Your degree and what you can do with it!

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Coming away from university with a qualification that is too diverse in terms of lacking speciality can be a real problem once you find yourself scouring through the jobs market to launch your career.

Many people when starting university are still of an age where perhaps they do not know exactly where they want to be in 10 or 15 years time; which is perfectly understandable. Studying a degree which has a very broad spectrum of learning and therefore possibilities makes a lot of sense at the time to someone reluctant to commit to something but knowing what to do at the end of it can be problematic.

Further education

Many post-graduates decide to go down the avenue of furthering their education into a more specialised field. This can be done by either studying another similar degree or enrolling on a post graduate course such as a Masters Degree.

As logical as this might seem however, after several years of continuous study many people are not too enthused by the prospect of spending any longer living as a student and are keen to get to work in the real world where they can start to earn money. Other people may not have the time or finances to commit to furthering their education and have no real choice in the matter.

Transferable skills

The good news is that most university degrees have transferable skills that are valuable to any employer. Many degrees have potential applications that you may not have yet considered: foreign language students can teach abroad, engineers can look into oil careers and English Literature graduates can enter the field of publishing.

Recent news that North Sea oil recruitment could increase as a ‘boom’ is experienced has shown just how lucrative certain areas of employment can be. Between 40,000 and 50,000 new jobs are expected to be generated from this growth and mean that graduates with a variety of skills could find themselves in employment quicker than they anticipated – providing they demonstrate the necessary traits of course.

Experience and qualifications

Perhaps it is here where most graduates fall down. Academic proficiency is one thing which employers are keen to see but that doesn’t mean it is the only thing they consider. Prior experience is a highly valued skill but undertaking such an activity is not only beneficial from an employment perspective.

Additionally, undertaking work experience in a field you are interested in can help you ascertain whether it is really a suitable environment for you to work in. Often students can hold glorified views of certain workplaces and this means years of training may be left largely redundant when they find it is not quite what they expected.

Getting out into the real world as soon as possible is therefore highly recommended – if you gain experience in different fields of employment whilst studying then you’ll have a clear idea of where you want to be after you graduate and that can only be beneficial for your future.