The cost of a university education stacks up so you would think at the end of the studies the roles they land would meet expectations but sadly that is not the case. The question is who is to blame? Is it the companies who fail to provide stimulating work that provides challenge and development?
Alternatively is it the new graduates who have high expectations that cannot be met for the majority? They aspire to be the new CEO in just a few years and get frustrated when career progress is slow.
Perhaps a bit of both?
The question could be distilled down to whether the hiring organisations conduct the right profiling of the people they need to hire and then put applicants through an appropriate selection process? If the cultural fit, capability, competencies etc are wrong then it is no surprise that people feel underutilised!
Seven in 10 (71%) recent graduates feel underemployed or underutilised in a graduate-level role, according to the 2017 UK University Graduate Employment Study by Accenture Strategy. When the annual survey was conducted in 2015 only 60% of graduates felt underemployed, showing a marked rise in the past two years. This year’s survey, which polled 1,001 students graduating from university in 2017 and entering the job market, found that 85% expected to earn more than £25,000. But only 70% of 2015/16 graduates did.
