The Rise of Graduate Recruitment

With 2014 A level results just released a short while ago, for many young adults it’s time for them to make decisions regarding their future.  I came across an interesting article about graduate recruitment, and whilst it is on upward trend places do remain competitive as ever.  I thought I would share the points raised in it it with you.

According to a number of sources Graduate recruitment is expected to rise substantially this year as vacancies return to pre-recession levels, a survey has revealed.

The UK’s top 100 employers told the study, conducted by High Fliers Research, that they intended to grow their graduate vacancies by 8.7 per cent in 2014 compared to the year before.

This hike in advertised posts represents the biggest annual intake of university leavers for four years and has prompted forecasts that recruitment this year will increase to levels not seen since 2007.

The public sector, professional services, and engineering are among 11 of the 13 key employment sectors reporting substantial increases in graduate hires this year.

Graduate job applications are up 9 per cent on last year but many of these recruits will face disappointment as employers told the survey that 37 per cent of entry-level roles will go to applicants who have already worked for the organization in paid internship posts or jobs during holidays.

More than half of employers surveyed said that candidates without previous work experience have “little or no chance of receiving a job offer for their graduate programs”.

This trend for taking on people with experience of the company they are applying to is even more pronounced among City investment bank employers. Employers in this area of finance reported that three-quarters of the roles advertised would go to applicants who had worked for them previously, while law firms told the survey they expected to offer half their advertised training contracts to those who had completed past work experience with them.

Employers are offering a record number of paid work experience placements this year making this vital experience more accessible.

Pay for graduate posts has remained static for the past five years averaging £29,000 for entry-level jobs.

A quarter of top graduate programs reward new recruits with salaries of £35,000 and above. Investment banks plan to offer the highest pay to first jobbers with a median salary of £45,000, while law firm recruits can expect a median of £39,000, and banking and finance hires will be paid a median of £33,000.  The highest published graduate starting salaries for 2014 are £41,500 at the European Commission and £41,000 at retailer Aldi.

This significant increase in graduate vacancies at Britain’s top employers means the job prospects for graduates leaving university this year are the best they have been since the start of the recession.  But fundamental to accessing these opportunities is gaining work experience within the country’s most sought after graduate employers and this is keeping the competition high.  Fortunately there does appear to be more opportunities for university students to get paid work experience – offering over11,000 paid internships and work placement this year for first and second year undergraduates.

So to conclude, despite the overall increase in graduate vacancies reported in the High Fliers research, competition for places remains high. Students can, however, give themselves a head-start by applying early and taking advantage of the work experience and internship schemes on offer.  Many companies will expect to recruit many graduates via their undergraduate schemes this year as it is seen as an opportunity to seek out high quality individuals to potentially join the firm, while giving students valuable experience of working at a professional services organisation.