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Your Career

Why are graduates so successful?

Career gateways
Tertiary education provides the "gateway" to careers you cannot access without a qualification e.g doctor, engineer, physiotherapist. Prospective employers also know that you have reached a standard of excellence and have specific job ready skills.

We've all heard that getting a job is very competitive. So why are graduates the most employable group of people? Why do they spend the least amount of time unemployed? And why is their earning potential so high? Why do they have such great jobs? Let's explore some of the reasons.

Employability

The contemporary workplace needs people with 'transferable skills' in addition to professional knowledge and competencies, and through the course of their academic studies, graduates gain an abundance of additional skills. These skills allow graduates to move from job to job, perhaps even industry to industry, with ease. For example, your work may call on you to organise a team of people working on a project, coordinate special events, or manage a budget. These skills are not specific to the one job or one type of work but can be applied in any work situation. These are transferable skills.

Skills and qualities considered important by employers include:

• understanding of cultural diversity;
• a second language;
• computer literacy;
• global perspective;
• ethical understanding;
• problem solving;
• oral and written communication;
• interpersonal understanding;
• social responsibility;
• critical thinking;
• creative thinking;
• collaboration;
• teamwork;
• analytical and conceptual skills;
• a capacity to cope with complexity and ambiguous situations;
• the ability to work in conditions where there is no rule book to be followed;

Whatever program you study at uni, you will develop these skills - it's part and parcel of what, and how, you are taught.

Negotiating with your tutor, participating in group work and discussions, and taking part in extra-curricular activities - particularly as an organiser - develop your interpersonal skills.

Mixing with teachers and fellow students from varied backgrounds or studying overseas for part of your degree enables you to cultivate your understanding of cultural diversity.

You can develop your leadership skills and establish links with others in your chosen field by getting involved in vacation and voluntary work, undertaking short courses outside your degree program, and joining professional associations.

Graduates get job satisfaction

One of the main reasons why graduates are so successful in their chosen careers is the level of job satisfaction they get. It's common sense that we do best in the things we enjoy the most! Graduates are no different, and after carefully choosing their career and study path, they enjoy their jobs. Graduates get jobs that allow them to have more control over their working day and enable them to make innovative contributions to the workplace. Graduate jobs are often more varied, creative, and challenging.

Graduate earning potential

Graduates are among the highest paid in society. The average starting salary for new graduates is over $38,000 per year. Graduates are rewarded for their knowledge, contribution and hard work. Take a look at the starting salaries and typical areas of employment for different graduates on the Graduate Careers Australia web site.