The Unwritten Rules of Graduate Employment

The recent CIPD survey, highlighting that 59% of graduates are working in non-graduate jobs, caused inevitable noise within higher education circles. Nothwithstanding some scepticism about the veracity of the survey methodology, it prompts a debate about what it means to be a graduate at entry level. I caught up with a fresh graduate to hear her personal and purely anecdotal story. First some context.

Graduate mobility

The Higher Education Careers Services Unit publishes annual data on graduate mobility:

• 1 in 5 graduates start their jobs in London.
• After London, the big cities across the UK dominate over smaller towns, rural and coastal areas.
• There are more jobs for graduates than graduates in the country except London. London has the largest group of unemployed graduates. London is hoarding graduates that the rest of the country needs. It affects the economy.
• 46% of graduates are Locals (graduates coming from local area); 25% are Returners (moved back to home area); 11% are Stayers (in their university area), 18% are Incomers (from another region, mainly moving into London).
• There are more Incomers to London numerically than the total employed in the rest of the regions. 

Gemma (not her real name) moved to London for an administrative job in the Third Sector after graduating at a university in a provincial city (not her home town). The job description did not specify a degree was required. She left after 9 months.

Unwritten rules

Here are Gemma's fascinating insights into her experience of recruitment, onboarding, workplace culture, generational issues, the value of university and what it means to be employable:

"I feel there is an unwritten rule that if you apply for a job you need a degree, even when the job doesn't translate to a graduate role. The two of us doing the role were fresh grads and people commented that we were the best they've ever had. Prior to us, there were four people in the admin team.

We felt we deserved more opportunity to work our way up but it was a dead end. They recognised we were overqualified for the role but they could pick from graduates like us who wanted to be in London.

It has been a valuable first experience of the workplace that I've never had before. You are treated as a staff member in your own right, whereas I didn't have ownership in voluntary roles. It was really helpful knowing what it was like working in an office and how people interacted in a professional setting, what was OK and what was not.

If you asked for stuff, people would make the effort to help you, but you have to be proactive. I couldn't ask in certain settings, it depends on your manager and team and how comfortable you feel. Outside of the team, I didn't feel I was taken as seriously because of being at an administrator level.

I stayed for nine months but couldn't afford to live in London partly because rent and travel left me with nothing each month. They didn't want me to leave and offered me a supervisory role over my colleague if I'd stay which seemed artificial. The problem is we both outgrew the job so quickly and had nowhere to go. The role and structures were wrong - job design and hierarchy issues - although I accept there are certain things you have to do at that level, mundane procedural stuff, and to do what others ask you to do. 

The value of university

It's a valid point about too many people going to university. From my experience, it suited a certain type of person. Some are not academic and go to uni. Schools are not prepping people about options. Personally, I valued the uni experience as a stepping stone, the social stuff and the access to extracurricular activities, way more than the academic experience.

People like learning, it's not the same as loving a subject.

The value of a non-graduate job

It's OK for grads to do non-grad jobs as long as you are still valued for your skills. It's not OK if you are not valued or the way you get to that point is not valued. Do the graft and show your worth. You get experience of handling working life. Some employers don't want a degree, they want work experience of handling people. 

Generational issues

I found most of the behaviours old fashioned. It's not about doing the actual job. It's the professionalism and people's expectations. How do I speak to someone above me? What stories about my social life can I tell to my colleague next to me? You learn to filter. How do you speak to a 55-year-old man in the office when you have only ever been surrounded by your peers? They are not your parent but also not your friend. How do  you talk to them and what about?

It's not that grads arn't capable of doing a grad level job, it's about learning what to expect in the workplace.

Work culture

Doing non-grad jobs can help as well as internships and voluntary roles. You learn about organisational structures, people, the work environment, how you portray yourself in that culture through self-reflection. People don't always give honest feedback. 

You become aware of the incredible breadth of knowledge of an industry among existing workers who have built context over time. But this isn't always related to being effective.

Employers need to stop talking in acronyms and being insular. People have walls up. If you treat your colleagues like your friends, you can have a sense of humour. Socialising is a way of breaking down barriers. Younger people are more open with each other, but I'm not so sure with older people. As a new person coming in, you feel incompetent because you don't know. People don't make it easy for you when you are unconsciously incompetent. You can read all you want beforehand but it's not until you experience it that you really find out. 

Being employable

My employability came from extracurricular stuff, not writing essays. University is not just about education, it's about life skills, being around different people, exploring your interests, living with people you don't know, living in a new city, independent from your parents, deciding what you enjoy. That's what makes you more employable. It's about attitude and how proactive you are." 

So there you have one recent graduate's experience on dipping her toes into the world of work. Something that struck me was the increase in productivity through employing two graduates instead of 4 non-graduates. Was this down to higher level cognitive skills and/or attitude? Will the organisation recruit graduates in future but accept they will only stay short-term or employ better quality non-graduates who might stay longer? What meaningful soft and hard incentives need to be in place?

Twentieth Century work cultures that lag too far behind the curve of societal and technological changes are going to struggle with engagement and retention. The third of unfilled graduate vacancies is not just down to a skills deficit among graduates. Job hopping is common and, as I've argued before on these pages, employers also need to get their own house in order and modernise their people practices to meet the expectations of today's diverse employees.

What are your views on the state of graduate employment today? 

Photos by Author.

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David (@David_Shindler) is an independent coach, blogger and speaker, associate with several consultancies, founder of The Employability Hub (free resources for students and graduates), author of Learning to Leap: a guide to being more employable, Digital Bad Hair Days and co-author with Mark Babbitt of 21 Century Internships. His commitment and energy is in promoting lifelong personal and professional development and in tackling youth unemployment. He works with young people and professionals in education and business.

To read more of his work - visit the Learning to Leap blog.

And check out his other published articles on LinkedIn:

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