If you don’t know what career you want when you graduate, you may have more options than you think. There are jobs in law, finance, IT and management that are open to graduates from any degree background.
Even if you don’t know what the practical applications of your degree are, many graduate employers do. They recognise that in those three years you will have developed as a person. You will have matured, gained independence and learned how to manage yourself – and you’ll have gained plenty of valuable transferable skills along the way.
Skills that your degree will have given you
There is no hard-and-fast rule that says that having a degree makes you a better employee. However, there are some generalisations that can be made about the kind of employability skills that graduates should have acquired during their time in university, and the personal strengths they should have had the opportunity to develop.
You should have gained a certain amount of emotional intelligence. This may be partly to do with the difference between an 18-year-old and a 21-year-old. But it may also be because you have lived with a bunch of new people from different backgrounds in an unfamiliar environment. This means that you should have a certain degree of tact and empathy. In employability terms this makes you good at communicating and a capable team player.
You should also have learned good written communication skills. Whether a lab report, an essay, a research paper or a scrapbook, you will almost certainly have had to put together written coursework for assessment. By the end of university you will have written significant amounts of paperwork. What is more, you will have written for a specific audience, whether an examiner or a tutor. Involved here are research skills, planning and organising notes, time management, independent working and critical analysis, not to mention the ability to clearly get your ideas across in writing.
In a similar way you should have learnt how to present information and structure a persuasive argument. Most courses have some form of seminar content, even if it is only a token measure to ensure that different learning styles are covered. In these classes students are encouraged to share opinions, lead discussions and even present topics to the class. If this is the case then you should know how to present information orally and visually, as well as how to debate a topic. It should also be a good indication of how you perform under pressure.
You should also have learnt about ‘deferred gratification’ or careful investment. With the increase of student tuition fees to up to £9,000 a year and more, you will almost certainly be graduating with a significant debt. The fact that you have chosen to continue learning for three or four years instead of working suggests that you were willing to make a significant investment because you saw the potential benefits. Recruiters are aware of this commitment and see this as an ability to manage and work towards long-term goals.
This article was written and published by TARGETjobs.