More
than one in 10 of this summer’s graduates are planning to take time out to
travel the world rather than get a job, according to new research.
The
study, commissioned by Graduate Prospects and carried out by Mori on campuses
throughout the UK earlier this year, revealed that 13 per cent of final year
students were expecting to go travelling after the summer.
A
third (31 per cent) thought they would be in a graduate-level job, while a
fifth (19 per cent) were planning to continue their studies on a postgraduate
course.
The
survey of more than 1,000 students also revealed the internet is the most
popular source of careers information, with 78 per cent saying they have used
it to search for details about different career options, job vacancies or
postgraduate courses.
Two
in five finalists consider the internet to be the most useful general source of
careers, job vacancy and postgraduate course information and this remains the
case after graduation with 72 per cent saying they expect to continue to go
online to access careers advice and information.
E-mail
updates on jobs will be used by one in six students (17 per cent). However,
text message updates have not yet caught on, with 87 per cent of students
reporting they would not want to receive job information this way.
University
careers services continue to play a vital role with more than half of the final
year students having used their careers service vacancy listing to look for
information on jobs or courses.
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Overall,
the university careers service vacancy listing was the second most useful
general course of information after the internet, and one in three finalists
say they will continue to use their university Careers Service for information
after they graduate.
