What poor dears these graduate recruits are (‘Graduates have a tough time getting first jobs’, Personnel Today.com, 26 May).
For the first time in their lives, they are not the centre of the universe, and are having to face up to the stark reality of the real value of a degree delivered by the existing education system.
To be fair, the comments coming out of potential graduate recruits just reflect the false impression they are given by universities. Universities propagate this ‘once you have a degree, employers will be queuing up to employ you’ attitude. In the real world, this is not the case.
The practices described in the article are undoubtedly deplorable, but they do accurately reflect the current situation in some companies. Some employers do not have the resources to reply to every application, so concentrate on the ones they want to interview as a means of keeping the costs down. This is not just limited to graduates, but every application.
It’s interesting that employers have not given any feedback. The candidate’s attitude is often appalling. They do very little research, arrive looking like they have just come in from last night’s party, and believe they don’t have to make much of an impression because they have a degree.
As the country is currently in a situation of almost full employment, what is needed is for the people giving graduates advice regarding the preparation and execution of gaining employment to get out into industry themselves and find out what this ‘real world’ is really like.
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At the end of the day, a graduate is just another job applicant and is treated no differently to anyone else.
Brian Marsh
Personnel officer
