Which industries offer the most opportunities to new graduates?
These days, more and more people are choosing to return to education in later life, to enhance their skills and forge new career paths. If you’re doing this the chances are that you have a lot of existing responsibilities to consider. You won’t be able to take your time over finding a job in the way that you might have done when you were younger, because bills will have to be paid and you may well have a family to support. With that in mind, this article looks at the industries where you can be confident of securing a paying position quickly once you have your degree.
Finance
The financial services industry covers a vast scope of activities which are always in demand, meaning that it’s a good place to find work even when the economy is not at its strongest. Some parts of it, such as accountancy, are happy to recruit people who are only partially degree qualified, offering them the chance to start working and helping them to pay their way through the rest of their studies. Several of the biggest finance conglomerates have fast track programs for new graduates and are constantly on the lookout for talent. it’s a good idea to start approaching them halfway through your studies to ask about opportunities and start to build connections.
Computing
If you’re studying towards an online master’s of computing science, you’re liable to find yourself in a strong position when it comes to employment. You may well be able to start working before you’ve finished your studies, because it’s easy to freelance as a coder, and completing a few jobs like this successfully will make it easier for you to secure a full-time position. If you want to keep your freedom, freelancing can be lucrative to give you a long-term career, or you can opt to work as a consultant, going into companies to solve their software or hardware problems, either solo or as an agency employee.
Healthcare
With an aging population and more people surviving for longer, the demand for healthcare is continually rising. This means that there are always opportunities available for people with qualifications in the field. If you study for a nursing qualification, you’ll need to spend part of your time working (often through a placement) to amass enough clinical hours to qualify, and it’s common for people to end up working in the same places afterwards. Similar approaches apply in some other disciplines, and the great thing about healthcare is that qualifications are highly transferable, so you’ll only need a short exam to get a license to work in a different state if you want to move in pursuit of your ideal job.
Marketing
In the world of marketing and advertising, everything needs to be fresh in order to grab consumer attention, so new graduates with lots of fresh ideas are always in demand. There’s no shortage of entry level positions and if you have worked in another area, even in a lowly role, before deciding on a career change, you may be able to parlay that into a better position because your inside knowledge will enable you to specialize. Given the nature of the industry, marketing companies love a proactive pitch, so get creative in how you present your résumé and start firing it out to them before your course has finished.
Education
Most graduates in teaching who focus on children’s education move straight out of college into school placements and are quickly able to get to work. If what you are offered doesn’t suit you, there’s always the option of relocating to a rural area where schools often struggle to fill positions. At a higher level, the expansion of online education has itself opened opportunities, and it’s often possible to go straight from graduating to becoming a course tutor, which isn’t the best paid role but will help you to get by while you search for a better one.
Logistics
A logistics degree will qualify you for a such a wide variety of positions that you’ll find it easy to find work, especially as most large companies are operating in the field. Businesses looking for logistics specialists, are happy to take people straight from education. The reason for this is that beyond what you learn on your course, there’s not all that much useful knowledge you can acquire which isn’t company-specific. Any newcomer will have to learn the ropes and there is a general belief that recent graduates are at a point in their lives where they’ll be able to do so more quickly.
Construction
This is an industry which is always needed, so opportunities rarely dry up. There are lots of different paths which graduates can take within it, and most large construction companies have graduate development schemes designed to build on degrees with immediate, paid work experience as a pathway into long-term employment. In return for this support, graduates contribute expertise in the latest ideas and techniques, helping companies to stay up to date and keep improving what they do, so everybody benefits.
With all these opportunities and more available, there’s no reason why you need to find yourself stuck without a job after graduating. Just choose your course carefully, make sure that it’s properly accredited and will give you the qualifications you need, and you should be able to find employment without much difficulty. You can always boost your chances by networking while you study and ask your course tutors for recommendations.
If you’re already in the middle of a course of study where opportunities don’t look so good, don’t despair. There is always the option of taking a conversion course, a short period of study designed to build on what you’ve already learned and give you skills in an adjacent discipline where your chances of employment are higher. Then you can go straight from graduating to building up your new career.