School leavers more optimistic about job chances
School leavers are more optimistic about their job chances compared with new graduates, according to a new research study from reed.co.uk.
The study of 1,367 UK workers revealed that those who didn’t plan to go to university are 10% more optimistic about current job prospects compared with those who attended university.
When asked about regrets for not pursuing higher education, an overwhelming 59% of non-university educated respondents said they had none, with more than a quarter saying they made the most of every opportunity available to them and are very happy with life.
While one-in-five school leavers believe they learned more at work than any degree could provide, the remaining 12% were just happy to have started earning money at an early age.
Not all graduates see a bleak future for their job prospects, however: those who studied Accountancy, Computer Science, and Linguistics share the most upbeat outlook on the current employment market.
40% of current university students are positive about future employment prospects, 38% are completely ambivalent, and 22% feel negative about their job chances.
Martin Warnes, Managing Director of reed.co.uk comments
“In spite of the gloomy economic news we seem to hear most days, our latest employee research reveals a continuing optimism amongst jobseekers, with workers who didn’t attend university among the most positive about the future.
“Academic achievement is often seen as the best route to securing a good job, but the reality is that our diverse and ever-changing jobs market offers a huge variety of rewarding careers, regardless of educational background.
“By giving workers on-the-job training, either through apprenticeships or other learning programmes, employees can tap into a rich seam of enthusiastic talent, keen to learn the skills required to help their businesses flourish as the economy recovers.”





