Graduate job prospects are to rise exponentially in 2010 according to results released by research analysts High Fliers.
After two years of the papers constantly writing negative press on the graduate job market (when opportunities dropped by 6.7% in 2008 and 17.8% the year before according to most national press) – A recent study of 100 of the top employers in the UK revealed that most of those companies have boosted their recruitment drive for 2010, an increase of 11.8% which is around 1,600 more graduate positions over the course of the year.
Nearly half of the companies studied expected to take on more graduates this year than they did in 2009. The research covered 10 of the 14 key industry and employment sectors. Major investment banks are supposedly, the advocates of this major turnaround in the graduate employment market and are expecting to recruit a third more graduates this year.
Only three of the 14 sectors explored in the survey anticipated that they would recruit less graduates this year. In house observations from the Grad Central recruitment team has revealed that though more jobs are being created by larger companies, even more are positions have emerged from within the SME market. We must consider that SME’s make up in excess of 85% of all businesses in the UK, which is why Grad Central has a concentrated effort in ensuring smaller organisations have access to the best graduate talent. With large companies expecting to recruit more graduates, more and more smaller organisation will soon follow suit.
The study did also point out that competition for graduate jobs will be very high as three-quarters of the employers have had more applications than at this stage last year. This explains why many companies have now approached external recruitment agencies like Grad Central to manage the recruitment process.
Grad Central are experiencing a pleasantly surprising busy start to the new year, currently advertising 94 immediate start vacancies for jobs across the West Midlands.
