Big competition for graduate jobs

This year’s university students are set to have more dire news after a report shows that those students that left university last year and filling up the graduate posts rapidly, leaving not many free for this year’s graduates. Twenty percent of applications to employers have increased by 25%, meaning that students from last year have been struggling to find their ideal job over the past year.

Even though there is due to be a 6.4% increase in graduate vacancies this year, which is up from 16,408 graduates from 2011, the survey of 100 employers revealed that the increase in applicants is far higher than the 2.8% increase from last year. Employers are, however, set to change their expected recruitment targets compared to last year, which are still 6% lower than the figures prior to the recession. Compounding the problem is the sheer number of graduates that are leaving university this year, which is 50,000 more than it was in 2007, making competitiveness for job placements even tougher than before.

Employment opportunities for graduates are becoming lower and lower, as 19% of last year’s graduates are filling the roles for this year, and as more than 50% of recruiters stating that candidates with no work experience would struggle to be given a job, the outlook for university students is grim. Adding to the problem, around 25% of graduates were actually turned down for job roles for being over-qualified.

Investment banker jobs have been increasing 9% each year, although recruiters tend to only take graduates that have had industry placements, and despite the Government’s freeze on recruitment, there is set to be a 21.9% increase in graduate roles in the public sector, taking on an expected 500 more roles compared to last year. With the “big 4″ sectors of retail, high street banking, IT and engineering taking around 4,000 jobs between them, there is also an expected and marked rise on its way. However, salaries for graudates tend to remain stagnant at £29,000 even after three years, which makes the labour market remain quite flat.