Finance overtakes medicine as most attractive career for graduates
Finance now ranks as the most popular career choice for UK graduates, overtaking medicine due to its perception of being well paid, according to the CFA Institute.
Fear of low pay and desire for a “good salary” are top of mind for UK graduates and current students, according to the CFA Institute 2023 Global Graduate Outlook Survey.
Nearly three in four (70 per cent) respondents said a good salary was the top priority when choosing a career, a 23 percentage point increase on the 47 per cent figure from the survey’s previous findings in 2021.
Salary prioritisation meant the desirability of certain careers had changed, with vocational careers such as teaching no longer seen as attractive.
Nearly one in three (29 per cent) respondents now viewed finance as the most stable career choice, up from 16 per cent in 2021, closely followed by STEM, with one in four (26 per cent) viewing it as stable, up from 9 per cent in 2021.
Meanwhile healthcare and medicine, which usually top the list, saw a decrease in confidence amongst graduates, with 15 per cent and 14 per cent of respondents respectively saying they considered these career choices stable.
In 2021, 19 per cent of respondents viewed healthcare as a stable career choice, compared to 21 per cent for medicine.
| UK graduates rank the top 10 most stable and attractive careers | |
| 1 | Finance and investment (up from #4 in 2021) |
| 2 | STEM (up from #12 in 2021) |
| 3 | IT and telecoms (up from #9 in 2021) |
| 4 | Education (down from joint #2 in 2021) |
| 5 | Healthcare (down from joint #2 in 2021) |
| 6 | Law (unchanged from 2021) |
| 7 | Medicine (down from #1 in 2021) |
| 8 | Government (down from #5 in 2021) |
| 9 | Advertising, PR and marketing (up from joint #15 in 2021) |
| 10 | Public services/intelligence (down from #6 in 2021) |
Rhodri Preece, senior head of research at the CFA Institute, said: “The results illustrate the extent to which salary is front of mind as graduates begin their careers amidst the rising cost-of-living, persistent inflation and weak economic growth. This is all directly impacting their career choices and it is no surprise that graduates are seeking out industries that traditionally offer higher pay, in the hope of having a more stable, secure career.”
The insights come from a global survey commissioned by CFA Institute, the global association of investment professionals, of nearly 10,000 current university students and recent graduates, aged between 18 and 25. Of those surveyed, 1,000 respondents were in the UK.
Preoccupation with salary meant UK graduates and students felt more pessimistic about their job prospects than their global counterparts, with one in three (32 per cent) saying they were not confident about their futures, compared to one in four (25 per cent) globally.
Less than half (48 per cent) of UK respondents believed they had better career prospects than their parents’ generation, less than the global average (56 per cent).
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