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Why can't graduates get jobs?

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rov1200 | 09:10 Mon 01st Nov 2010 | News
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Employers are crying out for workers from overseas to fill their vacancies because they cannot find them in the UK. Is it the fault of our education system or what?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-11652845
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Too many graduates with woolly qualifications and a bad work ethic amongst a lot of people. Eastern Europeans, I know from experience, have a far better attitude towards work and work hard. Being a graduate does not necessarily mean that a person is better placed to get employment. There is too much emphasis on getting a degree these days, many of which are quite worthless as far as employers are concerned.

So I think, yes it is the fault of our education system to some extend but also the fault of our social system these days.
I agree with Lottie...
My godson's brother took his gap year after Uni...I would actually question the stats...are they saying out of work and claiming benefit? can't get ANY job? can't get the job they want?
Me too. Sure it's great to study theoretical philosophy or whatever but it's not very practical in the real world.
history of art..."mejar" studies....
Those type of studies should be taken as a hobby....
-- answer removed --
redhelen, Occupational Therapists are graduates. During their training they are taught how to interact with patients and also spend time in the workplace doing real stuff.
My godson's brother did law and he too spent time as an office junior in the real world..almost a year of his degree. Its not the fault of the graduate but of the course they have taken...and its not all graduates....
I agree Woofy. A lot of graduates do courses which prepare them for a career and they work very hard, but a lot more are doing courses which are useless for future employment.

It's about time that the emphasis was taken off getting degrees and that students were realistic about their abilities. It used to be thought of as something special getting a degree. It isn't any more. Good degrees from good universities will always be well thought of.

As for putting up the school leaving age to 18 , in my opinion it would be better to let kids leave at say, 15, and do work based training and apprenticeships. Those that needed a good degree for future employment would be pleased to stay on at school, but it's not for everybody.
At one time we had chiefs and many more Indians, but wait a minute are you suggesting that Indians are in some way inferior?

Since 1997, Education, education, education.......we have all gone to University and we have bred ALL chiefs.

The Indians are now immigrants and have taken the jobs.
We are just out from a very long recession and firms that would normally take Graduates are not recruiting under the present conditions. The people being hired from overseas are not Graduates. They are people with a proven, saught after skill, usually in the hi-tech or hi-finance fields. They are jobs that not even the best Graduates fresh out of University could do. Many Graduates are being offered unpaid internships, which seems rather exploitative, considering they will have run up large debts over their degree course.

They have my sympathy. I am saddened that many ABers above are unsympathetic and trot out the 'Micky Mouse' degrees line. The vast majority of degrees are good and solid, and it is a great shame that these unfortunate students are attempting to enter the jobs market at the wrong time.
It's the same problem with the ordinary school leaver.

Years ago firms were happy to take people on and train them for an initial period (ie apprenticeship), and then take them on into the firm.

There should be this opportunity now, but instead of cash strapped firms training them while also taking on all the responsibilities attached to skilled employees, perhaps upon graduation there should be add on facilities where they could be fully trained.in the employment they wish to follow.

The cost for this could be on a loan basis, as going to universality is now.
taking courses in 'relevant' fields doesn't seem to be the answer - who'd have thought IT graduates would be the ones finding it hardest to get a job? One reason may be that *too many* of them are taking the advice on this thread and training in what appear to be sensible areas.

I suspect people from overseas are cheaper (how would you feel if your children had to work for wages level with those of Bangalore?) and come ready-trained; UK employers don't want the bother of training people, which once they would have done.

These are just guesses.
Sqad I would argue that we have bred all chiefs. We have bred a lots of chiefs and even more that think they have the right to be chiefs on the strength of their degrees alone and are not prepared to start at the bottom anymore or do anything they feel is beneath them. Not entirely their fault - the education system has led them to feel this way.

Gromit I feel sorry for the young well qualified and able graduates that are seeking employment at this time, but no more than I feel sorry for the rest of young people that are genuinely seeking employment or the older people that have been made redundant, bad time for all.
Good ideas there AOG. I agree with you.
Craking idea AOG, get employees to pay to go to work.
Do you actually think that would work? Do yoy think there would be much take up?

Graduates would go abroad, and the country that had educated them would not get any reward, or indeed its investment back. And there would be a huge influx of foreigners who would work for lower pay, to replace them.
Years ago, in the motor trade, we paid a levy to some national body, set up by the government, to have apprentices. We paid the apprentices and the government. Just tells you how valuable apprentices were, that the trade went along with that. No idea what the government did with the money, but I suspect it was supposed to apply it all to training courses at night school etc More likely most of it went to pay the people collecting the money and administering the scheme, but that's me being cynical!
lofty

<<We have bred a lots of chiefs and even more that think they have the right to be chiefs on the strength of their degrees alone <<<

I should have said " a lot of chiefs" rather that "all chiefs"....however, remember the axiom of sqad........" if it is easy to get, it is not worth having" and many of these so called degrees are easy to get.

The degree now has totally been devalued except in certain traditional subjects and I eel sorry for those that have worked hard in difficult degree courses to be "lumped" together with the rest of the "degree" attainers.
My experience is that there are an awful lot of companies out there unwilling to take on graduates and give them their first break.

this is partly because they know that there is a big risk that they'll jump ship in a year or two when they've got some experience under their belts.

With an increase in redundencies graduates are competing with those who already have experience.

As for training chiefs and not Indians that's common sense. Increasing globalisation is seeing more and more jobs carried out in off-shore locations.

Look at this very web site - development now done in Chile, my company has an office there too.

This is an increasing trend and you're simply not going to compete with countries like Chile or India on a cost basis so the value add from here is in the conceptual and management end of things.

You can go do a degree in IT but you're competing with Bangalore and Saintiago in the Jobs market
a useless colleague has an Mba..

'means bu*g€r all' if you ask me

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