It seems that it is not only the availability of graduate jobs which is ever-changing in accordance with the turbulent market; it is the process of graduate recruitment itself. Talent management business, SHL, has recently published findings revealing that UK businesses amass are 'reconsidering their approach to recruitment', more specifically, graduate recruitment.
One of the most notable, and most likely to produce impetuous outrage from university students studying for final exams, findings is that 71% of companies have begun, or expect to shortly begin, considering school leavers for graduate jobs. While this news may come as a welcome surprise to school attendees concerned about the impending rise in tuition fees, it is probable to suggest that current university students will not share such enthusiasm.
We may question how extensive the impact of such a significant decision will be? Will the combination of graduate jobs being available earlier to students, and university fees rising at an alarming rate, result in a plummet in the number of young people going straight from school into higher education? Indeed why attend
university at all if the opportunity to 'get on the career ladder' comes 4 years earlier than expected? No university fees, no further education toil, just employment.
While it is undeniable that university life is not suitable to all personalities and therefore the opportunity to attain a graduate level job, for someone with no interest in attending university and inevitably having a steady relationship with their overdraft, this news will be euphoric.
While SHL's research did confirm that a 2.1. degree from a Russell Group university still provides university students with the best likelihood of attaining a graduate job, findings also show that only a shocking 34% of recruiters actually check university records. With diligent graduates across the country fuelling the unrelenting 'internship debate' by completing months of unpaid work in the hope of being rewarded with employment, scrupulously checking their CVs, and painstakingly studying for an additional 3-4 years, it seems preposterous that 66% of UK businesses fail to even check whether degree achievements are genuine.
In spite of such demoralising information, it seems that UK graduates, after a year of higher education hostility over fees and the turbulent economy, will not be vanquished. According to research conducted in recent weeks by High Fliers there has been a 33% rise in applications submitted for graduate schemes since 2010.
Graduates are applying for more jobs than ever, earlier than ever, with some students beginning to apply in September of their final year. On a further positive note, SHL's research did discover that, a potentially surprising, 64% of UK companies interviewed would be prepared to help graduates with loan payback in the hope that young people will continue to go to university thereby providing businesses with an array of candidates.
With confidence in graduate recruitment having been steadily improving, as of late, one must hope that university students will not be too disheartened by today's revelations.
Elise, GRB Journalist
