CHALLENGES FOR

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Nakisha
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Holdsworth
Report
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STUDENTS SEEKING
EMPLOYMENT AFTER
GRADUATING FROM
UNIVERSITY
EHR101 Work and Employability
Table of Contents

Introduction...........................................................................................................................................2
Challenges that university students face getting employment................................................................2
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................2
Reference List........................................................................................................................................3
Introduction

There are many challenges facing university students after graduating from university. The main
concern for students is trying to seek employment after graduating. This is becoming increasingly
complex as more students are completing degrees meaning that there is significantly more
competition in the job market. This is the case for all industries unless there are surplus jobs available
which is very rare in the current economic situation. Universities try to help students become more
competitive and distinguishable in the over populated markets by helping them get university
endorsed internships but this is normally only for students with a GPA of 5 or 5.5 which is generally
the top students in university, making it hard for other students to have the same opportunities
available. Another problem is that graduates arent just competing with other graduates they are in
competition with other job seekers who may have been in the industry for much longer then they have
and have the necessary experience on their resume with or without a degree (Broadbridge et al.,
2009).

Challenges that university students face getting employment

A major challenge that students have is that Students are meant to have been able to do unpaid, extra-
curricular employability enchanting activities to be able to give them a competitive advantage. In a lot
of cases universities are meant to have been helping and trying to expand students prospects in
getting a job after graduation. This is done through helping students understand what employers want
and value but also what students want and value to help them find the job that is right for them.
Through helping students find out what they want to do and what their prospective employers want,
this helps them to effectively communicate with the employers which helps them network as well
(Caldwell & Cattermole, 2015; Ward & White, 2015). In a lot of cases students want to work in big
corporations or internationally, although they are international employers they want the same things as
a lot of employers and that is work experience except they want international work experience they
want to be able to see that they can send you to one of their subsidies and youll be able to work
effectively but effectively with diverse cultures as it is a global market. This is a massive challenge for
students to get as it is already hard to get Internships or work experience in their own countries which
adds competition and the need for capital (Gribble et al., 2015). It was seen that some employers from
places such as USA, UK, Canada and China want even more from graduates which is another
challenge for them. They seem to want an employee to be able to adapt quickly, be fast learners, have
experience or be familiar with foreign environments/ work environments which again brings into
question work experience and internships. Another major challenge to be competitive is to know
another language or two, this is a massive challenge as some students get through the demanding
work involved in a university degree only to find out that a lot of other student have done them or that
their employers are looking for people with more experience. This shows that there are challenges to
university students after graduation, that no matter how well prepared they are that it will always be a
competitive market as other students will be doing the same thing (Hao et al., 2016; Caldwell &
Cattermole, 2015; Ward & White, 2015; Gribble et al., 2015).
Conclusion

Overall after looking at secondary sources, there are numerous opinions on what sort of challenges
that students are facing when seeking employment after graduating from University. There are a lot of
challenges and whether they are significant or not depends on the person and their experience to date.
Two main problems that are facing students today is that industries are harder to enter as more
students are completing degrees and the other is that students are also facing job seekers that have
been in the market for a long time with an impressive resume. One thing that was found for university
students is that because it is very competitive employers are wanting students that have work-
integrated learning and work experience which isnt possible for all students to gain prior to entering
the workforce (Hao et al., 2016; Caldwell & Cattermole, 2015; Ward & White, 2015; Broadbridge et
al., 2009).

Reference List

Broadbridge, A. M., Maxwell, G. A., & Ogden, S. M. (2009). Selling retailing to

generation Y graduates: Recruitment challenges and opportunities. The
International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research, 19(4),
405-420. doi:10.1080/09593960903331394
Caldwell, E. F., & Cattermole, C. (2015). Student perceptions of barriers to
networking with employers. Higher Education, Skills and Work-Based
Learning, 5(3), 287-298. doi:10.1108/HESWBL-07-2014-0030
Gribble, C., Blackmore, J., & Rahimi, M. (2015). Challenges to providing work
integrated learning to international business students at australian
universities: 1. Higher Education, Skills and Work - Based Learning, 5(4),
401.
Hao, J., Wen, W., & Welch, A. (2016). When sojourners return: Employment
opportunities and challenges facing high-skilled chinese returnees. Asian
and Pacific Migration Journal, 25(1), 22-40.
doi:10.1177/0117196815621806
Ward, S. G., & White, M. (2015). The greehey scholars program as an innovative
solution to the student debt and employment crisis of recent graduates.
Academy of Educational Leadership Journal, 19(2), 159.