Job Opportunities For Graduates In The UK Market

Current job market conditions in the UK

Discuss about the Personal and Organisational Development.

In the present competitive market, organisations compete with one another to gain an advantage however, competition among the people to get a proper job in the discipline of their study. The current reflective paper sheds light on the conditions that is present in the UK market over the job opportunities (Bolden, 2016). The focus is on the type of job that can be obtained by graduates to gain entry into the business market. Organisations require talents to excel in the market. The excess rate of talents that is present in the UK may pose challenges for graduates specialising in various disciplines. The focus is on private banks and the type of opportunities it provides to the graduates in the HR Management discipline. The reflective paper also conducts an analysis about the researcher and identifies the potential strengths and weakness that he has to obtain employment in the current competitive market in the UK.

Current market place for graduate employment opportunity in the UK market

The UK is one of the top five countries with an excellent economy with a GDP of $2.5 trillion. The service sector is the main contributor to the rate of growth of GDP in the country. As stated by Kamer?de and Richardson (2017), it has been seen that the unemployment rate for graduates in the UK is 6.5%, which suggests that the market is favourable and stable for the graduates. The push in the employment rate has helped the rate to grow as high as 75%. During this time the employment rate for female graduates have been the best as the UK market have seen a growth rate of about 72% (Van Berkel et al., 2014). At the same time the growth rate of the males have increased to 81%, which suggests that equal opportunities are provided to both genders in the country.

In this regard, an analysis can be made about the type of jobs that have been received by the people. The low skilled have not seen a significant rate of employment being made in the past decade. The high-skilled job on the other hand has seen an increase in the overall rate of employment rate. Therefore, with the rate of increase of the high-skilled jobs, the employment rate of the graduates has also increased. About 37% of the graduates have received jobs in high profile sectors. Therefore, a safe conclusion can be made about the rate of employment that has been received by the graduates in the country (McCollum & Findlay, 2015). The earning rate of the graduates is high as well. It has been seen that the average starting salary of the graduates in high-skilled jobs is about £21,145. Variations in the starting salary of the graduates are seen only in the variations in the location of the companies. For example, people residing in London receive an average salary of £23, 067; whereas in other areas like in the North the average salary for the graduates become £19,098.

Employment opportunities for graduates in the UK

However, as observed by Björklund, Jäntti and Nybom (2017) one challenge that the UK market may face is the fact that the foreign students studying in the UK compete for job positions with the local people. According to a latest survey, it has been seen that Britain is considered as a country that provides opportunities for job for foreign students. This is mainly because of the job opportunities and the advanced technologies that are developed by the market. This provides UK with an opportunity to continue its dominance in the European market and recruit talented employees from both home and foreign market. However, with the exit from the European Union, the rate of employment of foreign talents in the country may drop.

The analysis has shown that labour workers have entered the UK market in the recent years, the rate of unemployment in the country have remained a cause of concern for the people. This low rate of opportunity can be attributed mainly due to the fact that excess number of people look for jobs in the UK. The number of foreign students is considered as baby boomers that take up time to mature in the industry. Hence, the workforce gradually exits the market and look for opportunities in the foreign markets (Burrell, 2016).

The younger generation of the UK are considered as cohorts mainly because they have an opportunity to choose between the place and time of employment. The retiring generation of employees pave the way for the opportunities of the younger generation. Therefore, the opportunities received in different organisations are mainly based on the expectations they have from the work. According to Atkinson and Storey (2016), the difference between the Generation X and Y in the professional field highlights the manner in which different organisations in the UK benefit from the graduates. The graduate labour force aim at working in organisations that provide rewards and recognition for the success hey achieve at work. On the other hand, the Generation X people maintain a proper balance between work and life.

Therefore, a summary can be made of the type of jobs that preferred by the graduates. These factors affect the loyalty as well as the mentality to continue to work in an organisation. Reports have shown that the level of competition between the graduates is high as the rate of education received by them is more than the traditional generations. Therefore, understanding the need of the graduates can be evaluated to verify the factors that affect the rate of employment in the UK market. As stated by Wadsworth and Vaitilingam (2015) the graduates negotiate the terms and conditions of work throughout their careers thereby allowing them to find jobs that command respect and at the same time maintain the competitive attitude in gaining employment in the UK.

Challenges faced by the UK job market

Table: Factors affecting the choices of job among employees

(Source: Created by author)

According to Joseph and Schmuecker (2014) getting a proper job in the UK is itself a challenging task particularly due to the challenges that exist in the market. At the same time, getting employment opportunities as an HR Manager can also be difficult for the people particularly for the graduates. Records have shown that Human Resource consists of 1% of the total workforce of the UK market. Therefore, the scope of being employed as an HR Manager can be difficult in the UK. However, being part of an HR team in an organisation can open up opportunities to specialise in any one major areas of HR.

Most of the graduates can gain employment as a junior HR executive after being involved in a team. For example, vacancies in areas involving employee engagement or health and safety relations are more in the UK. It has been seen about 52% of the people-seeking job in the country gain employment in small-scale sectors as an HR. This is mainly because during the development of a company, the role of an HR is crucial. According to Ruhs and Vargas-Silva (2014), the small-scale sectors provide opportunities for different tasks and thereby the talents of the people can improve. Hence, the rate of 1% HR jobs in large multinational companies increases to about 5% in the small-scale sectors.

One of the advantages that the UK market provides to employment in HR field particularly to the graduates is the fact that outsourcing of services can be done in different sectors of human resource. The outsourcing of the talents can provide an opportunity to the graduates to remain employed in the UK market by representing a different country. Therefore, it can be said that the graduates of the UK labour market can get employment opportunities as an intern or permanent basis only if they try to enrol in the small-scale sectors. Hardgrove, Rootham and McDowell (2015) are of the opinion that differences in the salary structure of the organisations in different areas of the country contribute to the rise of issues while adopting this profession.

For example, it has been seen that the salary paid to the graduates belonging in the areas of London is more than the salary received by the people residing in other areas. Similarly, the salary paid to the HR officers is different from the other employees. It has been seen that an HR officer earn an average salary of £24,598. Employees below the HR officer earn less than the amount but with incentives, it may be more than the HR officers may. At the same time, the managers and directors receive salary amounting to £36,000 and £68,000 respectively (Sirkeci et al., 2017). Therefore, it can be said that gaining opportunities, as an HR office may be problematic for the UK graduates.

Suitability of HR management discipline for graduates

Based on the analysis of the UK market and my qualification, I can analyse my opportunity to gain a decent and dream job in the markets of UK. I have been involved in a couple of jobs that have managed to develop certain skills of mine. After completing my diploma course, I had taken up working as a part-time employee in Subway. The duration of the job was for a year and a month. I undertook this job after I had completed my Diploma course in business HR Management and thus, it ignited my thoughts on applying for HR Management jobs. The job in Subway was useful as it was my first job and I had managed to learn a great deal about professional life and the manner in which I need to maintain a proper balance between the work and family.

After leaving the job, I had taken up a course on BA Honours in Human Resource Management. This is mainly so that I can enhance my theoretical knowledge about the topic. According to Drydakis (2015), in order to understand the labour market of UK, it is necessary for an individual to possess knowledge about different subjects both theoretically and practically. Hence, in the case of gaining employment as a HR manager enhancing my skills in this field is a necessity. I am currently undertaking the course and at the same time working a Management Trainee in Time Hotel Myanmar. Therefore, I aim at enhancing my knowledge both in a theoretical as well as in a practical manner. My overall aim to become an HR Manager can be attained by doing my work in a proper manner and rising up the ranks in the organisation. However, I need to analyse my suitability of the career by undertaking certain tests that can help me to analyse my strengths and weaknesses.  

To understand my suitability in the graduate placement position, I have undertaken four tests that have helped me to understand my mentality and whether I possess the talents to continue with the course that I have undertaken for myself. Therefore, the tests that I have undertaken include the Work Personality Questionnaire Output, VRT Report, NRT Report and LRT Report. Therefore, the results of the various tests can be analysed.

Work Personality Questionnaire Output (WPQ): This test helps in identifying the personality of an individual and analysing their characteristics (Simms, 2017). Having completed the WPQ, I have analysed found out that, I am overly critical of self than most people. I tend to boast about my talents and tend to provide favourable results to myself if it comes to being compared with others. This means that I put my talents and skills in more favourable light than my actual talents. At the same time, this can also mean that this is my true nature and that excelling at every opportunity or being the best of everything is really my talent. The majority of the factors of my personality test have been more towards the right side column, which strongly comprehends that I am overly fond and boastful of my talents.

Factors affecting the choices of a job among employees

VRT Report: The completion of the VRT test have sowed me that my verbal score is at 1 percentile meaning that I have done better in the test than 1% of the people. This score can be accepted in organisations as they normally allow a relaxation of 30 percentile, problems may arise if I am selected for the final round in the interview process. In this round, I may fall behind people that have scored more than me. It has also been seen that my speed at answering the questions have been the positive point rather than my accuracy. I have only managed to answer 8 of the 24 questions accurately but have managed to attempt all 24 questions. Therefore, I need to ensure that I manage to improve my English literacy, reasoning skills and environmental condition analysis so that I can improve my chances in of securing a proper job the future.

NRT Report: The NRT test has showed that my percentile is at 9 which means I have done better than 9% of the people that have taken the test. This suggests that based on the NRT my verbal communication is good and can help me to continue with the present profession. I have been able to respond accurately to the 7 out of 15 questions that were in the test. Out of the 7 questions I have managed to give correct answers to 4 questions that were based on percentages. Even in this case, comparison between speed with accuracy has shown that my speed is more than my accuracy. The fact that I did fail to attempt 5 questions, had been the main reason for my low percentile in this particular test.

LRT Report: The results of the LRT test suggest that I had scored 9^th percentile which is better than 9% people. This is another indication of my verbal skills. Even in this case, the difference is huge in terms of speed and accuracy. I had achieved a 100% accuracy having attempted all the 14 questions, but the accuracy rate is as low as 50%. Therefore, I need to improve my general logical familiarity as well as environment conditions so that I can continue with my profession. Based on the analysis of the tests I can now analyse my strengths and weaknesses.

Based on the analysis of each of the tests, I can say that my biggest strength lies in the fact that my speed at answering questions is high. This suggests the fact that I can complete the task that has been given to me in a more manner. At the same time, I have also seen that my accuracy level is low which can be considered as weakness, as I tend to be irresponsible. I try to complete the job assigned to me quickly without considering the manner in which I am completing it. My mathematical knowledge is strong as is evidenced from my accuracy of answering percentage related questions.

However, I need to ensure that my reasoning skill improves and knowledge about the environment is enriched. Another big weakness that I have is the fact that my personality points more to the fact that I value my talents more than others have. The tests have shown that I do not possess the ability to complete every work in a positive and efficient manner. Therefore, I need to tone down the level of self-boasting of my talents so that I can communicate well with the employees. Therefore, I can say that I need to make certain improvements so that I can continue to become a better manager and hope to gain entry into the 1% large organisations in the UK that hire HR managers.

Conclusion

It can be concluded that my current focus is to gain entry into the UK business market so that I can stabilise myself and ensure a proper growth in the profession. My preference is that I apply my knowledge and skills both practically and theoretically so that I can pursue my career in a proper manner. The discussion of the employability rate of graduates in the UK has been seen as high in various fields other than the HR Manager. Therefore, with the increase in competition in the market, it is necessary for me to develop my skills for the future. The analysis of my strengths and weakness has shown me that I need to improve my accuracy level.

This means that I need to undertake more responsibility of the things that I am doing so that people can rely on me. This can be done taking more job roles that demand to be responsible. It has been seen that small-scale sectors provide an opportunity enhance the work skills of the employees by giving them various tasks. Therefore, I can take up a managerial role in such sectors and develop my ability to be responsible in the organisation. I need to do this within 6 months so that as soon as my course gets over I can apply for the role of HR Managers in large multinational companies. This can help me to improve my career and gain positive feedbacks from my employers.

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