Help! My degree hasn't helped!

It doesn't seem two seconds ago since I was last at university, terrorising the streets of Leicester with fellow students on drunken nights out whilst also being sensible and studying for my BA Hons Journalism and Media Studies degree at De Montfort University. This weekend we graced the university campus once again for our One Year On reunion, which gave us a great opportunity for us to do the usual catch up of: "So, what are you up to nowadays?".

Our group of friends consisted of mostly media graduates, a very broad subject to say the least with plenty of scope to go into a wide variety of careers. However, reflecting on everyone's thoughts on how their degrees have actually helped to get them a job and how relevant they are to our careers, the consensus was less than enthusiastic about the prospect.

For me, someone who has probably been a rare exception in comparison to most students in the past year, managed to walk straight into a job at Edgbaston-based multimedia agency HRO'C as a PR Account Executive. Very lucky taking into account the current climate.

I love the fact that my journalism has helped massively with my job role - writing press releases, features, blog posts and other editorial content based on a wide variety of topics on a day-to-day basis is a challenge. So having the training and experience from my degree to do this as best as I can has been a great advantage. Other aspects of my media course such as web design and radio editing have also been beneficial in my role.

But talking to my graduate friends, their stories aren't so similar. For example, industries that these people have gone into include civil engineering, retail, teaching, stock broking and computer software manufacturing. Probably not what our lecturers had in mind for us as career options.

Discussing this further over glasses of wine and pints of beer, we debated why this was happening, which I'm sure is happening to plenty of other graduates across the country.

Recession-fuelled headlines and constant reminders of the credit crunch affecting our lives with news of big brands going into administration as well as redundancies being made left, right and centre is probably the underlying factor. But there seems to be more to it - a mixed message of the economy on the mend, or not!

When news of the recession hit the scenes, it was at the time that most of my friends were applying for graduate positions. And this is when it truly hit home - the fact that most of them were getting thrown back from jobs they were more than capable of doing. There was only one reason for this - experience.

Again, doing half my degree in journalism, it was drilled into us that if we didn't go out and get relevant work experience we would never be considered for a job in the industry. But for my media studies friends, this was never the case. Few if any who considered doing such experience were never motivated to do so at the time at university, and I'm not suprised!

But now they are suffering the consequences of their actions as they are being rejected from potential roles because other candidates have this edge over them. And doing free work experience at a time now where it might not be financially viable to do so means that their chances of starting a career are being pushed back or altered altogether.

So what are their options now? Sticking it out and finding any available experience going within the media sector, or doing a U turn and going down another career route? It's hard to say, but one thing that maybe should give them and others hope is that there are jobs out there - so it's not a case that there is nothing readily available.

Whatever people feel about working in the media, no one can deny its diversification giving people the chance to work in a number of different areas such as broadcast, print and online. It still probably stands as one of the most exciting industries to work in, and this alone should convince people that no matter how hard the job market is at the moment it will still be able to offer a world of opportunities.

My media preaching is now done!