Introduction
Choosing the right career is a difficult task for any student. While in high school students are given enough lectures and advices to be able to choose the right career. Many dream of becoming doctors, pilots, and engineers but all people cannot fit in these three careers. The parent’s vision for the child is set very high and sometimes can make the child loose focus and choose the wrong career. Once in the university the parent has no control of what the student studies. The grades also determine the course that the student takes. These courses will determine the career of the student.
The UEL is one university that offers quality education to its students in order to prepare for their career in future. The standards of teaching are rated highly in a range of programs. Research is also emphasized on with the students involved in so much of research to enrich their competitiveness. Globalization has led to increased flow of money, goods, services, people, and jobs across borders.
There are several strategies that companies need to apply in order to gain a global advantage these include; developing a network of intellectual properties, capital, people and markets globally, controlling foreign distribution channels, developing of unique products and services to evade competition, and improved efficiency of every production process. These strategies mean that people who are educated must be employed so as to achieve firm’s goals. This paper seeks to explain to what extent graduates perceive their career choices in the light of globalization especially those in UEL.
The UEL and its training on career
The UEL offers a wide range of study areas which allow the student to choose an interesting academic area where they aspire to be employed and begin a career. This study areas include; Architecture, Art & Design, Biosciences, Business & Management, Computing, Education, Engineering, Finance, Economics & Accounting, Health Sciences, Humanities, Information & Communications Technologies, Law and Criminology, Media and Communications, Psychology, Social Sciences, Sports Sciences, Surveying and Geographical Information Science
The world has become a global village and the education system must focus on giving the student a career that will reflect global achievements and enable students to compete globally. The UEL standards reflect global standards and the inclusion of students from other parts of the world proves this. The UEL has an approximate male to female ratio of 48:52 reflecting on the gender balance, and 80% home students, 20% international students reflecting the global perspective. Giving students education skills that will help them compete globally is the main aim of UEL and ensuring the students remain competitive and make an impact in their careers. The university has continued to increase in strength above other colleges especially in Anthropology, Architecture and the Visual Arts, Cultural and Media Studies, Education, Psychology and Sports Science.
The UEL Employability Team offers many services at all campuses to help all students develop the best employability skills that are sought after by the employers in the globally competitive market.
The school holds regular career fairs which give the students an opportunity to acquire new skills, career contacts, and advice at the campuses. The employability team has annually organized two career events some of which are dubbed ‘fuel your future’. The employers and students are able to interact in a question and answer session and presentations to fully equip the students in order to be globally competitive. The employers erected stands and the students had chances to visit them to have a glimpse of what it takes to venture in such careers. Moreover, they also participated in a mock interview challenges and a check of their CVs.
UEL (university of east London) student perceive their career choices are affected by globalization in various ways, all careers have been put on the risk by the current global economic crisis. There has been rampant unemployment and collapse of different institutions and investments. This has lead to students not being employed and their careers being at risk of not materializing to the expectations. Careers and courses in any university are designed to be globally competitive and should create an impact not only to the student, but also to the global labor market.
The students are also taught in a standardized way to enhance global competition at all levels (Newmark & Reed, 2000). This encourages the student to be highly effective and concentrate on their career so that once they get the opportunity; they are able to change their future and impact positively to the society. Students are also taught self dependency since most courses in the university make students have independent thinking and rely on survival tactics where need arises. This enables the students be dependent in the future and to start investments driven by their careers and hence self employ themselves rather than rely on formal employment that might be hard to come by.
How to run a career
There are various ways to survive in a career. Since all universities train their students to become very competitive then each student need to stay focused on the goal of achieving a career that will satisfy his/her life. The student can stay positive at all times no matter what happens in the job market and should always expect good tidings (Newmark & Reed, 2000). In addition, the student must also be pro-active in trying to improving his/her employability skills through achieving the necessary experience in the career he/she wishes to pursue, volunteering and active involvement in co-curricular activities, Creating good relations with employers and referees, focusing on the future of the career and working towards its achievements and the chances of broadening its scope, and tailoring a curriculum vitae and application for the said career (Blossfeld & Hofmeister, 2006, p. 3).
Globalization and careers
Brown (2003) describes how transnational career are related to globalization especially how questions on globalization tend to affect the careers. Globalization has the intention of ensuring that trade barriers are as low as possible, new international markets are opened and information and communication technologies are always update since they all influence employment.
As cited in Brown (2003), over 2 million workers have lost employment in the past several years. The influence of higher productivity and management and hiring practices have had impacts on the loss of employment, but many companies have moved their base from their original countries and set base in less cheaper areas (Blossfeld, & Hofmeister, 2006, p. 6) thus leading to losses of jobs in the former areas.
Education, social, and mental preparation in the part of the students will ensure that they enjoy maximum benefits from globalization. They will have the best jobs since there is increased demand for creative and innovative employees. The acquired basic skills and technological competence will enhance success in the job markets and thus build a stable career. The students ought to have decision making and problem solving skills to be able to survive in the ever competitive job market.
The students who are knowledgeable, educated and flexible will stand the best chances to work in interdependent offices where they get exposed to clients from various countries. This will enable them have brighter careers than their counterparts in the local oriented offices. The best instrument will be adaptability and change on the part of the student given that they are likely to reap benefits when they are able to change with technology and socially, which is almost virtually possible for students in the universities.
Education and globalization will seem to be inseparable as education affects a wide range of people in all the countries where skilled and earning workers get on surging. The global job market is being flooded with graduates from universities from all over the globe who seek to seize the opportunities and jobs that are advertised and which are more likely to be filled by students who have studied in high ranked international institutions (like UEL) rather than universities that are only locally known. Indeed, Brown (2003) claims that “Lifelong learning appears to be the only key to secure employment. Education affects not only the skill and earning power of workers, but also the economy as a whole”.
Trends in careers have also evolved from the traditional upward moves that led to increased income, status, and power to a lateral motion which is characterized by switching of jobs and temporary contracts that ensure people move up or downwards career-wise. Contracts have changed the jobs markets development of careers since performance will determine how the career develops. Globally, contracts are offered to fill positions in low skilled countries that give the country time to generate a pool of skilled workers. Those students who have already developed their careers have the best chances to be recruited in such positions (Blossfeld & Hofmeister, 2006, p. 49).
Globalization has also had an effect on fairness in hiring and firing of employees. The market has been fairer since any unfairness is treated as contempt and breach of contracts. The employees and employers have already had an agreement on the terms of employment and this will keep watch on both sides. If the employee does not perform, then the contract is broken, and when the employer does any unfair actions, he is liable for prosecution by law. Democracy can prevail in the job markets the employer is more focused on performing and is not threatened by any job insecurity from the employer. Culture and traditional experiences have changed over the years, a situation that creates an atmosphere that enables cooperation and collaboration in various teams and employment opportunities (Blossfeld & Hofmeister, 2006, p. 24).
In a business perspective, globalization can form a pattern of shrinking profits margins which will require reduced labor costs that will eventually lead to outsourcing hence a need for leveraged work force which will improve business competitiveness. In an economic perspective, it may lead to a leveraged global workforce. Moreover, in a professional perspective, it leads to leveraged workforce which means that there will be a displacement of unskilled workers. This displaced workers will migrate to emerging markets, venture in to new careers, or increase competition in the hosts local markets (Pans, 2005 p. 31). For graduates to stay afloat in the job market globally, diversification of jobs and career lines are some of the important options to build a career path which may include managers and executives, services sectors, sales, government jobs, healthcares sectors, technicians, food services industries, entertainment, teaching, and construction industries.
Conclusion
Globalization’s effects on the job markets will be immense on the uneducated lot in the society. The educated people will be in a race of time and experience to prove that they are the best suited for the job market which tends to be more competitive on a global platform. Once they get the job, it will be the beginning of building a career which most of them have been dreaming of for a larger part of their lives. Given the competitive nature of the global job market, attainment of globally acceptable and competitive career will be a good betting to ensure that one is not left behind in this global trend. A career is not a one day event, it is a life time vision, and excelling in it will require sacrifice, confidence, and concentration, not forgetting being abreast with the happenings in the global market.
Reference
Blossfeld, H. P. & Hofmeister, H. A., 2006. Globalization, uncertainty and women’s careers: an international comparison. Cheltenham, Edward Elgar Publishing. (Online). Web.
Blossfeld, H. P. & Hofmeister, H. A., 2006. Globalization, uncertainty and men’s careers: an international comparison. Cheltenham, Edward Elgar Publishing. (Online). Web.
Brown, L. B., 2003. Effects of Globalization on Careers: Myths and realities 29, ACVE. (Online). Web.
Newmark, D. & Reed, D., 2000. Employment Relationships in the New Economy. NBER Working Paper 8910. Cambridge, MA: National Bureau for Economic Research. Web.
Pan, E.T., 2005. Globalization and your career. The Bent of Tau Beta PI, 84, pp.31-33. (Online).Web.