Independance
This is a difficult time for them because they've had a taste of true independance and living for themselves. They now have to surrender their way of life till they can find a job. And good jobs in the local area are hard to come by. This takes me on to the question of the blues. Like I said, my friends are smart people and went to good universities. They have good degrees and are willing to work. They live at home with their parents and as a result, are clashing with them on matters of the home, which, after living for themselves, they have their own ways of doing chores.
Weak laughs hide the fear
They tell me time and again that they haven't found anything and joke that they'll be working at Matalan or JJB sports. Their laughs are weak and they look around nervously. This is symptomatic of the university blues: A thinly veiled grimace when talking about work and money. This is usually followed by a poor joke about working in a low-paid job to tide things over. This is an obvious manifestation of the fear that comes from finishing study in an uncertain job market.
Groan
Another symptom of the Blues, is the groaning and looking to the sky for answers. It's a difficult time for them and they're crying out for some good luck to get them on their way. They are looking hard for the opportunities and they're not getting a look in.
A Cure?
In the past, there have been many articles written about making yourself more employable and giving you a better chance against the field in terms of bagging that first job.
Master's Madness
The first of these is the often touted "Read a Masters". This will hold off the job market for another year, but at great personal expense as a lot of the funding for such studies has dried up. This will land you in more debt and as the poor labour market looks set to persist for the forseeable future, this postponement won't help. The best plan here is to adapt to the situation and be proactive with job hunting and getting employed.
Art vs. Science
Another trend that I've picked up on is that most of my friends have completed non-vocational courses (English, Business, etc) and as a result, hold art degrees (BA Hons). These degrees are very open ended with regard to jobs and there is no clear link between the course and a workplace function. The ones who read Law are having an equally bad time as over the past few years, students have realised that barristers make a mint and wanted to get involved. This lead to flooding the market with new law graduates, leaving many disappointed people were late to the party. This is where the adaptation comes in, many lawyers have the skills and can retrain as accountants and patent lawyers, dealing with numbers and intellectual property of big business. This can be a very lucrative career choice: http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_magazine/previous_issues/articles/2001_10_05/noDOI.12050084083804997791
As many people who attend university studied art degrees, when they can't get employed in their preferred sector, they go for general admin jobs. As there are many more graduates in the system than there were traditionally, there are many who get 'left behind'. These students get a bum deal and cannot land their first professinal job in the first year after graduation. This means they have to compete for professional jobs with with new cohort of graduates who are one year younger and have learned newer ideas at university. This is particularly a problem for arts students but science students, as far as I can tell, don't have this problem.
Being a scientist means you have a special set of skills in maths and whatever flavour of science you chose to study (biology / biochemistry / chemistry / physics). These are skills that arts students will not have. This means that a large part of the competition for jobs in the workplace is instantly removed. This, hopefully means that there is more scope to land that dream first job readily when one is a holder of a science degree.
However, as the government has seen fit to remove a cap on tuition fees and encourage the price of a degree to soar, there is a shift occurring in the decision making of prospective undergraduates. As fees for many top universities are at £9000 pa + inflation (around 5%), new students are coming to the table with a consideration of value for money. As an art student, one may have at most, 10 hours a week contact time. This brings the price per lecture up to a ridiculous amount. As a science student, a typical week will have at least 25 hours contact time. This is good value for money as there is still private study to be done but there is more coming from the university in terms of lectures and labs. This is an important consideration that students are making and hopefully, this will encourage a new generation of young scientists to bring forth a scientific revolution in this country.
college
