Education consultant Adam Caller advises parents to help children prepare for graduate job market with solid GCSE and A-level choices

Recent media coverage on the degree qualifications sought by employers, and the number of applicants competing for each job has prompted Adam Caller, education consultant and founder of Tutors International, to advise parents on the best way to help their children prepare for the graduate job market. Adam asserts that ensuring the best GCSE and A-level subjects are chosen before making an application to university, is a critical step of which many parents are unaware.

"Following recent coverage in the national press regarding employers only considering candidates with a 2:1 degree or above, there's a natural tendency for people to be concerned about their child's performance at university, however, this is only part of the picture," said Adam. "Parents need to realise that the grade achieved at degree level is only one part of the candidate filtering process used during recruitment. Prospective employers are also looking for the ability to work independently and proof that the candidate is able to manage their own time and behave appropriately. Ensuring that a university graduate has these skills means that decisions need to be made many years before they even attend university."

"Parents need to realise that these skills aren't obtained by taking GCSE and A-level subjects that are well known to be easier to study, such as combined sciences as opposed to individual science subjects," Adam explained. "If a university graduate is to reach their potential in the job market, they require an academic background that is superlative throughout their education, not just at one of the final stages. At Tutors International we believe that children need excellent academic role models guiding them at every stage, which is why I am urging parents to do all they can, as early as they can, to ensure their children enter the tough graduate job market with the best academic record possible."