Graduate recruitment to rise in 2013, says survey

As the university year draws to a close, a new survey, from CareerBuilder.co.uk, shows university graduates can expect up to 20 percent higher starting salaries than they did in 2011. Finding that dream role could be less demanding too, with 17 percent of employers saying they are planning to recruit more graduates this year than last.

Six in 10 employers are planning to hire new graduates this year and more than half (53 percent) plan to hire up to 10 graduates while 29 percent are planning on taking on 11 to 50.

“It is encouraging to see that the majority of employers plan to add recent university graduates to their companies this year,” said Tony Roy, President of CareerBuilder EMEA.

“Employers across the UK are placing a strong emphasis on recruiting fresh talent for positions designed to drive revenue - and in certain areas - they’re willing to pay more for high-skill, educated labour.”

The online job site surveyed 100 employers across the UK and companies that are particularly keen to recruit recent university graduates include Information Technology (37 percent), Sales (28 percent), Business Development (27 percent) and Marketing (25 percent).

Employers are looking for a variety of skills from recent university graduates but strong written and verbal communications top the list with 65 percent of employers looking for these followed by technical skills (42 percent) and maths skills (40 percent).

Source: Paul Pearce Couch, Inspiresme.co.uk, Thursday 17th May 2012