University students have identified not finding a job after graduation as one of their greatest fears, and as one of the most stressful factors affecting them during their studies.
A Colmar Brunton poll reported in the New Zealand Herald found that 21% of students identified being unable to find a job in their chosen field as their greatest fear, while for 17% of students finding any job at all was their primary concern.
Additionally, 47% of students identified job prospects as a stress factor affecting them during study, just ahead of concerns over grades at 45%.
The poll found that concern over the difficulty of finding work in certain fields in New Zealand is driving graduates overseas. This is especially true for highly vocational degrees such as physiotherapy and graphic design.
Even those graduating with highly-regarded degrees like finance faced a difficult job market. A graduate working in the investment banking industry told Critic that finance was a particularly difficult field in which to secure employment in New Zealand due to the large number of highly qualified graduates competing for a small number of jobs.
The former University of Auckland student indicated that almost all of his fellow honours cohort was forced to move overseas to find employment in the finance industry because New Zealand had only a handful of investment banking openings for graduates each year.
On a less serious note, Critic’s lax commitment to investigative journalism failed to find any evidence that a fear of the growing epidemic of crossbow violence in Dunedin was contributing to graduates leaving the country.
University grads flee country to find jobs, avoid crossbow violence
