Alex Swart-Wilson, Deputy Head (Sixth Form) of Bishop’s Stortford College, on giving students careers advice that empowers them in a super-competitive job landscape
Towards the end of last year I asked a colleague how her son was faring now that he had left university and was heading into the world of work. He had a 2:1 Honours Degree from a Russell Group University and I was expecting him to find the job market receptive to the skills and dedication that I had come to know during his school years. The truth was that he was struggling to find employment in his chosen career.
It does not take much time to research the bottleneck in graduate recruitment. Statistics vary on the subject, but if you look at the latest set of figures they say that 98.5% of all graduate job applications are rejected. So what can schools do to help students be prepared for this challenge – one that is, for many of them, three to four years away from the end of the school days? Long gone are the days when three A levels were enough, students need more to stand out from their peers.
Employers talk about the need for school leavers and graduates to demonstrate what they have done for themselves, rather than what others have done for them. Gaining paid work at a young age, volunteering and work experience can all demonstrate this in some form. It gives students insight into the workplace, a wider range of suitable skills and demonstrates a commitment to personal growth. If a student has been doing this since they were 16, or even earlier, then the benefit it will bring them by the time they leave university will be significant.
Secondly, it is imperative that students choose the right option for when they leave school. The most obvious example in this regard is choice of degree for those going to university. Well over a quarter of students going to university say they picked the wrong degree. This has a significant, detrimental impact on their outcomes when they leave, (assuming they haven’t dropped out, that is).
Personalised, one-to-one advice from a careers professional can be transformational in empowering students with the confidence and skills to identify their own strengths, interests and priorities in life, all of which are the primary focus for the Futures team at Bishop’s Stortford College. With unlimited access to careers guidance, students at the College are supported to take ownership of the process of exploring the options that suit them. This enables informed decision-making, not just for this one important decision but to manage every step of their career.
However, what is equally important is that students broaden their horizons around going to university. Employers are increasingly recruiting straight from school and reducing their graduate intake. Students need to be aware of this, and the potential opportunities this opens up for them.
Lastly, whilst AI screening has taken a new role in selecting job candidates – and getting through this process is a challenge – the importance of the face-to-face interview should not be neglected. This is the still the most important part of any interview process for top graduate employers. From the first handshake to the final question the candidate asks, tailored interview preparation from specialists, and up to date advice from real-world professionals on what it really takes to impress, will make a profound difference.
Bishop’s Stortford College bishopsstortfordcollege.org
Further reading: University choices – beyond the ‘Big Four’
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