The problem of graduate employment is very acute now. A percentage of people who cannot find a job in their field or experience significant difficulties when facing this task is very high. This decreases the prestige of universities and makes them useless in the eyes of youth. 

Many teenagers prefer building a career right after school, think that higher education is just a waste of time. As a result, they receive less prestigious and poorly paid positions. But young people at least know that their labour is in demand now. Nobody guarantees that they will receive more advantageous offers from recruiters after graduating from a university. 

Other people juggle higher education with career building and think: “If I will not care about my future, no one will.” They are afraid to get to MacDonald’s after getting a diploma, work hard to gain experience and avoid this cruel fate. Of course, they have no time to attend lectures and seminars, do homework and prefer to solve academic problems using a custom paper writing service. A busy schedule does not allow them to enjoy normal student life and pay due attention to learning. 

Why do not young people believe in the reliability of an educational system? What are the reasons for negative trends and how they can be changed? What should universities do to increase the level of students’ trust, create more comfortable conditions and simplify finding decent workplaces? Proceed reading this article to find out the answers. 

 

Demand for new specialists disappears in certain areas

Agree, five years is quite a long term for the modern, rapidly changing world. Great technological revolutions can occur during this time and some business areas can change beyond recognition. It is not an uncommon situation when a student studies a seemingly popular major but finds out that it became absolutely useless to be the moment of graduation. As an example, the demand for a lawyer’s services in certain fields of law has substantially decreased over the last couple of years. That is explained by the fact that technologies are advancing, so more and more tasks, such as creating documents, can be automated, and all the necessary information related to the research of laws/cases can be found online. We can see an increasing number of companies like OnlineDivorcer, that can aid in the preparation of legal papers and divorce forms, so the impact of automation is likely to spread to other markets as well.

But how can one predict the future, know what professions will be in demand in 5 years? It is the responsibility of the Department for Education and universities. Experts should analyze the labour market and find certain trends, remove outdated faculties and introduce relevant majors. Then supply on the part of educational institutions and demand on the part of employers will coincide. 

 

Companies do not know about graduates

As a rule, after issuing diplomas, universities say goodbye to students and do not care about their further fate. Unexperienced young people should solve their professional problems alone, without any support from an educational system. It seems that universities do not want to take responsibility and admit their mistakes if graduates turn out to be unclaimed. They just say: “It is not our fault. If a student did not find a job, one is a bad specialist.” But why did they give a diploma to a bad specialist? This puts their competence in question. 

Of course, there are advanced universities that organize internships and exchange programs for their students, cooperate closely with companies, invite entrepreneurs to open lectures, inform young people about the latest vacancies in the area. Such interaction is beneficial for both learners and employees. The former can get acquainted with the best representatives of the business world and learn from them, understand what career heights can be achieved if working hard, while the latter can find the best aspiring specialists to replenish their staff. 

All educational institutions should strive for this working model and not turn a blind eye to their graduates’ employment issues. 

 

The educational system should be revised

Professors use many outdated approaches and methods in a classroom, force young people to read old textbooks, consider theories that have long been out of use. This educational system is considered classical or traditional. But this does not mean that it is correct in modern realities. 

It often happens that a graduate with perfect marks comes to a company and hears that one knows nothing and has to learn everything anew. Does this mean that one spent several years in vain? However sad it is, yes. Employees consider higher education as one of the most important selection criteria when looking for new workers. At the same time, most of them are not satisfied with graduates’ practical skills. 

A diploma ceases to be an indicator of knowledge. It rather proves the fact that a young specialist is patient enough to survive 5 years in a bureaucratic environment and perform useless assignments. In any way, a graduate overcame a hard path full of dangers and is ready to cope with challenging tasks.

But education should not turn into a game of survival. Its task is to provide knowledge and skills which young people will use at the workplace. That is why it is crucial for educational institutions to revise a curriculum, track changes and innovations in their industries to create professionals ready for a real job in real companies and not only cramming in libraries. 

There should be more practical classes, experiments, activities close to the tasks which graduates will perform at the workplace. Studying most disciplines boils down to reading textbooks and writing essays. But do companies need these skills? No, they need people able to come up with innovative ideas and embody them in specific projects. It is very beneficial for a graduate to have a professional portfolio which may be shown to an employer at an interview. Professors should help students to create it. 

It is also crucial to develop leadership qualities in young people. University employees often suppress youth initiative and do not allow any deviations from rules. As a result, new generations of humble persons assured that all their ideas are stupid and useless emerge. Are they able to make an important discovery and contribute to their field? Of course, no, because professors taught them to respect and serve a bureaucratic system. 

Some universities have special programs for young start-ups with grants and bright prospects. They urge students to think outside the box, use original methods and believe that even the boldest plans can be realized if duly planned and approached scientifically.

Therefore, analyzing the labour market and needs of employees, close cooperating with companies seeking to replenish their staff, constant updating a curriculum will bring great benefits to graduates, allow them to make the first steps on a career path without worries and difficulties. Young people will feel more confidently, realize that their intellectual potential is in demand, and the prestige of higher education will grow.