LII Professional Studies:Labour Market Information

Dr J CopeltonSenior Careers Adviser

You and career planning

You

Career options

Career paths

Advice & mentoring

The career development cycle

1.Self-Assessment

•Values/interests

•Skills/Experience

2. Opportunity Awareness

•WDGD?

•LMI

3. Gaining Experience

•On-campus jobs

•Work experience

4.Exploring Options

•Career workshops

•Insight courses

5. Action Planning

•Finding vacancies

•Further study

What do engineers do?

Type Of

Work

Research and

Development

Engineering Design

Process and

Control

Technical Sales

Installation Commissioning

Maintenance

Where do civil engineers work?

ConstructionSector

Contracting Consulting

Dept. ofRegional

Development- Roads

Dept. ofRegional

Development - Water

What do IT professionals do?

Type Of

Work

IT Services e.g. internet

and web design

Technology development

Systems Analysis

And Testing

Programming

Consultancy,Sales and

Customer Support

Alternatives to engineering

Accountancy Banking Consultancy Financial mathematics Insurance Technical writing Teaching

The graduate labour market by region

Students at Queen’s have access to three labour markets. In order of size these are:

Great Britain

Republic of Ireland

Northern Ireland

Destinations of GB Mechanical Engineers 2005

a:In UK employment (66.5%) b:In overseas employment 2.0% c:Working and studying 6.9% d:Studying in the UK for a higher

degree 8.3% e:Studying in the UK for a

teaching qualification 0.7% f:Undertaking other further study

or training in the UK 1.2% g:Undertaking further study or

training overseas 0.2% h:Not available for employment,

study or training 4.2% i:Believed to be unemployed

7.3% j:Other2.5%

QUB Mechanical Engineers 2005

Total Employed

Graduate Job

Non-Graduate Job

BEng 17 10 7

MEng 23 20 3

Why are engineers in non-graduate jobs?

Poor degree.

Lack of relevant experience.

Not focussed on employment while at university.

The MEng/BEng Effect Queen’s graduate

destination statistics show a clear divide in the destinations of BEng and MEng graduates.

MEng graduates are much more likely to be working with major employers in GB while BEng graduates are mostly working in NI.

Why is this?

Reasons for the MEng/BEng divide

BEng graduates are more romantic.

MEng graduates are more ambitious.

GB employers prefer the MEng degree.

GB employers are more likely to offer training leading to CEng status for which MEng is the preferred route.

The importance of being chartered

Chartered engineer status means youhave satisfied your professionalinstitutions requirements regarding –

engineering competency depth of experience financial management

Most senior jobs require CEng status. CEng is recognised internationally, so multi-national

companies encourage their staff to qualify.

CEng in Northern Ireland

The importance of chartered status depends on the strength of the professional institution.

The most powerful institution in NI is the Institution of Civil Engineers.

Practically all senior civil engineers in NI are chartered and most senior jobs require it.

In NI only FG Wilson is recognised by the IMechE.

What do top employers want? Good degree Reputable

university Work experience Transferable skills Achievements Business

awareness Motivation

Effect of labour market on graduate recruitment – GB

There are ~500 major graduate recruiters in GB who belong to the Association of Graduate Recruiters.

They share information on: best practice in graduate recruitment graduate starting salaries

This means that selection processes are very similar and starting salaries are competitive within each sector

Effect of labour market on graduate recruitment – GB Competition for the best graduates ensures that :

The major companies recruit on an annual cycle.

Early application in final year is expected.

Some companies recruit through Christmas Courses.

Many vacancies are filled through work placement schemes.

Vacancies are filled by April/May.

Where can you find information on graduate employers in GB?

Company web sites.

Graduate employer directories.

www.prospects.ac.uk.

“Employer of the Week” – Ashby (Oct - Dec).

Engineering Careers Symposium (14th March).

On-campus presentations in final year.

Graduate labour market in RoI

Mostly SMEs, with a number of large ”inward investment” employers.

Major inward investment by chemical and pharmaceutical companies.

IT and Telecommunications employers are facing a shortage of Electrical Engineers and Computer Scientists.

Infrastructure development producing strong demand in the construction sector.

Some large RoI based employers recruit at Queen’s (Eli Lilley, ESB Intl., Intel, Kerry Group, Mercke,

Microsoft, Siemens, Smurfit Kappa).

Graduate labour market in NI

Northern Ireland has the biggest SME base of any region in the UK – accounting for nearly 80% of private sector employment and 75% of turnover.

Recruitment by SMEs is infrequent and can take place at any time of the year.

Manufacturing in NI now accounts for just 13% of total employment.

Local manufacturing sold £13.9 billion in 2005/6, mostly to GB (43.5%) but also to RoI (£1.3bn), N America and Asia.

Low R & D spending <1% 0f GDP. Strongest demand is in the construction sector.

Graduate numbers in NI

The number of graduates of working age has almost doubled from 83,000 in 1995 to 155,000 in 2005.

The total working age population only increased by 8% during this time.

As a result, the proportion of the working age population who are graduates has increased from 9% in 1995 to 15% in 2005.

Among 20-29 year olds almost one-fifth of the population are graduates.

(Source: LM Bulletin 19, DEL)

The Law of Supply and Demand

In a market economy, the forces of supply and demand push the price of a commodity toward the level at which quantity supplied and quantity demanded are equal.

Effect of labour market on graduate recruitment – NI

Queen’s graduates are very reluctant to move out of Northern Ireland, creating a highly competitive local labour market.

~20% of graduates are working in jobs which do not require a degree.

As a consequence salaries in NI are significantly lower than in Great Britain.

Local salaries vary from £11K (Accountancy) to £21+K (Civil Engineering).

Earnings differentials The earnings differentials

between graduates and those with GCE A-level or equivalent alone were largest in Northern Ireland (39.5%) and Scotland (35.7%).

This shows that although graduates working in Northern Ireland had the lowest mean weekly earnings across all regions, the financial benefits of a university education were relatively large compared with other regions.

Where can you find information on NI employers?

Queen’s Careers Service – NI Employer Database Company web sites www.4ni.co.uk/ www.guide-to-nireland.com/bizguide.htm www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/top100_04/ Belfast Public Library Job Markets Companies Registry

The career development cycle

1.Self-Assessment

•Values/interests

•Skills/Experience

2. Opportunity Awareness

•WDGD?

•LMI

3. Gaining Experience

•On-campus jobs

•Work experience

4.Exploring Options

•Career workshops

•Insight courses

5. Action Planning

•Finding vacancies

•Further study

Employability development at Queen’s

Y3 EmployerPresentations

Insight Into Management

Autumn Careers Programme

October CareersFairs

Christmas

Courses

Graduate programmes e.g. E2,

Premiere II

Y2 PlacementPreparation -Semester 1

BusinessEducation InitiativeYoung Leaders Programme

Engineering Careers Symposium

InternationalAssociationExchangeStudentsTechnicalExperience

Work ExperienceFair

Tutoring In Schools

Y1

Queen’s Award for

Work Experience

Work Experience Centre

Queen’s Work Experience Award

Clubs & Societies

Work Experience FairWednesday 21 February

11.00 – 3.30 Whitla Hall

Belfast City Council BEI Deloitte Insight into management Intel Lagan Technologies Mouchel Parkman NISRA Schrader Electronics Schlumberger Shell Livewire

For more information visit www.qub.ac.uk/careers > Work Experience Centre

The career development cycle

1.Self-Assessment

•Values/interests

•Skills/Experience

2. Opportunity Awareness

•WDGD?

•LMI

3. Gaining Experience

•On-campus jobs

•Work experience

4.Exploring Options

•Career workshops

•Insight courses

5. Action Planning

•Finding vacancies

•Further study

Funding Postgraduate Study at Queen’s

Funding 2006/7 116 DEL Research Awards (Fees + £12300) 21 ESF Research Studentships (Engineering

and Sciences) 18 Taught Masters (Humanities and Social

Sciences)

Source: QUB Postgraduate Awards Office www.qub.ac.uk/pao

Training opportunities in NI

Knowledge Transfer Partnerships www.ktponline.org.uk/

Explorers

Premiere II www.premiereprogramme.com/

Financial Futures

Employability development at Queen’s

Y3 EmployerPresentations

Insight Into Management

Autumn Careers Programme

October CareersFairs

Christmas

Courses

Graduate programmes e.g. E2,

Premiere II

Y2 PlacementPreparation -Semester 1

BusinessEducation InitiativeYoung Leaders Programme

Engineering Careers Symposium

InternationalAssociationExchangeStudentsTechnicalExperience

Work ExperienceFair

Tutoring In Schools

Y1

Queen’s Award for

Work Experience

Work Experience Centre

Queen’s Work Experience Award

Clubs & Societies

Engineering Careers Symposium14th March 2007

12.00 – 1.30

2.00 – 4.00

Careers Exhibition, Ashby Foyer

Symposium on Graduate Selection,Lecture Theatre 1.22

Companies expected to attend:BBC, BT, Cummins, F G Wilson, KTP, SAP, Schlumberger, Stryker, Terex Finley, Unilever.