Careers

Claire Pech – Careers Advisor

This week I had a question which I get asked a lot:

“Mrs Pech, if I go to University X versus University Y, will a future employer view my degree differently because of that? Or will they view me differently and will that affect job prospects?”

There is a massive answer to respond to this, but for the purposes of a short article these are some of the considerations to think about:

Does the industry you want to get into favour a certain university course over another? An example of this would be graduates with a Physiotherapy degree and the industry putting a preference on graduates from a particular university over another.
Does the degree include a working internship which means you will graduate with working skills in the field and be ‘work ready’?
Does the University have partnerships with overseas universities where you would like to do an exchange? This may be very important to you. And how many exchanges are run in that course? If you know it is only one, then it will be competitive to get into.
Is your future employer going to consider a host of other factors that they view as much more important than your degree?
Is your personality, interview style, connections, communication skills, technical know-how ….going to have more importance?

What is a lot more likely (for the majority) is that other factors will land you that next job.

This may include – as well as or in addition to your degree:

Your working experience which positions you well for the job you are interviewing for.
Your smarts (this may be viewed as your grades from university) or other degrees. It is very unlikely to be anything to do with your ATAR.
Your working abilities – how trainable are you in new skills? How ready are you to learn? How adaptable are you? How creative are you? What skills does the job require?
Whether you are a cultural fit? This is very important. If you are the right “type” of employee that the company is looking for, will you fit in, are you their ‘people’?
Recommendations – as most jobs are now acquired through LinkedIn, contacts and social media – having an ‘in’ or a contact referral can be a great nudge to get you over the line.
Your interview and communication skills – some people, with the most incredible qualifications, simply do not interview well. This can absolutely be overcome with the right training and practice. This is why I always tell students to work on their personality at school – not just their academics.

You can read more about universities, ranks and how they compare here.

Notes, articles and webinars

UTS
Personalised 1-1 consultations for parents will be hosted on 23 November 2021 and 14 December 2021 at UTS.
Registrations are now open.
UTS is climbing the university rankings and is now ranked 5^th in Australia, for a whole host of reasons, but employability is high on the list. Even more interesting UTS is currently our most preferred selection for Emanuel Year 12s as of last year.
Find out more here.

University of Sydney
Webinars are being held this month. Click on each link to register for the events:

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This may include – as well as or in addition to your degree:

Notes, articles and webinars