The researchers suggest that one of the causes is the significant debt that most students build up during their university days. Apparently, they can't think about getting a "real" job until they have cleared off their debts, so they engage in the careers events in order to be prepared but then go back to their temporary jobs until they see the number of red noughts reducing to something more manageable. This would seem to be very odd behaviour and implies a misunderstanding of the world of work, namely that once you land a real job you are stuck in it for ever, or for at least two years which to most graduates is roughly the same thing. Why else would students bypass the opportunity to start in a graduate-level job that will pay them considerably more money than any temp job and add skills to their CVs' It would seem that students in 2003 are considerably more risk averse than previous generations.
"It's like a prison door clanging shut behind me - I want to put it off as long as possible", "I see it as jumping into a great ravine with no parachute and no sense of what lays below", "It feels like you want me to plan my own funeral" - just a few comments from final-year students about how they feel about career choice. One would expect some anxiety: for many it is the first time they are making a decision as an independent adult, theoretically unfettered by parents or institutional persuasion. What is surprising, in these days of portfolio careers and serial job-changing, is that the decision is seen as such a great risk, almost as if it is irreversible. The truth is that it isn't like jumping into that ravine - it's like stepping into a puddle. You might get your shoes wet and decide to move to a drier road, but that's about it.
There are numerous theories of guidance to help people make good career decisions, but the basic process remains the same. You need to know your skills, abilities, values and interests and find a job where they will be used and fulfilled. At ULCS we use the SORT-IT mnemonic: Self-knowledge, Option generation, Researching and exploring, Taking decisions, Implementing and self-marketing, Transition.
Knowing yourself ought to be easy but sometimes needs the help of a trusted friend or an independent adviser. The internet has made generating options relatively easy and once the decision is made, implementation, self-marketing and coping with transition can be mastered with help and practice. The problem areas remain researching and exploring your options and, of course, taking the plunge.
So how do you find out what jobs are really like and whether they would suit you' Talking to people who are doing the job is a firm favourite and, with around 100 employers waiting for you at the AGCAS Graduate Fair in London on 3 and 4 December this couldn't be easier.
Temping is a tried-and-tested method. Choose agencies that work in the fields you are interested in and encourage them to give you short placements so that you get a chance to see a number of different organisations. Volunteering can provide similar insights. Before dismissing this as impractical for monetary reasons, it might be worth checking out some of the volunteering organisations at the Fair as many will provide opportunities that will fit in with a work schedule. Volunteering not only provides an opportunity to check out the jobs but it can also give you different experience to spice up your CV or to confirm to employers that you really do have the skills they seek.
However you manage to gain work experience, the trick is to make sure you find out as much as you can about the organisation, the culture and the range of jobs on offer. Seeing an organisation from low down the food chain will give you an interesting perspective but you'll need to keep your eyes and ears open and ask questions if you want to discover what it's like further up the ladder in a graduate job.
So take the first step and visit the Fair, for as JFK said: "There are risks and costs to a programme of action but they are far less than the long- range risks and costs of comfortable inaction."
Anne-Marie Martin, Director, University of London Careers Service (ULCS)
