Hasta La Ideas

We’re in the midst of degree show exuberance here in the UK, but with more graduates looking for fewer jobs than ever before, we want to know what you wish you’d experienced before you left college? What advice would you give the new grads setting out?

According to new figures published this week, on leaving university there are now as many as 70 graduates for every job. To say it’s competitive out there is something of an understatement.

But we’d like to ask you, our readers, about what you now wish you’d known as you left college for the world of self-employment, start-up collectives, studio or agency work…

If you’re a recent graduate – what do you wish you’d had more help with? What was the structure like at your college in preparing you for the next step? Did you get much advice and support either about setting up on your own or finding employment – were there things in place to make the transition from academia to life after college easier? What’s been the hardest part of going from college to working life?

If you’re an academic – what facilities does your college have in place to support students after graduation? Do you offer desk space for start-ups, for example, or do you have a unit to provide support for graduates? What experience of working practices do students get to prepare for post-college life?

We’d also like to hear from employers – what do you do with new recruits in order to help them get up to speed? Do you have any programmes in place during their first month’s employment, for example? What training do you give new recruits?

More generally, how best can institutions balance academic teaching with the provision of experience of working in the industry on real jobs?

Let us know your views in the Comments below.

This instalment of the CR Reader’s Survey is produced in partnership with London’s School of Communication Arts 2.0.