Part 1: What Young People really want to know about University and Getting Hired!
The Big Questions from Generation Z
One of the most difficult questions most young people will grapple with, is whether to go to university or head straight into the work place?
Back when the question came up for Gen Z’s parents and grandparents, the options were a little simpler. Between 1962 until the mid-1990’s in the UK, higher education and university was effectively free. Costs of higher education vary around the world, but what is almost universally true, is higher education has gotten astronomically more expensive in the last thirty years globally.
Thirty years ago, there were three pretty cool options for the majority of young people: you could go to university, study hard, not accrue any debt, graduate and in all likelihood get a (at the very least) a decent job. Go to university on a jolly, get pissed on Student Union cider for 3-4 years, not accrue any debt, graduate and in all likelihood get a pretty decent job. Not go to university and proceed straight to getting a fairly decent job – the job market was exponentially less Darwinian and houses didn’t cost twenty times a salary back then.
These options are longer available to young people – university and higher education is very expensive now (nudging up to £50K in the UK for a standard university degree, all in) – and though lots of young people do score very decent jobs without degrees, the cost of living means you have to be earning quite substantial money to now afford independence and a decent standard of living.
Added to that, university is not automatically a golden ticket to a wonderful, lucrative career and life. It absolutely can be, and many jobs and industries still view a degree as mandatory and won’t even consider hiring anyone without one.
However. In the last decade, debates about whether a degree is a good investment, whether lots of degrees are adequate preparation for the world of work but also frustration at the lack of viable, respected alternatives to university have reached boiling point for lots of young people. On the employment side, there is a cacophony of complaints about graduates not being made life or work ready by the university system, but - as lots of young people and teachers point out - not nearly enough industries or companies provide alternative routes or in-house training for young people, so more often than not, university is the only option available.
And the academic perspective – the one that presents the benefits of university as being about expanding your intellectual horizons - increasingly gets metaphorical rotten fruit pelted at it, by young people who are often of the (quite justified) opinion, that if they have to spend the thick end of fifty grand on something, want an assurance of a well-paying job and not just a deep knowledge of 19th Century German Philosophy.
Taylor (17): I’d love, love, love to do French literature at uni. I can speak fluent French – which I’m told is a really good employment asset – and I love their writers. Especially pre-20th Century. But what’s the point? No one is going to hire someone just because they can quote Emile Zola. I don’t have rich parents, so I’m going to have to do it all on loans. So, I’m going to have to do either Business or Finance. Both of which depress me.
Anmol (16): If I can get into Cambridge, I’ll read History, because that’s my real passion, and I think Oxbridge gets you wherever you want to go, but if I get into one of the less competitive universities – even Edinburgh – which is going to be my second choice, I’ll do Law, because I think that will make me a lot more employable.
Christopher (18): I’m looking at Politics internships and I’ve been predicted to 2A’s and 2A*’s. I just don’t think university has the same value it used to. Why get into debt if you can go straight into work?
Isabel (17): I’m going to Canterbury next year to do English, and everyone keeps really scaring me. Even my parents. Everyone keeps asking me ‘what are you going to do with that?’ ‘Do you really want to set fire to all that money?’ ‘Why don’t you do finance or tech instead?’ I haven’t even begun and I’m questioning it. I really want some reassurance English is a good choice, because my confidence is flagging.
And that is the problem in a nutshell; everything is so commodified, that young people view themselves and their choices mostly through the lens of becoming a successful commodity.
This isn’t because Generation Z have all become disciples of 1980’s Thatchersim, but because they are being told these are the choices, they must make to survive.
But is the propaganda that a degree in History, Poetry or Sociology means a life of unemployable destitution, but a degree in coding, Economics or Engineering means you’ll be able to afford a penthouse in Central London by your mid-20’s accurate? Of course not. It’s much, much more complex than that.
The trouble with most investigations into the value of university, what makes you employable, and the reality of the job market for young people is they often have skin in the game or an agenda, and they don’t ask the tricky questions young people really want to know.
So, I did.
I asked young people what they really wanted to know, and asked universities, employers including some of the most aspirational, in-demand and hard to get into companies in the world, industry specialists and people in government the stuff young people really want to know. Questions like:
In all honesty, which degree is most likely to put my CV on the ‘yes’ pile? Can you be honest, and not just say ‘we look at all individuals on equal merit’ because we know that’s not true?
How many of the youngest employers are relatives or friends of people in management at your company? Both the industries I’m interested in, seem to run on nepotism.
I’ve looked, most of the people who work at your newspaper, either went to Oxford, Cambridge, LSE or one of the Ivy League universities (I think I counted 4 that didn’t’) – why is this and would you in all seriousness consider, someone who went to a less elite one or didn’t go at all?
Do you actually care if someone has a First or 2:1?
Do you think a degree in Humanities or English from a top university or a degree in Maths or Engineering from one much lower in the leagues is more valuable? Be honest.
Can you please tell me how I can get into your company – for real – without going to university? What are your actual internships or in-house training schemes?
What can I do in my own spare time now (I’m 14) that would really impress you and make you actually notice and hire me, if I don’t want to go to university?
I want to do Medicine, but I’ve been predicted a 6 in Science at GCSE. Should I give up this dream?
Is learning to code really the best thing you can do to make yourself employable? My blog has 20,000 followers and I think that’s as impressive as coding.
What languages are the most valuable from an employer perspective?
My parents said going to university were the most fun years of their lives, but none of my friends who are going say it’s that great. What has gone wrong?
I had 6 hours a week of contact time last week at uni – and I go to one of the top 10 ones in the country – I’m thinking of giving up, because it doesn’t feel like good value for money. Should I?
If you have to live at home, do you really miss out on the university experience?
I’ve got a good degree from a really good university, but I’m really struggling to get my foot in the door of any of the industries I’m interested in. Can you advise me what I could do differently?
I didn’t go to a private school and so don’t have a fancy CV, contacts and haven’t had much interviewing practice. I had to raise my 3 brothers, as my Mum has 3 jobs and I think this is brilliant life and employment experience – but will employers or top universities even consider me, because of my background?
If someone from an elite private school got the same grades as someone from a state school and they both interviewed well – who is more likely to get the place? Be truthful?
Why is applying for jobs so stressful and outdated. You have to write so much, but I’m so much better in person – can’t companies join the modern world and let us apply with video?
There were so many questions, and what was clear was how many young people feel like they aren’t getting straight answers about the concerns they really have about they have about such a momentous choice.
If you are a school, university, or employer – take these questions seriously. This is what currently on Gen Z’s mind, as they map out their lives in a challenging world. And do get in touch if you have questions, comments or advice!
Next week – Part 2 – Employers and Universities put in the hot seat and respond to these questions.
I have spoken to many people across a huge range of industries and in many universities internationally. They have been forthright, generous with their answers and advice and said they’d never been asked a number of these questions so directly. This will be an invaluable guide to all young people who are making these difficult choices in a time that has unprecedented challenges.