Why Career Guidance and Coaching?
The graduate job landscape is continually evolving and has materially changed since the last financial crisis. As experts in the field, we are best placed to help students and graduates transition from the cocoon of education into the working world.
As founder of Acorn Career Consulting, Ian Black conducts every 1:1 meeting personally, ensuring you get the most out of every session. Ian creates an open and relaxed environment to explore ideas but also a challenging one so that you feel stretched to achieve your potential. He is an expert in the field offering years of experience in recruitment combined with psychometrics and an extensive network in order to provide a truly progressive and comprehensive service. After every meeting, you will leave better equipped and motivated to tackle the job market.
Why Career Guidance and Interview Coaching with Acorn Career Consulting?
Career coaching should be used in just the same way as academic tutoring or sports coaching; to help individuals achieve their full potential and give them a competitive edge.
We offer a personal 1:1 service because we know that every student is different and one size doesn’t fit all. While University career services have good intentions, they are restricted by their limited resources.
There are over 1000 different types of graduate jobs on offer and so it is important to use an expert to help you make the most of the job market and make the right choices for you.
After years of experience in recruitment, one of our key differentiators is our knowledge of a huge range of roles and industries. We also offer the chance to speak directly to industry professionals to gain unique career insight.
Choosing a career based on your degree is no longer the norm. Over 70 percent of students don’t follow careers related to their undergraduate degree. Additional studies have also shown that 96 per cent of graduates have switched careers by the time they reach the age of 24.
With so much information available, it is important to learn how to pick and choose what is relevant.
Finding a job can be a stressful time for both students and their parents. Using a careers coaching service relieves the tension and pressure.
The tools and techniques that Acorn Career Consulting teaches, help students stand out from the crowd.
Education on how to properly interview is overlooked far too often, as this is among the most important skillsets that any applicant can possess. Interview coaching helps students to confidently articulate their skills and show an employer why the perfect candidate is sitting on the opposite side of a desk
The graduate job market:
Graduating from university with a degree is a huge achievement, worthy of hearty congratulations. Unfortunately, the world has changed. While this was formerly a fast track to an exciting career, the 21st Century job market is fiercer than ever.
In excess of 400,000 new graduates enter the workforce at the conclusion of every academic year. and over 70% achieve a 2:1 or a First Class degree.
Recent studies showed that only 52% of graduates secured a graduate-level job after they finished their course, and that was before Coronavirus.
Competition for graduate jobs hit a 10-year high by mid-2020 with an average of 93 applications per graduate job. That is an increase of 14% from 2019.
Highfliers reported that the Times Top 100 Graduate Employers cut their graduate recruitment by 15.1% in 2020, compared to the original recruitment targets for the year.
In some industries such as retail, aviation, hospitality and FMCG, the reduction in graduate opportunities has been significantly higher.
It’s not all doom and gloom though – The latest figures show that there is a predicted 2.5% increase in graduate vacancies for 2021. The advances in technology since the last financial crisis have meant that thousands of graduates have still been able to start jobs remotely and also receive digital training.
Organisations have learned from the financial crisis that aggressive cutting of graduate hiring is detrimental to their business due to a reduced talent pipeline in the years following.
There are still lots of opportunities out there. Sectors such as consulting, consumer goods, retail, investment banking and public sector have all still continued to hire throughout 2020, and have made pledges to increase hiring in 2021.
Coronavirus has had a significant impact on the graduate job market in terms of volumes of jobs but also how those jobs look and feel. We are in unprecedented times but there is light at the end of the tunnel with the vaccine, and that should pave the way to increased graduate hiring numbers.