Graduates’ grind

Published on 28/07/2012 00:00

I FEEL very sorry for all the 
graduates who are struggling to find a job (your report, 28 July).

Yes, it’s true that in recent years it has become too easy to get into university, but it is also the case that most people who don’t have a degree can be discounted at a very early stage in the job application process.

You can’t really blame employers for this – if they have hundreds of applications, weeding out those without degrees (or 
relevant experience) can save a lot of time.

So having a degree (unless it is very practical or specialist) 
appears to be of no advantage in a recession, but not having one puts you in a particularly disadvantaged situation.

ANGELA INNES

Dundas Street

Edinburgh

Are we to believe that our graduates, after working hard to get their degrees, are now being told to play down their qualifications in order to improve their job prospects?

It is a national disgrace that 50 per cent of our graduates are unemployed for the first year after leaving university, and even the lucky ones can only find work in the service industry or supermarkets on minimum pay.

The time has come for a 
radical rethink of the graduate 
intake and we need some intervention by the Scottish Government, which appears to be too focused on the independence 
debate at the moment.

Dennis Grattan

Mugiemoss Road

Aberdeen