As the number of First and 2:1 honour degrees being issued continues to rise, growing from 60% to 64% between 2007 and 2011, those graduating with a degree classification which demonstrates their academic excellence will not be able to rely on their scholarly record to procure them a graduate job.
The increasing number of students with stellar degree classifications means that there is very little to distinguish between job candidates and graduates who need to find alternative means of standing out from the masses. Therefore, as a means to counteract job candidate anonymity, it is important to immerse yourself within the opportunities that university can offer beyond merely the realms of scholarly development. I am referring to the extra-curricular activities largely made available by university unions, to which students can and should devote their time and energy.
When an employer is recruiting, they do not simply want to see that you are an academic robot who has been able to churn out the correct essays and results; they will also want to see ample evidence of a rounded personality which could subsequently be an asset to the company you could potentially be working for.
Robert Farace, the resourcing manager at the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement, reinforces the importance of enhancing your employability with activity beyond merely your degree studies, saying to the Guardian "We want people who have gone out into the community to become actively involved, volunteering, part-time work and have just shown a little bit more of a rounded approach to their life in university." Farace's statement also stresses the fact that your extra-curricular experiences needn't be directly related to the career you intend to follow. Involvement in various projects such as volunteering can be a means of demonstrating initiative, ambition and your ability to work with others.
Of course, students with a specific career in mind can involve themselves in extra-curricular activities which directly enhance the skill set required in the professional realm. For example, my university peers seeking a career in the media tend to spend a great deal of their spare time devoted to the university radio network, the university TV channel or the student paper. All of these activities give students the opportunity to develop practical skills in a real world working environment whilst also allowing participants to judge whether what they are doing is in fact the right kind of work they would like to take into their professional futures.
While work-experience and degree classifications are both important in defining your employability, extra-curricular activities undertaken at university are the perfect way to enhance your application to employers faced with thousands of candidates. If you commit yourself to extra-curricular work beyond your academic studies (not at the expense of them however!) then you will be demonstrating key characteristics that employers will be searching for; the ability to balance a working schedule, initiative in taking part in activities beyond those immediately required of you and the probability that you will have developed skill sets which will translate conveniently into the professional arena.
