Band Nine Sample Answer
Some people believe that a good university degree is a guarantee of a good job.
What is your opinion?
As the job market gets tougher, many students are hoping that a strong undergraduate or postgraduate diploma will secure their career success. In this essay, I will argue that a good degree is not necessarily enough to secure a dream job. First, because it is important for applicants to distinguish themselves from their peers through extracurricular activities. Second, because career success requires a range of non-academic skills.
First, if students want to work at a top company, they need to demonstrate other experiences to outcompete other well-qualified candidates. As the amount of funding for university students has increased, a greater percentage of young people have achieved good degrees. As a result, it is likely that for the best jobs, all applicants will have a good degree as a minimum. If students want to stand out, they will need to demonstrate additional experience. For example, all other things being equal, a student who was the president of a university sports team will be more employable than someone without this type of experience.
Furthermore, while employers in the past may have prioritised educational background, modern hiring managers take a more holistic view of the skills necessary to succeed. Although a strong academic background shows intelligence and communication skills, companies recognise that other skills are just as important. For example, companies know that a book-smart employee who is not able to work as part of a team or take initiative may end up being a liability. Consequently, to secure a good job, it is essential to find ways to demonstrate these other skills.
In conclusion, I do not believe that a good degree is enough to guarantee a good job. To distinguish themselves from others, applicants need to have experience and non-academic skills.
Vocabulary Breakdown
This list contains some of the rarer language from the sample essay. Several of these words have more than one meaning. To keep things short, I have only given the relevant meaning for this essay.
- Undergraduate
- Also called a bachelor’s degree. This is usually the first degree people receive and takes 3-4 years to study directly after high school.
- Postgraduate
- Any degree of a higher level than an undergraduate degree. This can be a master’s, a doctorate, or a professional qualification like a law degree.
- Diploma
- Another word for ‘degree’.
- Applicant
- Someone who is applying for something.
- To distinguish yourself
- To show differences between yourself and others. This is usually in a positive way.
- Extracurricular
- Something done outside of a school or university curriculum. This usually refers to sports and club activities.
- To outcompete someone
- To beat someone at something competitive.
- Employable
- If someone is employable, they have attributes that would make someone want to hire them.
- A holistic view
- A view that looks at every part of someone or something rather than just one aspect.
- Book-smart
- An adjective for someone who is good at academic work but perhaps not so good in real-world situations.
- Take initiative
- If someone is able to take initiative, they are able to make decisions without being told what to do.
- Liability
- A person who is a weakness for a team.
Awesome essay