Degree that guarantee jobs?

This is a very important article from today's Independent newspaper, that you should all read carefully and make the effort to think about and understand. Obviously, we are in a very complex and fast changing economic environment - but we've had recessions before ( it's my 3rd ) and the great thing about the creative industries is that they are adaptable and evolve to suit the environment - it's all about problem solving, after all.

The parts that apply to you directly include -

"There is no such thing as a career path - it's crazy paving and you lay it yourself," says Robin Linnecar of The Change Partnership Ltd.

 - that's particularly pertinent for you

But the market is changing. The proportion of graduates employed by small and medium sized companies is increasing, and they are likely to be looking for recruits who already have a set of "usable skills". Equally, the number of graduates on short-term employment contracts is increasing, reflecting the decline of the job-for-life and an increasing tendency for recent graduates to take short-term employment before finding something better.

 - something we have already talked about

Most problematic of all, in terms of job prospects, are the courses which are creative, extremely popular, look highly vocational but where related job prospects are actually very poor.

Art and design courses perform best in this area. More than 60 per cent of graduates found jobs last year, although unemployment was high at 13.3 per cent. But only 20 per cent of first jobs were art-related, and another 16 per cent "creative". The rest had to make do with the usual range of jobs in administration and sales, with a significant proportion working as waiters, check-out operators and bar staff.

 - you've all hear me talk about how I left college with 2 high degrees and spent a year running a bar in London and working unpaid in design studios during the day because the industry was in deep recession - I learned more in that period than at college - and had a fresh new portfolio by the end of it, loads of contacts and lots of real experience - and now, with computers and the internet - it's so easy to start working for yourself and thinking of yourself as a professional while still at college - all it takes is determination and hard work.