WORKING-CLASS ACADEMICS BLOG

Update of Beyond graduation study. The methods graduates use to access employment opportunities.

 Where I am up to with this research.  

At present I am analysing data and writing specific chapters of my thesis. Here are a snippet of findings relating to how graduates find out about employment opportunities…

 Introduction

The UK higher education system has undergone major transformation in recent years.  However, research still tends to concentrate on accessing HE rather than what happens next.  This ongoing ESRC funded study considers graduate trajectories and how they access post graduate opportunities.

 Methods 

The study took a case study approach and evaluated Business; Engineering &; Social Studies graduates, from four institutions in north Wales: a traditional; a post 1992; a FE college delivering HE and distance learning.

Data was collected via: questionnaire (n67), interviews (n15) and social media (n50).  The cohort comprised of a large percentage of older graduates and those from disadvantaged social groups.

 Findings

Graduates were asked about the methods they used to find out jobs.  Respondents were given the option to tick more than one option.

Q. What methods have you used to find  out about employment opportunities?

Method	Responses (n)
Careers Service	19
University Lecturers	7
Employers website	23
Newspapers/magazines	17
Personal contacts	30
Recruitment Agencies	26
Speculative	10

 Themes of how graduates access employment opportunities

 The increased use of recruitment agencies

Almost half of my respondents had utilised recruitment agencies with one third suggesting that this had been their most successful method.  Overall it appeared that the usage of Recruitment companies appeared to be motivated by convenience or the general feeling that someone else was working for you to help you find work. As one respondent mentioned:

“They are in constant contact with [opportunities for] work. Some may not be suitable but at least they are thinking of me.  Due to them I have been in work on a consistent basis”.

Respondents spoke about being given access to a variety of jobs, more so it seems than what is immediately available advertised in newspapers and the internet. This method was particularly noted by one respondent as being “helpful when looking for first employment”. 

One of the negative aspects of recruitment agencies, alluded to in the literature, was that such agencies may put individuals forward for positions which they weren’t suitable for, or hadn’t the experience.  This was evident amongst north Wales respondents, but was seen as a positive trait and as such had been a confidence raising process.

 I believe that recruitment agencies are a often utilised method as  alongside the increases in graduates there has been a change in the types of roles that recruitment agencies are being asked to fill.  Ten years ago, in a much more stable labour market, these agencies may have been called upon to fill a administration vacancy for a number of weeks or months, however changes in recruitment practices (from permanent to temporary roles), and the influx of project based employment means that such agencies are now asked to find graduates for officer level or managerial positions. As the clientele of recruitment agencies may still largely consist of individuals with lower level qualifications, graduates that do contact these agencies may accrue capital (due to their degree qualification)

Careers services utilised for advice and guidance, but graduates want more…

Whilst there were other methods that my respondents favoured such as employers websites, personal contacts and recruitment agencies, one in five respondents said that they had used University Career Services. Female Social Studies graduates at Bangor and Glyndwr Universities as well as male Business graduates from Glyndwr University were most likely to say they had used them.  Respondents utilised all three of core activities of Career Services i.e,  information; guidance, and employer placement services (Watts, …) although the latter was used less frequently.  Females only provided information of how they utilised their services. One respondent suggested that they had been given excellent support with interview practice, whilst another noted:

“The Careers service has been very good for courses and general support with CV”.   [Female, Respondent 012]

Respondents tended to use careers advice them, in the main, alongside recruitment agencies.  Despite the concentration on information and guidance, two respondents said that they had used the service for a Go Wales placement, whilst two others suggested that they had searched their local careers website for employment vacancies, and had also asked to be informed, by email, about any vacancies that fit their search criteria. The first respondent who had undertaken a Go Wales placement reported that she had already been on one placement, and was currently working on a second one, in a marketing role.  The respondent liked both placements, suggesting that the service provided was “very good” and that it had given her a chance to access to graduate level employment when she might not have met the full criteria if it was an “ordinary job”.  Her views should be understood in the context of her age and socio-economic status as the respondent was a traditional age graduate with immediate family who had attended university and was financially able to move to London after her degree to take up an internship in a fashion magazine. A further female respondent, who mentioned the placements, was also complimentary about the experience she gained, but she did have reservations that they might not be suitable for those from lower socio-economic backgrounds:

“[I]individually the people at careers are very good, but there appears to be little understanding of how people can support their family on constant temporary work”. [Female, Respondent 039].

 Compared with all the other methods of finding employment, the Career Services, received the most critical commentary from the respondents I spoke to. I would point out that all respondents who complained about the services were reticent to do so as they appeared to recognise the service has an ever changing remit. Echoed by a number of other respondents, is the comment by one female aged 30-39.  When I asked her which had been the least successful method, she said:

“Unfortunately the careers service.  I feel harsh saying this as I have been in contact and they are individually very good, however the support is never tailored to what I need  – actual jobs or contacts – and it is generic”. [Female, Respondent 039].

Greenbank and Hepworth in their 2005 study suggested that the working class students they interviewed lacked confidence in approaching Career Services.  I detected little evidence of this.  I did not find this, as my respondents had a keen understanding of the services offered by university careers, were comfortable in talking to professionals with regards to their career and attended courses where necessary.  However, overall they suggested that the Careers Services did not provide them with the service that they required .  Many suggested they wanted individualised one to one support that offered direct information on local (and sometimes national) employment opportunities – similar, some may say to the service that recruitment agencies provide.  

The varied use of social capital and the strength of weak ties

Amongst the graduates I surveyed, the second most popular job search method was personal contacts (including friends, family and people they may have met through work or social functions).  Whilst differences were small, I found that males and those aged 30-39 were most likely to utilise these contacts as where those from higher socio-economic groups.  In terms of subject differences, engineering graduates had the highest levels, whilst graduates from OU had the most consistent levels.  A typical response included:

“Friends and family who were already working in my field were very helpful in letting me know when certain vacancies were coming up” [Male, Respondent 029].

Research such as that by Blasko, 2002; Furlong and Cartmel, 2005; Thomas and Jones, 2007) suggest that the social capital possessed by graduates from economically disadvantaged families may be unsuited to the graduate labour market. Discussions with my respondents supported the aforementioned studies as I noted that graduates who did not cite personal contacts as a useful method were the most likely to suggest that they lacked the contacts that can provide information about graduate job opportunities.  As the following respondent noted:

“My friends and family would not know about the jobs I am looking for so would not be able to recommend me. [Female, Respondent 037].

As with Greenbank and Hepworth’s study, all respondents spoke well of their parents and close friends, highlighting the emotional support they received when looking for work, similar to that which had encouraged the respondents to attend university in the first place.  However, those who did not use personal contacts suggested their parents would be unable to help, or be limited if called upon to provide practical job searching advice mainly because their parents had no experience of the graduate labour market and the types of roles that they would be applying for.

Non traditional graduates did however appear to utilise other forms of capital described in research by Granovetter (1963?).  Speaking to individuals who had recently moved from one job to another, Granovetter attempted to learn about the job searching methods they used.  His study supported earlier research, such as that by Bourdieu, finding that many individuals learned information leading to their current jobs through personal contacts (strong ties).  However he also found evidence that these individuals also utilised acquaintances, friends of friends, past employers (weak ties) as a job search method (Easley and Kleinberg, 2010). Male respondents from north Wales as well as those aged 30-39 or those from higher socio-economic groups were most likely to utilise strong ties, whilst those aged 25-29 or from lower socio-economic groups were more likely to utilise weak ties – mainly through former employment.

Flexibility. Graduates are willing to try anything, moving, retraining, up skilling, under employment or internships

Often running alongside the employability debate is the suggestion that graduates, especially those from non traditional backgrounds need to be flexible.  An information sheet from Sheffield Careers Service suggested that there were various ways that graduates could be flexible, for instance:

• changed (or thought about changing) where they live for a job or a postgraduate opportunity;
• worked for or looked at different types of employers, postgraduate institutions or even types of careers;
• entered further study whilst waiting for the employment situation to improve;
• taken lower paid employment in order to be employed or to gain skills?
• gained work experience of a workplace, client group or skills, and;
• Have a Plan A, B, C and even D

After seeing this information sheet and alongside informal conversations with graduates I had already spoken too I utilised social media such as Facebook and Twitter to ask north Wales graduates if they had considered any of the above methods  The general consensus amongst respondents was overwhelming:  they would consider any or even, all of the above.  The following response is both interesting and typical of the lengths that graduates will go to in order to gain graduate employment.

“In response to your article “Graduating in a Recession” and whether I have considered moving, improving my employability by working in different sectors, entering further study, taking lower paid employment, gaining work experience and diversifying to meet the requirements of the job market. Firstly, I have thought about moving in order to gain better job opportunities. My employment search for opportunities using my degree has seen me widen my geographical search to around twenty five miles (Chester) to forty miles (Liverpool) from my current location Prestatyn, North Wales. Secondly, my search for better job opportunities has seen me looking at a variety of job roles other than teaching, such as a PPI insurance claim handler, pricing trading endowment policies and a variety of graduate programmes with Network Rail, Barclays and Tesco. I have improved my eligibility to teach Mathematics by taking lower paid employment such as working as a teaching assistant in order to gain much needed experience within the classroom environment. I have also been applying for other employment opportunities that are non degree related in order to improve upon my teaching assistant salary.” [Respondent 012]

 Multiple methods

A Job Centre Plus report by Green et al, 2011 suggests that that the majority of those looking for employment use multiple job-search methods, with studying vacancy columns on the Internet alongside answering adverts in newspapers being the most common combination.  Two thirds of respondents from north Wales used more than one method, although one method was the most popular single method.  There were little differences due to small numbers but the data did suggest that males, as opposed to females were likely to use fewer methods; there appeared to be little noticeable difference in terms of age; Social Studies graduates and those from Bangor and Glyndwr Universities used the most methods.  Whilst job seeking advice generally suggests that it is beneficial to utilise a number of methods to access opportunities my own analysis suggests that these respondents are spreading themselves a little thin as some respondents suggested they had used 4 or more methods.  Whilst admirable, I am not sure how much that this will help the graduate get the vacancy they are after.

Next Steps.

• Methods varied according to socio-economic characteristics , but analysis is ongoing.
• What methods do YOU use to find out about employment opportunities and why?