Category: PhD – Beyond Graduation

Observations on employment ‘support’ programmes

Luckily, I’ve only had to deal with A4E once. My experience was illuminating to say the least. Sitting among a group of other poor unfortunates (A4E’s obvious attitude, not mine), we were asked if we had heard of a CV (yeah cheers, we had) and if we knew that the internet was a valuable tool for getting a job (yep, kinda picked up on that one too!). Apart from these ‘gems of wisdom’, A4E didn’t have much else to offer me, nor my colleagues in misfortune. Anyway I digress from the point of this post. In a recent article, see (http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/239187/Is-success-down-to-who-you-CAN-use-) Emma Harrison suggests that although;

“…there is an element of unfairness in the way some people have families who are more connected than others…life isn’t fair. The question is, what are we going to do about it?”

Well Emma, I don’t mind saying what YOU can do about it.

1. Stop treating people who are long term unemployed in such a patronising way.
Your quote;  I would say to anyone who is long-term unemployed – which is the group I really care about – that they should use absolutely every contact and every network available to get where they want to be in life.
If you were honest with yourself, and truly cared you would know that unfortunately this group are unlikely to have the social networks that will gain them employment.  They will have social networks, yes, but often not the ones that lead to gainful employment. They will certainly not have the same networks that you have.  If you disagree I suggest that you read Pierre Bourdieu’s work to get a clearer idea on what I mean. Sadly I find it very difficult to believe that you really want unemployed people to give you a call as you suggest in your opinion piece in the Telegraph, rather they would be palmed off on your ill advised staff.  If you really want to talk about networks I would suggest that your role is to ensure that your staff get from behind the desk and actually get out and promote your ‘clients’ to local employers – in short, do the networking for them

2. Overhaul the staff you employ.
I’m sorry but I have heard enough stories from friends who have been unemployed that your staff are not like ‘them’.  Its difficult enough being unemployed without listening to your staff, who have the capacity to stop benefits payments, trying to ‘get down with the unemployed’. If, as I suspect it is, your opinion on the long term unemployed is that it is their deficits that are stopping them from getting a job you have already lost.  Your staff training programme should include something that raises awareness of the difficulties faced when trying to gain employment i.e setting your staff the task of getting a job within 24 hours, using a CV that is representative of one of your clients.  Lets see how they get on before they try and ‘support’ the unemployed.  Or, to save on staff training costs, why not just employ individuals who have been long term unemployed and then gotten themselves a job?

3. Remember that one size does not fit all.
Are you aware of  what sectors are the biggest employers in Liverpool compared to Glasgow, Milton Keynes etc etc.  Do you consider the changes that are happening during this period of economic upheaval? For example, public services are a large employer in many areas, but this sector is facing massive cuts.  What happens to those who normally gain employment in this employment sector?  Additionally, some people who come to see you will need help with computer skills whilst some individuals might be a whizz on the computer, but less so in another area.  Is your support tailored to the individual?  I have spoken to far too many people who suggest it is not. Individuals can be unemployed for different reasons: for some people its because they have had long term health problems that employers have not been prepared to tolerate, whilst other individuals have had problems getting a job once leaving university.  My point is that there are a whole host of different ‘types’ people who are unemployed – how different is the support you provide to a graduate on welfare benefits than to that which you would offer to someone with a disability?

4. Be positive.
I have a few friends who have been unemployed and I always stress what their skills are.  One friend, who has been long term unemployed said that was the first time someone had  pointed out his skills.  I’m all for an employment support service pointing out areas of deficit, but it wouldn’t hurt to give a little bit of sugar from time to time. I only need to refer back to that awful “Fairy Job mother programme” as a case in point.  The only time that lady was positive to her clients (I hate that word by the way) was when she had broken them down.  It takes an awful lot of skill to manage on benefits – I know I’ve been there.  You don’t live the high life, you have to budget for every penny.

5. Stop blaming your clients and take a look at employers.
Again, I’m not suggesting that you shouldn’t look at where your clientèle can improve their skills but would it hurt to evaluate local employers?  I was a single parent for a few years and I found that employers are often obsessed with childcare issues, more so than I was.  Even today, some employers are loath to employ parents  People with disabilities can often find it tougher in the workforce, specifically those with obvious disabilities or mental health issues. As Employment Tzar It should be your role to dispel some myths regarding these groups. I use the word groups with caution though because I said before, one size does not fit all.  Final thought… try raising inspiration or even tailoring employment to what the individual would like to do rather than just shoving people into jobs so your company can keep up with its targets.

Update of Beyond graduation study. I’m close to completing the writing up stage!!

Where I am up to with this research.  

Hi All.  Just wanted to give a quick update of my research so far.  I am in the middle of writing up my thesis so will not be posting any updates for the next few weeks. However please keep following my blog as there are some interesting findings that are emerging from my data – temporary employment; under employment and a different way of looking at graduate unemployment. There may also be a typology of graduate trajectories…All will be revealed.  Please keep following me on Twitter @Beyond_Grad as I will be posting links that might be of interest to graduates.

Update of Beyond graduation study.  The  PhD experience and its potential for disadvantage

As followers of this blog will know, my research is concerned with the long term trajectories of PhD students.   The following commentary is an unstructured discussion, or a think piece, of a research area I am exploring to see if it should be included in my ongoing thesis.  I will be writing a more detailed discussion paper at a later date.

As I have discussed in previous blog posts, my aim from the start of this research was to consider all types of trajectories eg not just employment .An emerging theme I noted in the literature (see the excellent research by Stanley 2005 and Wakeling and  Kyriacou, 2010, The Sutton Trust) was the case for postgraduate (PG) study being the new widening participation issue.  In brief these studies noted that PG students were drawn disproportionately from certain backgrounds or groups e.g students were more likely to be male, from higher social classes. Ethnicity, access to finance  and structural factors such as attainment, subject of study and institution attended at first degree level also influence entry onto PG courses (Wakeling and  Kyriacou, 2010 ).  I have found evidence that supports some of these findings which I will discuss at a later date.

The purpose of this exploratory blog post is to briefly highlight a further area of interest that has emerged through conversations with friends, colleagues and friends from social media – the  PhD experience and its potential for disadvantage.  This theme has a number of areas that are widely discussed amongst PhD students, but until recently has had little attention from either the academic or ‘outside’ world.  To date I have observed that concerns within this emerging research area are twofold…although as this is an emerging fold this list is not exhaustive

Expectations during the PhD experience 

• Scholarship/bursary students being expected to teach undergraduate courses and mark work  – including dissertations –  an unpaid basis
• Universities  assigning teaching work as part of the course.
• PhD students who do not take on this work being harassed about the consequence of this decision on their future employment prospects in the university (The Independent, Postgraduate students must unite to fight for their labour rights, Monday 11 June, 2012)

(See Thatcher, 2012 http://www.academia.edu/1848526/PhDs_of_the_UK_Unite_Your_Futures_Depend_on_It for a more detailed discussion of these themes)

Experiences Post Phd

The main stories I hear from those about to finish their PhD or those who have completed it is that they have two choices post PhD – rely on insecure contracts within academia or look ‘outside’ and be overqualified and under paid’.

•  In most areas five years as a postdoc is  a prerequisite for landing a secure full-time job – but gaining a post doc (someone who has obtained a Ph.D. and is working as a research assistant RA on a project that is funded by a grant that has been won by a principal investigator PI) in some areas five years as a postdoc is now a prerequisite for landing a secure full-time job.  However such funding is  few and far between, every advertised academic post draws a flood of candidates, and grants fund only a tiny fraction of applicants.
• Female PhD’s being less likely to stay on in academia due in part to insecure contracts http://www.guardian.co.uk/higher-education-network/blog/2012/may/24/why-women-leave-academia
• Graduates who find work outside universities may not fare all that well. For instance a  OECD study shows that five years after receiving their degrees, more than 60% of PhDs in Slovakia and more than 45% in Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany and Spain were still on temporary contracts. Many were postdocs. About one-third of Austria’s PhD graduates take jobs unrelated to their degrees. In Germany 13% of all PhD graduates end up in lowly occupations. In the Netherlands the proportion is 21%

These are just a few concerns I have noted in my brief examination of this issue.  It should be noted that awareness is being raised, for instance through the excellent work of the PostGraduate Workers Assocaition http://postgraduateworker.wordpress.com/ , as well as other institutional subsidaries.  There have also been recent surveys, that remain unpublished to a wider audience, conducted by individual institutions to evaluate how they treat PhD students.

Next steps

Further observations and conversations are needed in order to evaluate if those affected by these issues are  from certain backgrounds, if  structural factors play a part, or if indeed this is a general HE issue.  Apologies with regard to the informal nature of this piece, but it is just some general thoughts at present, I would welcome any comments on these issues from colleagues old and new so I could begin to see if I can draft these thoughts into anything more

Teresa

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?

Graduating in a Recession: how flexible are you?

I am conducting research on the trajectories of students from north Wales who graduated within the last five years. Many I have spoken to suggest they have been worried about the impact that the recession is having, and may continue to have, on their options post graduation. They are specifically concerned whether they will be able to get the job they want or access the postgraduate course they have identified. Advice from the University of Sheffield Careers Service suggests that graduates could be more flexible when considering their options. I wonder how many graduates have considered any of the following:

• changed (or thought about changing) where you 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?

– Have a Plan A, B, C and even D?

My own early graduate career has involved looking at all of these options at some point, but I am interested if YOU have/have not thought the same. You are welcome to leave a comment on this blog; send me an email at sos403@bangor.ac.uk or DM me at @Beyond_Grad. Thank you, Teresa

For the last month I have been asking graduates from a single institution to describe their experiences since leaving university in one word. This mind map provides an outline of some of their responses to date. The 1 word that describes your post graduation experiences I have also had more detailed responses which I will be analysing in the coming weeks.

I would now like to extend this question to graduates from other institutions. What word describes your post graduation experiences? It would also be helpful to know what year you graduated, the institution you attended and subject studied.

Details of my study.  I am conducting research into graduates from individual institutions in north Wales. Focusing on those who graduated in 2008, with a degree in either Engineering & Technology; Social Studies or Business & Administration.  I am also interested in how these post graduation journeys compare to those of graduates from other areas in the UK.

Contact information.  If you would like to be kept up to date with the progress of this ESRC funded study, would like to contribute or if you have any further questions feel free to email me on sopc2c@bangor.ac.uk, get in touch via this blog, or through Twitter @Beyond_Grad

Thank you.

Teresa

The one word that describes your journey post graduation

I have been interviewing graduates for the last six weeks and one of many interesting thoughts that have struck me are the words that they use to describe their journey or trajectory. So I thought I would extend a question out to other graduates.

What word would you use to describe your postgraduation experiences

Here are some words used by previous graduates ‘interrupted’; ‘stable’; ‘fractured’; ‘thriving’. Think about your time since you have graduated and if any words spring to mind please contact me through Twitter @Beyond_grad or email sopc2c@bangor.ac.uk. It would be helpful if you also let me know the subject you studied and name of or type of institution you attended (post 1992; red brick, Russel Group; Traditional, FE in HE; Distance learning).

Thanks, Teresa

Invitation to take part in a research study on the destinations of North Wales graduates