Harry graduated from Cambridge University with a 1st class honours degree in English Literature.
He has been living on the streets of London for the past 6 months. If only he had known about Inspiring Interns.
Archive for May, 2010
Harry the Homeless Graduate
May 28th, 2010Confidence in graduate job market hits a 15 year low
May 27th, 2010
source – eduinreview
For one recent graduate it all gets a bit too overwhelming.
It’s grim up North; or so the saying goes. Well now it seems that it’s grim up North, down South and anywhere else in-between, according to a recent survey of final year students at 30 of the UK’s top universities. The study, carried out by High Fliers, concluded that 45% of university leavers believed that their prospects upon finishing were ‘very limited’. Considering that the recent recession is officially over, the aftermath of the banking crisis seems to be playing heavily on the minds of graduates.
Possibly the most disturbing of all of the findings is that one in six wouldn’t have gone to university at all if they’d known about how tough it would be to find work upon finishing. Many are scared that jobs available will be snapped up by 2009 graduates, however speaking as an ’09 grad myself I am vigilant of the reverse coming into effect. Martin Birchill, Managing Director of High Fliers commented, “Our latest survey shows that final year students due to leave UK universities this summer are just as pessimistic about their employment prospects as those who graduated twelve months ago… with a record number of students due to complete degrees in the coming weeks and tens of thousands of last year’s graduates still looking for work, there is widespread concern on campus that competition for graduate jobs has never been fiercer.â€
These figures paint a stark profile of graduate unemployment but yet again the Government have failed to differentiate between youth unemployment as a whole and the plight of those in higher education. In a repost to the survey’s findings, Minister of State for Universities and Science, David Willetts said, “The jobs market continues to be very tough for young people, who were among the biggest losers during the recession. There continues to be enormous value in higher education and that is why we also are committed to offering an extra 10,000 university places this year.” As we have continued to say time and time again, herding more young people into university will only make the problem of the saturation of the graduate job market even worse; how long will it be until the government realise this?
Although in reality this survey is only a snapshot of graduate opinions, a fifth of final year students were interviewed and the assumptions that can be drawn are worrying to say the least. Following the announcement of dramatic spending cuts in Whitehall, the post-recession bubble seems to have been well and truly burst. With dark times ahead, the next few years for graduates are forecast to be a bleak period.
Do we really need 10,000 more university places?
May 25th, 2010
Debates are raging about the £200 million of higher education spending cuts outlined in today’s opening of Parliament. Labour had proposed that 20,000 more university places would be created this autumn, but the Conservative-Liberal Democrat spending cuts have meant that this number has been reduced to 10,000. This has sparked outrage from the University and College Union (UCU) whose general secretary, Sally Hunt, has argued that the government “are denying thousands a place at university and increasing the burden to our benefits systemâ€. Aaron Porter, President of the National Union of Students (NUS), has gone as far as to say that without proper government funding, the ‘enviable reputation’ of British universities around the world will be called into question.
Earlier this week, universities united in calling for graduates to contribute more to the cost of their education, by implementing a ‘real’ rate of interest on student loans. The Russell Group of universities has also argued that the best way to protect the quality of higher education is to allow universities to set their own fees. However, the UCU and left-wing think tank Compass argue that the solution for funding should come from businesses rather than graduates. They have suggested that increasing corporation tax would generate almost £3.7 billion for higher education. George Osborne has just today, however, outlined plans to reduce corporation tax over the next five years, in order to stimulate economic recovery.
Here at Inspiring, we see the difficulties faced by graduates first hand. Only last month, unemployment in Britain was reported to have reached its highest levels since 1994, and recent graduates are struggling to find jobs that will lead to successful careers. By creating 10,000 more university places, competition for these jobs will only be increased. If you also factor in a hike in tuition fees and a higher interest rate on student loans, the challenges faced by graduates are only going to get greater. It is not enough to simply send more people to university and expect this to fix the ‘burden to our benefits system’. More time and money needs to be invested in helping those who do graduate find the career that drove them to study in the first place. If the new government can conquer the prior’s obsession with vastly increasing university figures - Blair’s ludicrous target of 50% of young people in higher education comes to mind – then and only then can graduate unemployment be tackled in a sensible and rational way.
Go Gaga for an Internship – Inspiring Interns en Vogue
May 19th, 2010
Chanel. Louis Vuitton. Ralph Lauren. Inspiring Interns.
These are names deeply rooted in the pomp and regalia of modern fashion and are at the forefront of genre-defying vivacity. What’s that you say? Why Inspiring Interns? Well, besides the Inspiring office looking like a catalogue of what’s hot this season, Burberry trench dresses and nudes if you must know, we earned a mention in the fashion bible that is Vogue over the past week. Unfortunately it wasn’t for a run down of my outfits for this week, my fingers are still crossed, but in relation to the news that Lady Gaga has applied for an internship with milliner extraordinaire Philip Treacy. So who was Vogue’s go-to guy in regards to this burning gossip? None other than Inspiring Interns’ CEO Ben Rosen. Follow the link below to read the full story.
Some Inspiring advice…
May 13th, 2010We’ve all banged our heads against the wall in frustration when it comes to writing a winning CV. It’s time consuming and can become pretty depressing, especially if it yields no results. Here at Inspiring Interns, we’ve put our heads together and come up with some top tips for writing a CV that will help to secure you that all important interview.
We then decided that it might be helpful to impart our wisdom and knowledge when it comes to interviews as well, so we’ve also created a handy guide to help you with your interview technique.
And when you do land that perfect internship, we want to make sure you know how to make the most of it. So, we’ve made a handy guide for that too, Â you lucky, lucky people! Feel free to browse our guides and pass them on to your friends. And most importantly, let us know if our advice helps you land that all important first job or internship, so we can bask in a glow of pride…
We hope you enjoy our guides and they help you to land that dream job or internship and get the most out of it once you’re there. Once you’ve perfected your CV, you might want to send it to us at cv@inspiringinterns.com so we can make sure the right people see it!
What’s the best way for you to secure a graduate job?
May 12th, 2010A survey by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) found that 61% of employers saw a lack of skills as the biggest obstacle to recruitment. A quarter of graduates have said their degree did not equip them with the skills needed for the workplace. Tom Richmond, policy advisor to the CIPD, recently told the Independent that work experience will make a big difference when applying for graduate jobs this year. “There may be long waiting lists and rejection, but you’ve just got to keep plugging away, because experience is often the decisive factor that gets you the job. The skills you can get in an internship – things like teamwork and communication – you can’t always get through a degree.â€
As a senior recruitment officer at Shell, Nimai Swaroop deals with thousands of internship applicants each year. A former intern himself, he’s emphatic about the benefits. “It’s a great platform, giving practical opportunities and confidence,” he says. “Of the 14,000 applications we had last year, 130 successes came from our internship programme.â€
Even without a job offer, internships are advantageous. Yosuke Homma, 24, interned at legal firm Simmons and Simmons and found it a hugely positive experience, despite not receiving a job offer. “I came away knowing that I wanted to work for a large international firm,” says Homma. “I’ve now got a contract with another top firm and my internship helped – it showed I had experience.” As well as bolstering your CV, an internship provides valuable specialist training, particularly for those studying non-vocational subjects, says Homma. “Having studied biology, interning gave me the opportunity to understand what solicitors did on a day-to-day basis. There was a decent effort at training us, with lectures on professional skills and resources available for research.”
Internships can also help forge your eventual career path. According to High Flyers Research, a quarter of final year students surveyed had applied to jobs they had little or no interest in. Benedict Hazan, a graduate mentor at Inspiring Interns, has advised hundreds of graduates on roles suited to them. His advice is: “Don’t feel rushed to join the rat race and get stuck in a job you hate. Try a job out through an internship to see if an industry is really suited to you.â€Â Benedict said the best way to get where you want to be is to know what your goal is and to work towards it. “Read newspaper articles and trade magazines. Speak to friends and family to get a bigger picture of what you really want.â€
If you are one of the 1.3 million graduates who might be unsure of what to do post-university, give yourself the very best chance of securing a graduate job. Not only do internships help you clarify your chosen career path, they also give you an invaluable opportunity to network, the chance to build your communication and teamwork skills and confidence in the workplace. Inspiring Interns are the UK’s leading internship agency. Our internships are in a wide variety of sectors, including roles in up-and-coming mobile advertising and social networking marketing agencies. With an internship you have the very best chance to fulfill your potential.
