do as well as you hoped
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Recruitment is changing and social media is becoming an important tool in the process with VentureBeat estimating that 2 million jobs will be tweeted every MONTH in 2014.
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Salaries have gone up, not by much, but they have gone up.
You might be wondering about actual data on students getting jobs. Well, every year, the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) provide data on what last year’s graduates are doing and it’s not all doom and gloom. The HESA report '
Patterns and trends in UK higher education 2013' says that:
“For example,
in 2002, 32.5% of 30 to 34-year-olds in the UK labour force had a higher education qualification; in
2012 this figure was
51.0% “
In addition a
report from the UK Comission for Employment and Skills (UKCES) says that in 2013
86% of all graduates were in professional occupations with only 13% in low skilled or elementary positions.
What does this mean for physical scientists? Well, there are areas of growth predicted in some areas and declines in others however the UKCES report reinforces a valid point that although new jobs created will only account for 1.5 million openings between 2010-2020, replacement jobs (i.e. when someone moves on) will account for around 12 million openings in the same time frame. So even if the sector you want to work with is showing a decline, there may still be opportunities to get your foot in the door.
I hope that this brings some good news for 2014….wishing you a very happy new year from us.