Wider access, opportunities and outcomes
A presentation to the Graduate Labour Market Forum, 15th December 2003,
Westminster, London
Nick Wilton and Kate PurcellUniversity of the West of England Peter Elias, University of Warwick
Three age-group categories…
• ‘Young’ graduates, who graduated before the age of 24
• ‘Young mature’ graduates, who graduated between the ages of 24-30
• ‘Older mature’ graduates, who were over 30 when they completed their undergraduate degrees
Characteristics of the 3 age-group categories
‘Young’ Graduates
‘Young mature’ Graduates
‘Older mature’ graduates
Type of institution(Old:New) 50:50 30:70 25:75
Subject studied Broad MixBias towards
vocationalApprox. 20%
education
Type of Organisation
35% (approx.) public sector
45% (approx.) public sector
65% (approx.) public sector
Sector of current employment
35% business services/ICT/
banking & finance
20% business services/ICT
banking & finance10% construction
35% education, 30% - Public services, 10% business services/
ICT/Banking & Finance
Percentage of employed graduates stating that a degree had been required for their job, by age
at graduation
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Young graduates
Young mature graduates
Older mature graduates
Degree a requirement for current job by age group
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Young male
graduates
Young mature
male graduates
Older mature male
graduates
Young female
graduates
Young mature
femalegraduates
Older mature
female graduates
Dont know
No
Yes
Percentage of employed graduates stating that they were using the knowledge acquired on
their 1995 degree course, by age at graduation
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Young graduatesYoung mature graduatesOlder mature graduates
Percentage of employed graduates stating that they were using the skills developed on their
1995 degree course
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Jul-9
5
Oct-
95
Jan-
96
Apr-9
6
Jul-9
6
Oct-
96
Jan-
97
Apr-9
7
Jul-9
7
Oct-
97
Jan-
98
Apr-9
8
Jul-9
8
Oct-
98
Jan-
99
Apr-9
9
Jul-9
9
Oct-
99
Jan-
00
Apr-0
0
Jul-0
0
Oct-
00
Jan-
01
Apr-0
1
Jul-0
1
Oct-
01
Jan-
02
Apr-0
2
Jul-0
2
Oct-
02
Young graduatesYoung mature graduatesOlder mature graduates
Levels of satisfaction with career to date by age group & gender
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Young malegraduates
Older mature malegraduates
Young femalegraduates
Older mature femalegraduates
Dissatisf ied
Not very satisf ied
Reasonably satisf ied
Very satisf ied
Differing motivations & expectations
• Intrinsic motivation for study- Study for personal development/interest
- Unfinished business
• Instrumental motivation for study– Career ‘kick-start’– Career ‘acceleration’– Search for direction
• Impacts on expectations of employment and subsequent satisfaction
The need to modify expectations of opportunities
‘I thought that employers would look at me and think, “as old as he is… he’s been made redundant, he’s got a degree, it shows drive and enthusiasm to get on and do things”. But it didn’t work out that way: it took about four years before I got a job that I though I should have been able to achieve two or three years beforehand. So, I was almost getting disheartened… It was rather a naïve idea that I would leave university [thinking that] there would be would be jobs and opportunities out there. I didn’t expect it to be quite as difficult as it was to get this kind of job…’
(Transport Planner, age 48, graduated with a 2:1 in Rural Resources Development from a new university)
Labour market advantage of studying as a mature graduate
‘I think as a graduate from engineering, I had a very practical background prior to university, so in one sense the academic qualifications are what you need to join the profession but I probably also had some extra qualities that the other run-of-the-mill graduates didn’t have, so I was bringing extra to the equation’.
(Forensic engineer, aged 33, graduated in engineering from a 1960s university)
Career ‘acceleration’ – The importance of credentials
‘The reason I did a degree was because... I felt that in order to progress my career, I would have to become chartered and doing the degree was the most obvious way of doing it. That’s why I embarked on a degree, to increase my promotion prospects. There are several routes to becoming a chartered engineer, but the easiest route that I could see was to get a degree... It was impossible to get beyond a certain level without the charter... I didn’t fancy spending the next 20 years of my working career at senior engineer level.’
(Principal Engineer, Local Authority, with 2.2 in Civil Engineering, new university)
Employers’ discriminatory practices…
‘Out of 40 applications I got three offers of interviews after finishing my Masters… I think once I stopped putting my age on my CV I got more interviews. I spoke to a number of recruitment people while I was doing my temping and they recommend that you don’t put your age, you don’t put your marital status… you try and block out, try and prevent or anticipate as many HR biases as you can’.
(Senior Project Co-ordinator working in Business Services, with 2.1 in Psychology from ‘old’ university, aged 39, female)
...reflecting confusion between age, generation and experience
‘Unfortunately, because I was 37 at the time I was feeling very much that age was against me… When you come out with your brand new degree certificate and you go for jobs, people either assume that you should be young if you want to come in at the lower level or that you age must give you some automatic experience in the specialist field that you’re entering. They don’t know quite where to put you unless of course they are particularly far-sighted and accept that you might be able to bring quite a lot to a more junior role’’(Senior Project Co-ordinator aged 39, 2:1 in Psychology from an old university)
Concluding Remarks
• Mature graduates are not a homogeneous category and have differing aspirations and rationales for study which affect subsequent expectations and values…
• Of those with career-related reasons for study most had achieved appropriate levels of employment
• However, older mature graduates experience greater difficulty in accessing such employment and appear to need to modify their expectations and demonstrate greater determination and resilience to do so…
• …and male older mature graduates were significantly less likely than younger graduates to report satisfaction with their career to date
• Findings reinforce the greater need for careers guidance amongst ‘non-traditional’ graduates
The social background of the 1995 graduates
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
Managerial andprofessionaloccupations
Intermediateoccupations
Small employersand own account
workers
Lowersupervisory and
technicaloccupations
Semi-routine androutine
occupations
Neither parent inpaid employment
Not determined
% in
eac
h c
ateg
ory
Type of institution by social class background*
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Managerial andprofessionaloccupations
Intermediateoccupations
Small employers andown account workers
Lower supervisoryand technicaloccupations
Semi-routine androutine occupations
HE college (inc teacher training)
1992 university
1960s univ./CATs
Old university (pre 1960)
*NSSEC 5-way Classification
Career paths of students from ‘managerial and professional’ backgrounds
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Other
Unemployed
Studying
Self-employed
Non graduate occupation
Niche graduate occupation
New graduate occupation
Modern graduate occupation
Traditional graduate occupation
Career paths of students from ‘semi-routine and routine occupations’ backgrounds
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Jul-
95
No
v-9
5
Ma
r-9
6
Jul-
96
No
v-9
6
Ma
r-9
7
Jul-
97
No
v-9
7
Ma
r-9
8
Jul-
98
No
v-9
8
Ma
r-9
9
Jul-
99
No
v-9
9
Ma
r-0
0
Jul-
00
No
v-0
0
Ma
r-0
1
Jul-
01
No
v-0
1
Ma
r-0
2
Jul-
02
No
v-0
2
Other
Unemployed
Studying
Self-employed
Non graduate occupation
Niche graduate occupation
New graduate occupation
Modern graduate occupation
Traditional graduate occupation
SOC(HE) according to social class background*
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Traditionalgraduate jobs
Moderngraduate jobs
New graduatejobs
Niche graduatejobs
Nongraduatejobs
Semi-routine and routine occupations
Lower supervisory and technicaloccupations
Small employers and own account workers
Intermediate occupations
Managerial and professional occupations
*NSSEC 5-way Classification
Satisfaction with career to date according to social class background*
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Managerial andprofessionaloccupations
Intermediateoccupations
Small employers andown account workers
Lower supervisoryand technicaloccupations
Semi-routine androutine occupations
Dissatisfied
Not very satisfied
Reasonablysatisfied
Very satisfied
*NSSEC 5-way Classification
First generation graduate
• Events officer working for a political Think Tank, graduated with a 2:1 in English from old university
• “I’d been so focused on getting to university… I was the first person in my family to go to university so… We didn’t really know what happened once you got there. There was always the assumption that you would get a better job because you went to university, that was the whole point of striving for it, but there was then no idea of what actually that job would be. So, that’s all been learnt since”.
‘Cultural capital’
‘I’d say the one criticism of my university was that it didn’t necessarily give people a great deal of confidence about their expectations when they left university. I think a lot of people already had that because they went to nice, public schools and so they knew how to do it but it was a lot of people that didn’t get that encouragement. It was just assumed that you would get a decent job…’
Material & psychological advantage
‘[My] experience is that [with] people who come from public school backgrounds the one advantage that they have isn’t necessarily intellectual, it’s usually a confidence thing and I think that they seem to do better on graduating because they have the confidence… and also the financial background to go into a position and say, “I’ll work here for a couple of months for free” or to go into an interview and say, “actually I am brilliant, give me a job”, as opposed to “hi, I’ve done a degree, I know I’ve got no experience, but please, please, please give me a job” which is what myself and some of my contemporaries probably did.’
‘Fitting the bill’?
Detective constable graduated with 2:2 in law from old university, female
‘I found that whilst I was going for my interviews, I had a number of interviews to get a pupilage when I was waiting for my exam results, that there was an element of “your parents are police constables…” certainly I did think that it is still a class-ist profession… so I was a bit disillusioned by it all really, having worked so hard for so many years and been so focused on it, it was a bit of a kick in the teeth’