New companies are being established all the time, and often start with a number of recent graduates because of their fresh perspective on work.Those who move away from their base of study tend to be more likely to gain employment. Of graduates from 1995-6, those who went on to complete post-graduate courses reduced their chances of unemployment to one in 20. At the moment about one in five graduates are entering further study.Both Scotland and Northern Ireland have flourishing technology industries. If funding can be found, this drastically increases the chances of employment. Building relationships with prospective employers means you are known, and therefore a safer employment bet.Another option for graduates is post-graduate study. The successful tend to be those who have found other ways of gaining experience.Voluntary work in an area that you have an interest in can be of great use, and shows a commitment to working without reliance on pay, and work placements with companies can be an excellent foot-in-the-door step.

This is due in some part to the specialist nature of Heriot-Watt courses, and also to their strong ties with industry.The losers in all areas are arts and social science graduates. Without vocational skills, their qualifications can seem a little unwieldy, and there is no set pattern to their employment. Of these, one in six will go into a job loosely categorised as management or administration – ranging from working in Government departments to shops, while nearly 50 per cent will move into “professional” jobs.
The highest employment rates tend to be for those who have completed vocational courses such as law, medicine and accountancy, but as many as one in 10 graduates opt for a professional teaching post of one kind or another.Northern Ireland does tend to have lower graduate employment rates for those remaining in the province but, as with most places, specialist skills such as computing and IT are very much in demand.Student employment rates in Scotland are higher, with Heriot-Watt taking the lead with a graduate employment rate of over 89 per cent within a year of graduation. The average rate of employment for graduates six months after completing courses in Scotland and Northern Ireland is 66 per cent. However, despite rising numbers of people entering higher education, employment rates are relatively high.

For the vast majority of graduates, seeking work is the biggest single worry. FINISHING YOUR course and getting through finals isn’t the end of student troubles. This is the bit I organise.”Everyone else is busy just keeping the bar stocked and the punters served, so for the past three years I’ve organised all the entertainments for the bar during August.”It’s just as well I’m on holiday from uni then, but it helps with the money.”I end up earning about pounds 250 a week in summer, whereas the rest of the year my shifts make me about pounds 90 at the most.”. We’re not a Fringe venue, but during that part of the year everything in Edinburgh goes a bit crazy.

We often get a couple of comedians in each night and sometime a folk, blues or jazz band. He works in a local bar, the Arnott Arms.”Basically my job splits into two parts Most of the year the pub runs as normal I work for about 20 to 25 hours a week. I usually work 5pm till midnight a couple of nights through the week, and then sometimes a longer shift on a Saturday.”We have quite regular customers – many of whom come in every night – so they like to see a familiar face serving them.”The other half of the job is during the Festival. We arrange signed performances for the deaf and audio-described performances for those with vision difficulties.”Chris Spence is studying for an MA in sociology at the University of Edinburgh. The performances are usually quite large, with lots of West End shows transferring here: recently we’ve had the likes of Ben Elton’s Popcorn and Lily Savage. We deal with all the bookings and seat arrangement, as well as looking after group bookings and those customers with special needs. You get to see a bit of everything – from the preparations and the rehearsals backstage; the programme planning; right on down to the audience taking their seats and the curtain rising.
“The job doesn’t pay terribly well – I started on about pounds 3.75 an hour – but it does increase over time and we do get given an allocation of tickets for the performances.”The job itself involves taking telephone enquiries from the public and serving them face to face at the box office.