This weekend marks the final days that students preparing to enter third-level education can submit a ‘change of mind’ form to the Central Applications Office (CAO) in Ireland. As research from LinkedIn shows, students and recent graduates are highly interested in careers with the biggest names in tech – which is yet more reason for students to keep STEM courses in mind.
LinkedIn has collated data on the activity of more than 20m students and graduates on its social network, including job searches, companies they follow, company page views and member profiles.
In Europe, LinkedIn’s student representation amounts to 33pc, the same figure for the US, and this is the fastest-growing demographic on the network overall, accounting for 10pc of its members, from nearly 20,000 schools worldwide.
In a 700pc increase since 2010, 35pc of students on LinkedIn plan to use the site as their main source for a job hunt.
Multinational tech companies garner the most interest, with students across the globe keeping an eye on companies like Google, Microsoft, IBM, HP, Oracle and Apple.
In a recent survey, 44pc of students revealed they were dissatisfied with their choice of course and would change their CAO form if they could go back and do it all over again. As this crucial CAO deadline approaches, students are being encouraged to think hard about their choices and how they could impact on a future career.
Ireland has seen more than 4,000 technology jobs announced this year, which is why students are being encouraged to apply for STEM courses and avail of these employment opportunities in future.
