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It is very likely that one of your reasons to continue education to degree level was to gain a higher paid, more fulfilling job. Unfortunately (most would say) the three to four years of an undergraduate degree fly by and, before you know it, you are looking for a job. Choosing what to do next can be very difficult; we have tried to give you a few ideas.
It is good to remember that, as Professor Karen Mumford at the University of York put it, “Economics has a very broad application base: economics graduates can easily find jobs in the civil service, the City, industry or education…if you want to make a difference you can. If you don’t want to make a difference, at least you can make a lot of money”.
Once you know what you want to do, you will need some help getting your ideal job. Here is a presentation highlighting the key areas all recruiters will be looking for.
Salaries for economics graduates are among the highest of any discipline. Different research tends to find different starting salary values but it emerges that economics graduates are comparatively very well paid.
Here are a handful of case studies of graduates who have an undergraduate degree in economics. It may also provide a few ideas of where you could go and what you could do.
The CV, cover letter and interview
A CV is the first impression a company will have of you: it is very important. We’ve linked to a few sites that can help you to write a good CV and cover letter and to do well at interviews.
De-tagging, anyone?
Social networking sites are now being used more and more by prospective employers. According to the Guardian (20th June 2009), one-third of employers will use sites such as Facebook or LinkedIn to look for potential employees. Joint research by Harvey Nash and the Department for Work and Pensions revealed that those graduates who spent time on their online appearance were more likely to get hired. Amazingly, only 12% of graduates say they use social networking sites for prospective jobs. So maybe a little bit of de-tagging and careful status choices could go a long way…