According to a 2009 destination survey, around 67% of 2008’s fashion graduates went straight into some sort of work, including self-employment. A few fashion design graduates begin as design assistants or assistant designers, helping experienced professionals. Others set up their own businesses, although this may not generate immediate profits. All roles in fashion are highly competitive and recent graduates specialising in this area might start by doing a range of jobs: designers may sell their products on market stalls, write some articles for fashion websites, try their hand at styling and take commissions for one-off items. Alternatively, they may take administrative or retail jobs in the trade as a stopgap. It is slightly easier to find permanent work on the business side of fashion, although buying and merchandising traineeships are usually hotly contested. Those with fashion-related degrees may also apply for mainstream graduate jobs and training. Where are the jobs?Typical employers of fashion design and business graduates are established studios and larger retail outlets. Recruiters may attend graduate shows at universities and snap up the most talented designers there. The biggest retail chains run graduate trainee schemes for buyers and merchandisers. Employers often fill junior posts for all types of fashion jobs by contacting tutors and careers services in institutions with relevant courses. Recruitment may also be done through niche agencies and by advertising in the trade or national press. Freelance work is usually available only to established designers, stylists and media experts but, with the right background, there are good opportunities for this type of employment. Beyond this, it is up to individual graduates to market themselves by networking and making speculative approaches. For an insight into employment areas see: - Fashion and design, which gives an overview of how the fashion industry operates, socio economic factors which impact on it, career areas and what the future is likely to hold.
- Retail, which provides a picture of how the retail industry works - from warehouse to shopfloor - and career options in managerial and public facing roles, as well as behind the scenes. It also considers the impact of the internet and changing shopping habits.
See industry insights for further information on possibilities in other employment areas. Statistics are collected every year by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) to show what HE students do immediately after graduation. These can be a useful guide but, in reality, with the data being collected within just six months of graduation, many graduates are travelling, waiting to start a course, paying off debts, getting work experience or still deciding what they want to do. For further information about some of the areas of employment commonly entered by graduates of any degree discipline, check out what do graduates do? and your degree...what next?
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