Graduate market latest

In these unpredictable times it's always useful to get the very latest insights into the state of the graduate recruitment market, and these were duly provided from a number of different perspectives at the fifth instalment of TARGETjobs' bimonthly Breakfast News series, held at the Royal Festival Hall's Skylon restaurant on Wednesday 25^th February.

In the first session, Bryan Finn of Business Economics provided a sobering analysis of the macroeconomic picture, linking this to the state of the UK recruitment market and more specifically the graduate sector.  And while he made it clear that we're now in the midst of a serious recession, he focused on looking for any pointers that might herald the onset of recovery.  His consensus view was that most of the pain would be felt this year, with weak growth returning in 2010 and a stronger recovery developing thereafter.

Although the graduate market isn't immune to the wider economic situation, there are still a number of encouraging factors, with sectors like food and pharmaceutical manufacturing expected to increase their graduate intakes this year.  The big downside is that the banking crisis still hasn't been sorted out, although hopefully some signs of stabilisation (e.g. in house prices, sterling etc.) will begin to emerge before the end of the year.

TMP Worldwide planning director Neil Harrison then presented the results of some very recent graduate market research (completed in mid-February), reflecting the views of over 750 students from the GTI database.  Interestingly, final-year students' confidence in their employment prospects hadn't declined as much as anticipated over the past couple of months, although most finalists were less confident than at the outset of their final year.  Over 40% agreed that there seemed to be fewer jobs around, while almost a quarter hadn't even begun the process of job-hunting.

The survey also sought students' views on the value of internships and work placements.  While an overwhelming majority (80%+) agreed that internships were helpful in improving specific skills and general employability, there were evidently high levels of uncertainty and confusion about the practicalities of identifying and applying for suitable positions.  Those who had undertaken placements felt they were useful in terms of honing workplace skills and understanding industry sectors better, although the majority felt that the actual work provided could have been structured better and more interesting.

A question was also asked about the government's proposal to provide three-month internships for unemployed graduates.  80% of respondents had initially been unaware of these plans, but while most said they sounded like a good idea there was also a significant level of cynicism about whether unprincipled employers would simply turn them to their own advantage.

Next, Anne-Marie Martin (director of The Careers Group, University of London) presented the first, "long overdue" slot of what's intended to be a permanent Breakfast News feature representing the Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services.  The initial piece of research - reflecting the views of the heads of careers services at all Russell Group and 94 Group institutions, and benchmarked to give a picture of what's going on in all UK HE institutions - looked at attitudes to the recession, employer activity on campus, student behaviour and the careers services' response.

Extra resources are being offered by vice-chancellors and sourced via a new HEFCE additional funding scheme, although some "gentle handling" is required to ensure that these are applied to optimum effect.  Employer activity on campus (especially fairs) still appears to be "incredibly buoyant", and the message for students is that while vacancies are inevitably down in some sectors, they're identical or up in others.  One area of concern is that negative media headlines are putting many students off the idea of trying to enter the job-market, so the message needs to go out - through all available channels - that there are still plenty of graduate jobs out there.  To this end, careers services are actively reviewing their offerings and introducing many new products and services.

The employer perspective was championed, as usual, by Association of Graduate Recruiters' chief executive Carl Gilleard, who presented the latest ‘confidence snapshot' of AGR members (largely reflecting the views of private-sector organisations operating in global markets).  It was notable that respondents' confidence in their own organisations' prospects - traditionally stronger than their confidence in the wider economy - had taken something of a knock since the last snapshot.

In terms of comparing this year's projected graduate intake with last year's, the picture was mixed, with roughly one in five firms expecting to take on more graduates, one in three about the same, and one in two fewer.  Targets are obviously moving, however, and there's no guarantee that they won't change further.

On the question of graduate internships, a large majority (88%) of firms thought they would help to boost graduates' employability, although there was also some concern that they could have a negative impact on existing internship schemes for current students.

The well-attended event closed with a further innovation - a panel Q&A session featuring the morning's four speakers.  The next TARGETjobs Breakfast News is scheduled for Wednesday 29^th April.