By Elektra Day-San, Third Year, Physics and Philosophy
As the new term begins, behind closed doors, Bristol will become a tale of two cities. Freshers, laden with saucepans and lamps, will pile into echoey halls, eager to start their courses. The rest of us will catch up with friends, buy supplies, and settle into another year at uni. But over your next pint, spare a thought for the recent grads who, after a lush and unending summer, will be shut in their rooms trawling through LinkedIn. For all of us, summer is over. For the grads, the fight for a job has just begun.
It’s no secret that the grad job market is not good. Ask any intrepid second year applying for an internship and they could tell you they had a hunch. Ask your grad friends and you will be greeted with the kind of radical acceptance usually reserved for a sinking submarine. ‘I’ll take any job I can find really – beggars can’t be choosers,’ sighs my friend David, his clouded, thousand-yard stare across the climbing gym smoking area indicative of an unemployed young man who knows his CV by heart.
He’s right. In June, a report by Indeed which placed grad job openings at their lowest in seven years – down 33 per cent from last year - was picked up by multiple news outlets. The headlines confirmed our sneaking suspicions. Placing this Indeed report in context doesn’t lift spirits either; recent reports by the same senior economist at Indeed, Jack Kennedy, are enough to induce a gentle statistical depression. Highlights from these headlines include “Struggling But Not Collapsing”, “Further Weakening” and “Cooling but not Crashing”. Nice. With grad jobs now receiving on average 140 applicants per role, and even the least competitive sectors boasting a substantial 74, it’s no surprise that progressing through university can feel like a slow march to employment death.
‘if things are so tough for all grads, future students may as well study a degree that they like and are interested in’
There are many reasons why the job market is so bad right now. Explanations vary, but the classics are all there: fingers point to the pandemic, to AI, to increasing numbers of university students, and to a faltering economy that could never hope to keep up. Whatever the reason, these explanations are little help and no assurance to our LinkedIn troops on the front lines.
So how can the students of tomorrow circumvent such a fate? Well, thinking hard about degree choice seems like a good place to start. In such dire job-related straits, gaining a degree with numerous transferable skills is a pragmatic move. However, if things are so tough for all grads, future students may as well study a degree that they like and are interested in. The ideal balance would be to gain a broad base of knowledge but preserve intellectual whimsy.
Enter the joint honours degree. A degree format aiming to combine two or more subjects in roughly equal proportions and with both to a degree level, it presents the perfect balance of catering to multiple interests whilst allowing for a broad range of transferrable skills. Universities agree: For example, the Open University hails multidisciplinary study as a way to “stand out” on the job market. The best part about a joint honours degree, however, is its intellectual freedom through two combined subjects. Students can combine a more “employable” subject with a more niche one if they wish, but most joint honours students just like the mix. A quick flick through the University of Bristol's programme catalogue shows a vast number of choices, with the 109 different subject combinations offering varied intellectual stimulation and unique problem solving skills.
And that’s not all – a joint honours degree may also keep your options wider. As reported by LinkedIn this year, 43 per cent of UK professionals are considering changing work sectors, and having interests and experience in another subject can only be helpful for this transition. In such a rocky job market, they aren’t a magic solution, but joint honours courses are certainly not disadvantaged by being less specialised.
Katie Sowerby
Yet these degrees are not without their critics. As Epigram has commented before, they can be poorly coordinated, leading to intense assessment periods and busy timetables. These issues remain. But are these really issues limited to the scope of joint honours courses? We all felt the pressure last December after the big exam restructuring – regardless of what we studied. The grass is not greener on the single honours side. Another common gripe is a lack of foundational modules like essay writing. Again, not a joint honours issue – for example, this is a common complaint with the Philosophy course. Bugbears with modules, assessment styles and teaching methods are present on every course the University of Bristol has to offer; this will always be the case.
Joint honours courses may be challenging at times, but if it’s a range of skills and a range of interests that you’re after, it’s a strong option. At the end of my time at Bristol, I know I’ll look back and be glad I didn’t have to sacrifice one subject I loved to study the other. Will it help me get a grad job? I don’t know, but even if not, I know I’ll be the most multidisciplinary unemployed person around.
Featured Image: Epigram / Amaya Lewis-Patel
Are you happy with your selection of a joint or single honours course?
