Degrees help employability

Sheila Flavell, Chief Operating Officer and an Executive Board Director of FDM Group, the  international IT services provider and the UK's leading employer of IT graduates, was speaking to business graduates at the University of Brighton awards ceremony at the Brighton Centre yesterday (31 July).

She said: “Degrees may not be essential for success but they are surely going to make it easier and they will help your employability. But your university experience is not all about academic achievement. It is as much about learning about yourself, your resilience, your determination, discipline and self-motivation.”

She advised graduates: “Lead by example. As graduates you are entering the world with an important role to play. People will look up to you, they will listen to you and they will want your thoughts and ideas.

“You are the future, not just the future of the UK workforce but the future of the international workforce. And right now businesses are facing many issues, not least from the gender pay gap to changing working models, and to Brexit.

“Never has there been a greater need than now for fresh minds with an optimistic outlook.

“So I’m asking you, the graduates of 2018, what are you going to now in your life that is big enough, bold enough, and inspirational enough? What are you going to do to make your parents as proud of you as they are right now?

“Create your own business, lead by example, always do the right thing, inspire the life of others and never give up on your dreams or compromise them.”