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Career prospects: Spain vs the rest of the world.



When you study abroad you meet people from all over the world. You exchange cultural traditions, you maybe try to learn some words in their language but you also discuss the differences about academics, about work prospects and each others plans for the future. 

This is actually really depressing for someone who lives or studies in Spain. The chances of you getting a job after graduation in Spain in your field is around 60-65% depending on your university (public schools only). This of course is only applicable if you have gained some previous experience, which the majority of us haven’t or won’t. ‘You can’t get a job without experience’. How do you gain experience then if no company will give you the chance? 

When you compare this to other universities around the world or not necessarily by university but by country it becomes quite scary. In Spain we do a four year course and then are facing a one year master course. Master courses are made for you to specialise in your field, but if they offer 3 master courses to 400 something graduates of Communications (for example) and also to those companies who want to offer a master course as part of training, where is the specialisation? In most countries in Europe, universities generally offer 3 years bachelor degrees and 1 year master courses. So they are already a step closer than us in Spain to fulfilling their career plan. 

In Belgium for example, depending on your studies you can be offered a voluntary internship or in some cases have a mandatory one in your last semester or upon graduation. In the States, in some schools you usually have to complete an internship to graduate, in other cases you find a summer internship. Most of the time you will receive help to finding an appropriate internship. In England, most universities offer a 90 plus percentage of employment (obviously these percentages depend on a certain field of study, but generally speaking), they also tend to help you with internships and job positions upon graduation. In Colombia, generally you will have no problem finding a job if you have graduated from a more or less ‘good’ university. In Italy, you are likely to get a job if you have a bachelors degree but not necessarily well paid or in good labour conditions. Also, internships are not mandatory but you will receive help form universities to find some sort of placement. 

I asked a few of my ‘international’ friends if they are happy with their career prospects upon graduation, these are some of the answers i got. 

‘I am very happy with my prospects. I will basically get a job straight after graduating, and highly paid.’ - Colegio de Estudios Superiores de Administracion, Colombia.

‘I would say that I'm fairly confident that I'll get some sort of job after graduation, but that's mostly because i go to a pretty good school with a fairly respectable business program. I'm pretty optimistic about my chances of getting a decent-paying job.’ - Butler University, USA.

‘Personally I am not extremely happy because in order to get a job you almost need to have a masters and employers don't really care if you have a bachelors, it might as well be like just having a high school diploma.’ - California State University Channel Islands, USA. 

‘Yes, I think I am, I am sure that there is a market for people studying economics. It is a kind of certainty.’ - Universiteit Gent, Belgium. 

‘But, I don’t know what my future holds.’ - Universidad de Salamanca, Spain. 

‘Yes, I get help from the university to find a job, it isn’t always easy but you can more or less find something although at the beginning the pay will not be good.’ - Università di Siena, Italy. 

‘Yes, very much so!!!’ - Kansas State University, Paris. 

‘Yes, I would say rather easy if I look at what my school's percentages of people at work after graduating.’ - Sciences Po, France. 

‘In Spain, I have to do a masters 100% and I am not at all positive for what awaits me after graduation, but it also depends on what I aspire to.’ - Universidad Rey Juan Carlos I, Spain.

All these students are studying either economics, communications or politics. I also asked them whether or not they are likely to have to do a masters degree, everyone except the Italian student said yes. Everyone agrees that a masters is the new bachelors, and that without it you are not likely to get any valuable position. 

I have the opportunity in my university to study abroad twice, unlike many of my friends here. This has got me thinking, is another semester abroad a good idea? Should I be looking into a postgraduate study abroad? Should I be looking for an internship abroad? Thankfully I have people that will support me as much as needed in the future, but to be honest it is freakishly scary to think about. 


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