What the Grads of 2015 are facing as they start their careers.
Hurray, I hear the parents say – back to school time!! It seems like the warm, fun filled summer holidays go on forever when you are a child, but as a parent, those 6 weeks really do drag! In pure Scout fashion, we decided to celebrate September, ‘back to school style’ for our latest team night out!
Most of us (well George aside!) haven’t been at school for a very long time so we dug out our old school ties, dusted off our blazers, pulled up our socks and hit the town. It was so ridiculous, we just had to share it with you… Photographic evidence (well the ones that were publishable) attached.
This got us thinking about the recent graduates just starting their careers this month and what the market is like out there for the 2015 intake.
Research by High Fliers Research Ltd in London suggests some very interesting facts about what is happening in the graduate market in the UK, across all industries:
- The number of graduates hired by organisations featured in The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers rose by 7.9% in 2014, compared with recruitment in 2013, the largest annual rise in graduate recruitment for four years.
- There is little evidence that graduate starting salaries are rising in reaction to the introduction of higher university tuition fees – most employers that have opted to increase their graduate pay in either 2014 or 2015 appear to have done so in order to compete effectively with other employers recruiting graduates.
- This substantial increase in graduate vacancies for 2015 takes graduate recruitment beyond the pre-recession peak in the graduate job market in 2007 and means that there will be more opportunities for this summer’s university-leavers than at any time in the last decade.
- Recruiters have confirmed that 31% of this year’s entry-level positions are expected to be filled by graduates who have already worked for their organisations, either through paid internships, industrial placements or vacation work.
- Graduate starting salaries at the UK’s leading graduate employers are expected to increase for the second year running in 2015, reaching a median of £30,000 for the first time.
- Nearly half the recruiters who took part in the research repeated their warnings from previous years – that graduates who have had no previous work experience at all are unlikely to be successful during the selection process and have little or no chance of receiving a job offer for their organisations’ graduate programmes.
- A quarter of the country’s leading employers have increased their graduate recruitment budgets for the 2014-2015 recruitment round.
Additionally, interesting reading from Jag/Landrover this week saying that they have taken on 600 grads this year, and the Grad schemes seem to be increasing in popularity and size again. Personally we have noticed nearly all of our Clients have been requesting junior Grad/AE level staff in the last 3 months or have invested in their own Grad scheme. Hopefully this will stop a future talent gap that we are currently experiencing of well-trained professionals about 4-5 years in.
Wishing all the new Grads the best of luck with their new jobs this month and keep in touch for when you are ready to move on!! 😉
