The two contrasting data sets reveal the uncertainty that still remains in the graduate job sector, which is slowly regaining strength but remains precarious and highly competitive.
Data released by independent research company High Fliers Research has revealed an unprecedented 33% rise in the overall number of graduate job applications made in 2010-2011. Students at the thirty universities surveyed by High Fliers made approximately 343,000 job applications this year in comparison with only 257,000 in 2010 and 244,000 in 2008.
The High Fliers Research also showed that a record 37% of final year students had made early job applications and started applying to graduate employers at the very start of their final year at university. Only 31% applied early in 2009 and 28% in 2006.
However a survey by SHL revealed that 60% of graduates over the past three years have not yet found a graduate job and are either unemployed or underemployed. This accounts for up to 611,682 who were unsuccessful in their search for graduate employment.
WikiJob co-founder, Ed Mellett, suggests that the two sets of results are evidence of the precarious and fluctuating state of the graduate job market. ‘University students are clearly very aware of the perilous state of the job market and by putting in early applications for graduate positions are making a very positive step’, says Ed. ‘However, this increase in competition and applications will mean a lot of disappointed graduates and perhaps an exacerbation of the youth unemployment crisis. There should be an equivalent rise in the number of graduate positions offered by firms. We are already seeing this in the accountancy sector where PwC and Ernst & Young have increased graduate uptake, and hopefully this will continue throughout the employment market’.
Source: Onrec.com, Thursday 26th May 2011
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