As the 2012 intake of university students face a potential graduation debt of over £50,000, according to the NUS, the Avon Student Jobs Survey 2012 released today, shows that 80% of students expect to work, with a quarter (25%) concerned about juggling jobs and university work.
80% of the 1,000 students surveyed, aged 18-24, across the UK, added that they are worried that if they don’t have relevant work experience on their CV, graduate job employers will look unfavourably on them. Student’s needs for flexible working, which also allow them to CV build, is leading students to look at less traditional jobs, such as direct-selling, although the survey does show that bars and restaurants are still top choice amongst students.
Says Angela Tucker, Head of Recruitment and Sales at Avon, which has 6 million self-employed home selling Sales Representatives across the world “We have seen students enjoy self-employment throughout our 54 years in the UK, but there is definitely a rise in interest amongst students to join organisations like ours which enable you to run your own business, set your own financial targets, and demonstrate skills which ultimately help employability – being a business owner at 18 and juggling a degree with your own enterprise is very attractive to HR departments.”
Says Rebekah Testar, Senior Executive Sales leader from Leicestershire, with a team exceeding 2,300 Avon Representatives across the UK: “Over the coming months I expect to see around 1500 applicants looking to join the Avon network and about 40% of those are likely to be students wanting to earn extra money to help with university costs – whilst building up their business experience. Students are drawn to the flexibility Avon offers, and find it easy and exciting to start their business with an initial cost of just £15!”
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AVON STUDENT JOBS SURVEY 2012 – KEY FINDINGS:
- 80% of students already have, or will look for part-time work whilst studying for their degree
- Almost a quarter of students are ensuring their part-time work builds up skills on their CV and rate CV building over potential earnings
- Over 50% rated flexibility as the top criteria for choosing a part-time job over potential earnings during University
- 64% of students believe that if they work for more than 15 hours a week their studies will suffer
- 83% of students are already concerned about getting a job after graduating with the anxiety increasing each year they spend at University
- 80% of students are worried that if they don’t have relevant experience on their CV, graduate jobs employers will look unfavourably on them
- More people worked during their gap year for experience than to earn money
- 75% of students agree that gaining experience on your CV is more important than going travelling in your gap year
- 25% students find it hard to juggle part-time work with studying commitments
- 50% students would consider setting up their own business in order to pursue the career of their choice instead of seeking work with an employer
