Identifying the potential market of graduates who have yet to find their ideal graduate job who would consider teaching as a career.

Examples of our Work - Quantitative Research

Background

This research was commissioned by the Training and Development Agency for Schools to identify the number of graduates who have yet to find their ideal graduate job and those graduates who state career motivators which could be fulfilled by teaching. The research was used to support publicity initiatives aimed at encouraging more graduates into teaching.

Objectives

The objectives of the research were to assess:

• What types of jobs the newly and recently graduated young people held currently

• The extent to which their current job was making use of their degree qualifications

• Levels of satisfaction with their current career and aspects with which they were dissatisfied

• What factors they considered to be important in their ideal career

• Whether the graduates were considering a career move and, if so, to what type of career.

Methodology

An online quantitative survey was conducted amongst more than 1000 graduates under the age of 30. Quotas for graduates in the shortage subject areas of Mathematics and Science were set in order to ensure that responses about levels of job satisfaction and career aspirations could be analysed separately for graduates in these subjects.

Outcome

 The research revealed evidence of ‘false starts’ in the working lives of degree-holders. Over half (58%) of graduates said that they were yet to find their ideal graduate job and just under a quarter (23%) admit to experiencing a career crisis. Just under a third (32%) of graduates had taken time off for a gap year and travel abroad. Over a quarter (29%) are currently in jobs that don’t need a degree and 19% of those not in their ideal job say they have lost momentum since leaving university. It was found that many job aspects identified by graduates as desirable for their ideal career could be met by a career in teaching. Importantly the client gained a clear picture of the types and numbers of graduates who were currently dissatisfied with their chosen career who would be prepared to consider a move into teaching.