Why university isn’t the only route to a successful career

Apart from lots of zeros on the end of their bank balance, Lord Sugar, Sir Richard Branson and Simon Cowell all have something in common: not one of them went to university, yet they have all gone on to be incredibly successful people who would probably tell you that university is not the be all and end all.

I recently saw the City & Guilds vocational rich list, which shows that the UK’s top 100 “skillionaires” (people with vocational backgrounds rather than a degree) are now worth £17.6bn. This is proof that you don’t have to go to university if you want to earn lots of money.

University can be a fantastic experience but having a degree is no longer a guarantee of securing a highly-paid job. With 83 graduates applying for every graduate job competition is fierce, and with increasing tuition fees and the average student debt upon leaving university currently at £25,000, I don’t blame young people for reconsidering their plans to study for a degree.

For many sectors, such as law and medicine, having a university degree is a prerequisite, but there are plenty of other options. University isn’t for everyone, and with competition for places so high, don’t feel that it’s the only option. As a business owner, I can tell you that someone who has worked in a job for three years and can demonstrate real skills while offering potential is much more employable than someone with an unrelated degree.

You also need to think about the value of your degree. Maths is relatively safe – it will always be relevant. But if you want to pursue a career in areas such as digital marketing and social media, which are developing all the time, learning in the real world will be far more beneficial.

If you think that university is not for you, or believe the barriers are insurmountable, there are alternatives and big businesses are starting to recruit more and more people at 18. For example, KPMG announced in January that it has teamed up with Durham University to offer a six-year programme for school leavers with a £20,000 starting salary, to help more people join the accountancy sector.

It’s not just a select few who make it without a degree: a client I worked with recently, Andrew Morgan, is a real life example. After leaving school in 1988 with a few GCSEs, he had an initial spell as a chef and then decided to join the civil service, which he soon realised was not the path for him.

After moving to London in 1994 he had a number of sales jobs which led to him working for a training consultancy, where he experienced the world of creative marketing services and realised that’s what he wanted to do as a career. With sheer determination, he pursued his dream and is now marketing and new business director for the media planning and buying agency, Arena Media. Does he think not going to university held him back? No. In fact he has many friends with MBAs and great academic successes who can’t get a job because they have no work experience.

If you’re not sure about university, look at what job opportunities are out there at the moment. It can be tough to get that first foot in the door, but persistence pays off. Write to companies to demonstrate your initiative, expertise and skills and ask for work experience that could really launch your career. Talk to recruitment consultants, local job centres and youth advisory centres for advice and plug into your network of friends and family. That friend of a friend could be the perfect person to help you find a position, so ask around. Building a professional network through tools like LinkedIn and Twitter will also help you connect and build relationships with the right people.

That’s not to say there aren’t advantages in going to university which, many argue, justify the expense. It’s an investment in your future: research shows that university graduates can potentially earn £100,000 more in their lifetime on average, than non-graduates. And with so many graduates on the market, many people feel they need a degree just to keep up and not get left behind.

For many, university is about more than just a degree. It is the opportunity to learn to live by yourself, develop as a person and have the opportunity to learn more about a subject you enjoy and have a lot of fun. Rather than knowing what you want to do before you go to university, university shapes you, gives you some life experience and forms your opinion of what you want to do for a job.

So if you’re planning on going to university – good luck! But if you’re not, don’t panic. The world, as they say, is your oyster.

What do you think? Let us know your thoughts on going to university vs starting a career straight from school in the comments section below.

Phil Edelston is managing director of Dylan Marketing Recruitment

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