Warning: at this point in writing, I feel obliged to warn
you that, if you do not want to read another pessimistic tirade regarding
graduate employment, closed this tab now.
Now, I am not trying to say that you should do nothing at
your University. Quite the opposite: a degree on its own is, I would argue,
almost pointless. The university experience is liberally strewn with a myriad
of opportunities for you to widen your knowledge, cultivate your experience and
enhance the skills that will help you in further life. You would be a fool not
to take advantage.
Whether it is writing for the university paper, playing a
sport, or simply joining the Tea or Battle-Re-enactment Society, you should
grab the opportunity to do what you want, whilst engaging with like-minded
people and broadening your skillset. University is designed for you to do so.
However (yes, the turn comes), it is unlikely that this is
enough to get you that ever-elusive job. These things may look good on a CV but, alas, like the degree you are working
hard to attain, it is not enough.
The likelihood is that a potential employer isn’t going to
look in detail at all of the achievements you have worked hard to achieve. Half
way down a huge pile sits your application, and this distant judge will, most
likely, simply glance at your CV. They may just read your first sentence, or
the sub-headings that stand out. It is this, and how you sell your assets, that
will make you stand out. There are, simply, very few jobs. Even part-time or
voluntary jobs are hard to come by nowadays. You could have all of the
experience in the world and it may not matter. Being the President of a
University Society does not matter if you can’t find that job you want.
What I most object to, however, is the term itself. The
person attempting to make you sign up for something is most likely wanting you
to do the task to help themselves. The task itself may not necessarily help
you. How do they know that the position advertised will help you attain the job
you aspire to? I very much doubt, for example, that playing a sport for the University
team (although good in itself and useful for many careers) will aid you in an
application to a law firm. Working on relevant skills – in this case, skills
such as commercial awareness, knowledge of current affairs and a sound writing
style – is much more important.
It’s not all doom and gloom. The future will eventually – as
Orange foretold – be bright again. There will, once again, be more jobs out
there for the graduate, even if these will be adapted and warped to fit in with
a more modern, brutal and elitist society. And then we can continue again,
blissfully unaware and unprepared for the next bout of economic hardship in the
bust years. Extra-curricular activities are of paramount importance to the undergraduate
– for both social, personal and academic advancement – but I dread the next
time someone tells me that something will look good on my CV.
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