University...what's the point?

It seems that a debate which I blogged about a year or so ago has come back around again. Is there any point in going to university now?

I kept track of an online debate hosted by Sarah Ebner of The Times yesterday, and the same ideas seemed to come out again and again. One of the main arguments on the side of going to university (which I would have to agree with) is the fantastic and extremely beneficial life experience it offers. Living on your own, financial independence, autonomous learning, a fantastic social life, access to tons of free advice...the list goes on.

But isn’t it possible to have all this experience without going to university, some argued? There are of course other options for young people who have completed A-Levels which can provide similar life experience (and let’s face it less debt) which can often be a better suited to certain individuals. These include apprenticeships, vocational courses and entry level jobs. But another point that seemed to come out of the debate, which I would also agree with, is the fact that the option of university seems to be pushed to young people above all the other options. This was definitely true of my school, and as I pointed out in the debate yesterday, often young people who were very talented in the arts or sports for example were essentially ignored, and made to feel like their talents were not worth as much as academic skills, which of course is not the case.

Personally, I still hold the viewpoint that for me it was definitely worth going to university. As much as some could argue that my degree by itself will not necessarily guarantee me entry into my dream career, I would argue that the experience of university as a whole has made me so much more employable than I when I came out of sixth form, not least because of the confidence I have gained over the past 3 years. Also, without the motivation and guidance of lecturers, the careers service and colleagues, I wouldn’t have had much of a clue of what I wanted to do, or how to go about getting it. I didn’t even know what public relations was before I went to university.

Whilst some participants in the debate argued that it is pointless going to university now because there is no guarantee of a better job or lifestyle after graduation because of the sheer number of graduates and the supposed lack of jobs, this just gives me further motivation to succeed. Because I am aware of the stiff competition out there after graduation, including the thousands who were left in the lurch last year, I have spent my time at university trying to make myself stand out from the crowd. And although I still don’t know what the outcome of my university experience will be, it has already been totally worth it.

Do comment and let me know your thoughts.


Photo caption: Typical hardworking students...

Job done?

I made a decision last year that I would use my final year to purely concentrate on getting a good degree at university. I spent the first two years juggling uni work, part time jobs, internships and general life (as so many students do) but now I feel that my CV is sufficiently meaty enough to mean that I no longer need to bust a gut to add more personal selling points this year.

Perhaps naively though, I hadn’t really anticipated how much time, effort and energy this whole job hunting malarkey was going to suck out of me. From my own desktop research and that of fellow bloggers, it seems that there are very few PR graduate schemes out there, and the majority of these are on the brink of closing. (See Ben Cotton’s v useful post) So I have spent the last few weeks writing, re-writing and polishing my application forms, and believe me some of them are head scratchers!

I am glad I started researching my options at this fairly early stage, as it can be tempting to concentrate fully on dissertations and portfolios and leave the job hunting until afterwards, but by this point the majority of positions are likely to have gone to the keen beans. I expect though, that the majority of entry level PRs will be employed off the back of tailored speculative applications, as many PR consultancies are too small to have a specific graduate trainee scheme, or the budget to advertise for that matter. So researching agencies I would love to work for and making sure they know why I’m perfect for them will be my next mammoth task.

The job application process has also made me realise how important it is to keep a record of your duties and responsibilities on placements and to have an up to date CV, as trying to wrack my brains as to what I did on a 3 month placement 2 years ago would have proved rather difficult.

I will keep you updated as to whether the hours of effort have paid off!

In the mean time, I must get back to writing 400 words on why I’m the perfect candidate, and get my ideas together for my PR campaign to restore the reputation of the city of London...

TWEET YOUR WAY TO YOUR DREAM JOB

I quite often get asked, like many other tweeters - “Why do you use Twitter?” and “What’s the point?” I think this is because on the face of it, Twitter is just a place where people share trivial information about what they’re having for tea tonight or whether they’ve had a nice lie in this morning. And to put it bluntly... no one cares!

But more and more, Twitter is being used in new and pretty exciting ways. One such exciting set of tweets I noticed this morning was from former ‘Dragon’ @Doug Richard, who is using Twitter as a recruitment tool. He’s doing a Twitter experiment to see if the micro blogging site can help him ‘find great people’.


Just a few days ago Twitter helped Peaches Geldof have her stray passport returned to her safely, and it’s crazy to think that someone out there in the Twittersphere could secure their dream job via a mere 140 character message, and even more crazy to think of all those ideal budding entrepreneurs who have missed this chance in a million.

I’ve been monitoring responses to Doug’s experiment all morning and he has already been re-tweeted countless times, but as yet, has only had a handful of mini CVs submitted.

Would you hire?

@douglasrichard 2 yrs promoting entrepreneurship at Edinburgh U. Event management, copy writing, award-winning debater. Aim to start a biz.

Or maybe?

@douglasrichard I'm easy going hard working honest guy, started own biz at 17, 250K 1st yr turnover. About to launch http://tiny.cc/Nc5Y6

Having had the privilege of meeting this mythical Dragon myself, I know he’ll already be impressed with anybody who shows enthusiasm, so purely replying will put you in his good books.

Could this be your chance to shine? Go for it! It could be the quickest application you’ve ever done, but could result in the most useful and exciting experience you’ll get. Good luck to all those who apply, and don’t forget to use those characters wisely...