Professional jobs hard to find for recent humanities graduates

The recent graduates from the Department of Philosophy and Semiotics in University of Tartu need more work experience, and have mainly found jobs in public sector. One in four works in a non-professional position, and one in six in low-paying service industry, a survey conducted by the University finds.

In a worrying trend, more than a third of last year’s graduates do not feel competitive in the job market, writes today’s Eesti Päevaleht.

"I should have studied something else," one participant complained.

"My expectation was that studying at university would provide me with a good job, but in reality I now regret the time I spent at obtaining my master´s degree – it is very hard in the job market," said another.

Another participant conceded that it´s the work experience that counts.

There is also good news. Half of the graduates are working in professional capacity and only 3 percent of the fresh graduates are unemployed, although one in seven spent more than a year to find a position that corresponded with their profession.

Most found jobs through personal networks, however.

The salaries among the young humanities graduates are not bad either by Estonian standards. The average gross salary is 1,031 euros and 10 percent earn even more than 1,500 euros per month.

Most graduates say that they had expected more practical experience while still at the university – two thirds of the surveyed former students did not have any work practice at all during the studies.

"Sometimes I think that I should have chosen a more practical subject," Marili Pärtel, a recent Master in Semiotics, said. "But at the same time, I do realise that the degree is not always a ticket to a good career and life."

"It´s important to be open minded and find ways to apply your knowledge. For example, I learned that the degree in semiotics can be useful in the advertising industry," Pärtel, now working for Estonian NGO addressing teacher shortages, added.