The degrees and apprenticeships to choose that will get you a job

Today’s prospective students – and their parents – are faced with a whole new set of questions as they enter an increasingly competitive jobs market: is a degree worth the inevitable debt? Are apprenticeships better than a degree? Is AI set to wipe out all entry level jobs – no matter what your qualification? There is no doubt that the job market is changing – and fast. There are currently around 2m UK undergraduates, while job role postings have dropped 33 per cent compared to last year, according to job search engine Indeed. That is the lowest level for seven years. So which industries are best weathering this storm, and what skills are most likely to catch the attention of employers? We asked three experts for their advice. (Photo: Getty)

Medicine, engineering, tech and accountancy – the industries with a bright future

Charlie Ball (pictured) is the head of labour market intelligence at the Joint Information Systems Committee, the UK higher education not-for-profit organisation for digital services and solutions. “We normally have a shortage of graduates entering healthcare, social care, and engineering, and to an extent tech, although those jobs are quite highly competitive,” he says. Medicine continues to be a failsafe, with NHS shortages ensuring that employment rates hover between 97-98 per cent within 15 months of graduation, according to the Career Development Institute. Medicine typically requires a five year undergraduate degree and two years of foundation training, with a further three years if you want to become a GP. However, some roles within the healthcare sector don’t require a degree, including becoming a paramedic or nurse or a phlebotomist. Fuelled by roles requiring AI, automation and data, computer science has become one of the UK’s most popular undergraduate degrees. It is among the most lucrative courses nationally, and those studying it at the University of Cambridge, for example, according to analysis, have potential earnings of £86,100 (compared to the average graduate salary of around £35,000). When it comes to job vacancies, the sectors with the highest number of openings are engineering and accountancy, according to research from CV service resume.io.

Prove your digital literacy and emotional intelligence to get hired

When it comes to entering the job market, a qualification is one thing but other factors are key too. Increased competition among graduates means there’s a greater need to seem market-ready to employers, says Kester Brewin (pictured), associate director of communications and training development at the Institute for the Future of Work. “The bag of skills that you need to be able to begin is slightly bigger [than it used to be]”. Adaptability, creative problem-solving, collaborative working, emotional intelligence and digital literacy are the other vital areas of the graduate’s arsenal, says Cathy Baxter, head of early careers at PwC. She says there are six key areas that help to set today’s graduates apart from their workforce competitors, starting with technical upskilling. “Graduates who can understand and apply AI techniques will be crucial in driving innovative solutions,” she says. “An appetite for continuous learning and upskilling will empower graduates to stay ahead and meet the demands of an ever-changing landscape.”

The apprentices earning more than graduates – with no debt

The average graduate now leaves university £53,000 in debt – making apprenticeships, where you can earn while you learn, all the more appealing. Just under 1,000 over-16s were enrolled on schemes jointly funded by the government and employers in 2015, compared to around 46,800 in 2022, spanning industries including construction, agriculture and law. Data from the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service found that the number of users searching for apprenticeships rose 62.4 per cent in the year to 2023, with 59 per cent of 13-17 year-olds now considering taking that path. Those who embark on higher apprenticeship courses (equivalent to the first year of a degree) earn a median salary of £32,590 per year in the two to four years following graduation – a similar figure to those who attend university. In some sectors, apprenticeship leavers out-earn their university-educated peers: vocationally-trained engineers took home £39,200 on average five years after completing their course, while university engineering graduates earned £36,500 over the same period. In construction, those figures were £34,700 and £32,395 respectively; ditto agriculture (£31,300 for apprentices, versus £25,000) and media and communications (£29,400, compared to £24,800). The financial gap widens all the more when considering that apprentices do not have student loans to repay. The short-term future for apprentices may prove more lucrative, too. 77 per cent of apprentices were in sustained employment 12 months on from their course, compared to 62.5 per cent of university leavers. (Photo: Tara Moore/Getty/Digital Vision)

AI is changing the world – so be ready to adapt

The alarming news that entry-level jobs have fallen by a third in the UK since the launch of ChatGPT suggests that artificial intelligence is being used by employers to strip back their workforce. According to the boss of Anthropic, a £45bn AI developer, half of all entry-level office jobs could be wiped out by the technology over the next five years, boosting the unemployment rate by up to 20 per cent. However, it is worth remembering that algorithms cannot completely replace enquiring minds, says Baxter. “AI fluency and data literacy are in demand, but what really matters is how quickly someone can learn, adapt and collaborate across teams to solve problems and work well with others,” she believes. “There’s a lot of focus on technical skills, but agility, curiosity and emotional intelligence are just as important as digital know-how.” (Photo: Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP via Getty)

We still need graduates

Over the past decade, which is less than a quarter of most people’s working lives, Brexit, Covid, “enormously disruptive government changes” and the spread of AI have radically altered the way we work, says Ball. “We don’t know what the world of work will look like in 10 years’ time, let alone 40,” he says. “So the crucial thing for young people now is to be aware that [change] is going to be a thing, and to be ready for it.” The graduate job market remains “the weakest it’s been since the Covid recovery, and the indications are it might be weaker still next year”. This means that, while things aren’t yet desperate, prospects will be “a little bit tougher and a little bit more competitive this summer than it was last summer.” But Ball is confident that those leaving university are capable of weathering the storm. “History tells us that when big changes and big disruptions come along, graduates are almost always the best people to deal with them.” (Photo: Chris Ison/PA)

Don’t chase a high salary – choose a job you’d get out of bed for

Ball advises graduates that the dream job – if it exists – likely won’t be your first graduate gig. “And that’s not a bad thing,” he says. “Take some time to work out what it is that you want to do for a living, because you’ve got a long career ahead of you.” Students graduating this summer “will still be working in 2070, so they’ve got plenty of time to work out what it is that they want to do.” His advice? Get experience under your belt now. Be aware that chasing the highest salaries is not necessarily the way to perfect happiness, and looking for perfection in employment amongst employers will probably get you nowhere. “A job that you don’t mind getting out of bed for with people you like working with is a pretty good prize.” (Photo: Shutterstock)