How to gain additional knowledge in the situation when university degrees (no longer) guarantee suitable employment

Abstract

In the last decades the level of education of the European population, especially of the young, has risen significantly; however, the credibility of higher education as a guarantee of a suitable and well­paid employment has declined. Simultane­ ously, the employment practices have been changing, because, among other reasons, employers require increasingly often non­formally acquired knowledge and skills, which bring short­term profitability, whereas school records and university degrees are recognized only as entrance tickets into the selection process. Non­formally acquired knowledge and skills, such as social and communication skills, IT literacy, command of foreign languages, etc. are becoming more and more important in job search. In addition , job­seekers are required to have the ability to upgrade their formal knowledge and to move away from narrow, specific qualifications to the broader and more general. On­the­job learning and long­term learning – lifelong learning­ are becoming an integral part of all jobs. These new labour market requirements are particularly hard on the segment of the young first­time job­ seekers. And as research studies show, the young are the ones who make up the social group that is most frequently involved in non­secure types of employment, such as temporary or casual jobs and fixed­term employment. Low­security jobs often fail to give individuals the possibility to build up a personal professional career. The article deals with two issues related to the above­mentioned findings: – what to do to alleviate the consequences of the factors pushing the young to the margins of the society, emphasizing the need for investment in (additional) education and establishment of social networks; and, – whether the young who have acquired the highest levels of education (the group that loses most knowledge if doomed to an unsuitable career) could improve their ability to make a successful education­ career transition by investing more in human and social capital.