The Impact of Extra Curricular Activities on the Employment Opportunities of Graduates

Opportunities of Graduates

Introduction

The employment opportunities of graduates are a big concern today which is discussed hotly from different perspectives. This essay will analyze the relations between the extra curricular activities and employment opportunities of graduates from two aspects: one is the current situation of labor market, and the other is the impact that extra-curricular activities pose on the graduate employment. And finally, some related literature reviews in terms of this issue are used to support the analysis above.

The Current Situation of Labor Market

Labor market, also known as human resources market, is a special conception of market. It is not like the market that people often speak of, which is an environment or place where all kinds of goods are sold and exchange. Labor market is such a market that concerning about meeting the needs of employers and employees (Harald 2006). Now, with the development of high technology and rapid growth of human population, problem of employment becomes more seriously. The advanced production technology decreases the demand for the supply of the labor force, which forms the contradiction between less needs of labor force and lager amount of population especially job hunters. In contrast to the less requirements of labor force, fast

development of technology also requires higher academic qualifications, more professional skills and more experiences for job hunters.

As the major body of labor market, graduate labor market is the most important part to be analyzed in this essay. Graduate labor market has some characteristics. Firstly, there are larger amount of graduates. With the growth in living standard and increase of income, most families can afford to provide their children more advanced education and more extra trainings which are very useful for the children’s future development in their career. Therefore, there are more and more graduate labor that had access to higher education seeks for an appropriate job. Secondly, the graduate labor’s quality has been improved. More and more graduates pay more attention to the increase of their academic knowledge in order to get better opportunities in their job hunting. Thirdly, in graduate labor market, many companies ask for not only higher academic qualifications but also rich experiences in real practices and excellent performances in solving problems, which requires graduates take practices and trainings seriously as well as try to do some part time job or take part in extracurricular activities.

Extra-curricular Activities

Nowadays, in most universities, college students are very active not only in their academic work but also in some extra-curricular activities. Their hard working in academic work provides them more professional knowledge while the extra- curricular activities provide them more precious experiences in social practices,

interpersonal relationships, etc. The extra-curricular activities that college students attend include activities hosted by themselves in the campus among classmates or friends and some possibly part time jobs outside the campus out of kinds of positive purposes. Both of those activities they attend bring many benefits to them, for example, gaining many practical experiences, making new friends, learning more skills about how to get along with others, maintain comfortable interpersonal relationships, and also making some extra money for some extra demands.

In addition, those various extra-curricular activities also impose impacts on the employment opportunities of graduates. The first also the most important point is extra-curricular activities bring college students rich practical experiences, which is an advantage for their interviews in the future because most companies are inclined to employ the experienced. Secondly, the extra-curricular activities also provide a great chance for college students to learn how to establish and maintain good interpersonal relationship in a big social group. A good interpersonal relationship is quite necessary for graduates’ enhancement in social status. Thirdly, more extra-curricular activities are equal to more chances for college students to know clearly about what are their real interests and which type of job can bring not only money but also happiness and achievability to them. Finally, competitions exist in any activities or social groups. Extra-curricular activities are not exception. Attending those activities may be a good chance for graduates to adapt to some competitions, which can be regarded as a preparation for fierce competitions in their future career.

Literature Review

According the given materials about graduate roles in a changing jobs market, with the constantly development of the global business environment, the corresponding requirements for graduates in the interview are increased then. Graduates are asked to own a higher academic qualification, brilliant ability to adapt themselves to the changing of the environment, remarkable capability to analyze data, the power to communicate in new and various media and also manage complex business relationships, etc. Those higher and more strict requirements make job hunting more difficult than before. Therefore, there are over forty percent graduates choose to work in some small and medium enterprises first, get more experiences and prepare for better development in their future career (Sekaran & Bougie 2014).

Upon the point of graduate employment, many magazines and professional works have analyzed it, for example, The Times, BBC news, some analysis in Harald’s work about labor market, etc. These magazines or works analyze the problem of employment from different perspectives by real and reliable statistics. The information they provided not only shows readers an authentic current situation of the labor market but also analyze the change of requirements for labor to help people find better job and get progress in their own career. As for the graduates, they also face with fierce and tough competitions in seeking satisfied job. Just as what is showed in the given materials, it is hotly discussed that applicant candidates without working experiences are less possible to get success in interviews. And thirty percent of

positions are hoped to be taken by those graduates who have rich related experiences in order to ensure the perfect and successful accomplishment of the job task (Ulrich 2000, p. 141).

Conclusion

Therefore, it is not an absolutely right choice just to read and write in campus but not do some practical and advantageous training or attend some helpful and beneficial extra-curricular activities for graduates. Rich experiences in practice and competence in solving problems are more necessary and important for graduates than pure knowledge from books.

References

1. Harald, B 2006, Labor Movement: How Migration Regulates Labor Markets, Oxford University Press, New York.

2. Sekaran, U, Bougie, R 2014, Research Methods for Business, A Skill-Building Approach, Trento Srl, Italy.

3. Ulrich, T 2000, ‘Graduate Employment and Work in Selected European Countries’, European Journal of Education, vol. 35, no. 2, pp.141-156.