Will the UK ever learn, Transnational Graduates are here to stay.

This week the question of workforce mobility is raising its head. Not so much how mobile one is but how far we are prepared to go to get a new job, geographically speaking of course.

 I can’t recall if I read a report or whether it was one of those random conversations....but about 4 years ago I recall being informed that Irish graduates were the most mobile in Europe, I wonder whether this is still the case.

I digress.... we know from a report produced by HESA that  in 2011 more than 2000 graduates from our more established HE institutions have found jobs abroad and a recent article in The Telegraph discussed that the number of graduates, who have decided to leave these shores to find work increased by about 27%.

The days of spending a year working abroad either before going university or as part of a sandwich course seem to be reducing with school leavers wanting to get through the rest of their education and into workplace at a much faster rate. It wasn’t so long ago we were discussing the possible impact of 2-year degrees – as expected we haven’t seen many of them pop up.

I guess that we once referred to organisations as being ‘transnational’ perhaps with globalisation that we see in education as well as the economy and job market we can now start referring to people (and graduates) as ‘transnationals’.

With so many graduates going abroad to find work does this really constitute a brain drain as the same newspaper suggests. I suspect not.

 It would be useful to know, though difficult to measure I suspect, what is the average length of the typical transnational’s absence from their home country and what value they add on their return?

Although there is some fear within the above that graduates are tending to move internationally to develop themselves further, at a personal level this does also develop their awareness of other cultures. Surely in such a diverse environment as the world of work, this must be seen as a plus.

And the UK? In an international marketplace are we really promoting long term opportunities to candidates at the same time as offering so much confusion over visa’s and more recently sponsorship at universities.

Is a transnational workforce practical or is it actually a concept that is flawed.  In banking and accountancy you would be expected to move around and secondments are a natural part of your development. AsiaPac has long offered a range of opportunities to the West.  Where industry hubs have grown up in more regional areas this can have a great impact on the local economy but do graduates stay in these areas for long periods of time or do they then use this experience as a stepping stone?

The value of speaking another Language in today’s workplace for graduates is quickly becoming a necessity and could be seen as a disadvantage to those who do not speak a number of languages or have a limited awareness of other cultures. Is this just referring to the elite? 

It is my feeling that within the UK, we have delayed views on the value of international work experience; for example,  graduates have often thrived to attend UK-based universities and to complete and gain internships and graduates jobs within the UK market. After all we are seeing an increase in the numbers of students looking to study abroad, such the Netherlands.

Are we in the UK only just starting realise the importance of working internationally to compete with the rest of the graduates for Global Jobs?