When it comes to raking in the big bucks as well as getting snapped up straight after – or even before – graduation, there are a few degrees that are ahead of the rest.
Mining engineering is one of them. It has one of the highest percentages of bachelor degree graduates in full-time employment within four months of graduation, and also offers one of the highest graduate salaries at $50,000, according to the 2007 Australian Graduate Survey conducted by Graduate Careers Australia.
The annual survey is a study of the activities of new higher education graduates around four months after the completion of their qualifications.
Recent findings indicate that graduates from the disciplines with “defined” career paths tend to gain full-time employment more readily than those from less-defined paths.
“For example, if you study engineering, then you will likely end up as an engineer,” says Cindy Tilbrook, executive director of Graduate Careers Australia. “However, if you study languages or social science, there are a number of different directions that your qualifications could take you in.”
This is reflected in the survey, with respondents in visual and performing arts, life sciences, humanities and languages the most likely to have been seeking full-time employment at the time of the survey.
Alongside engineering, clearly defined careers found in the health industry continue to offer strong job prospects. Graduates of pharmacy, medicine and nursing rate in the top five degrees with graduates employed quickest. Furthermore, graduates of medicine can also look forward to earning $51,000 – above the average salary.
The survey reveals the median annual starting salary for new bachelor degree graduates aged less than 25 and in their first full-time employment in Australia is $43,000.
Graduates from some degrees can expect to earn $20,000 more than that. Dentistry graduates earned the highest median starting salary, raking in $68,000.
They are followed not so closely by graduates of optometry, who earn a median
starting salary of $56,600.
The survey showed that 84.5 per cent of 2006 bachelor degree graduates were in full-time employment within four months of completing their degrees (up from 82.4 per cent).
This indicates that overall job prospects for university graduates are very positive. In fact, these are the strongest employment figures for new graduates since 1990. A further 10.5 per cent were working on a parttime or casual basis while continuing to seek full-time employment.
Not all graduates want full-time work after they graduate. One-fifth of respondents were undertaking full-time study after completing their bachelor degree.
For those who do seek employment, there are many areas where graduates are given job offers prior to the completion of their bachelor degrees.
“Companies who conduct graduate programs attend university career fairs in March/April each year, and make job offers to final-year candidates over the course of the next few months,” Tilbrook says.
There are also opportunities for students in some fields to begin working while they are still studying, she says.
“An increasing number of companies also now offer employment to students while
they are studying, through vacation or work experience programs, and often will then take those students on at the completion of their course.”
However, Tilbrook does not recommend that potential students choose a degree based on the possibility of being snapped up quickly or the prospect of large starting salaries.
“Career decisions shouldn’t be based on getting a flying start to your career at all,” she warns. Rather, you should be basing career decisions on your areas of interest and skill.
“There is no use ending up in a career that you actually don’t like.”
Top five graduate salary earnersDentistry ($68,000)
Optometry ($56,600)
Medicine ($51,000)
Earth sciences ($50,000)
Engineering (all types) ($50,000)
Source: Graduate Careers Australia GradStats Number 12, December 2007
Top five degrees with graduates employed quickest1. Pharmacy 99.4%
2. Mining engineering 98.7%
3. Medicine 98.2%
4. Nursing (post-natal) 98%
5. Civil engineering 97. 8 %
Source: Graduate Careers Australia GradStats Number 12, December 2007
