A major new survey published last month finally sheds some light at the end of the tunnel for graduate employment prospects. But competition is still as fierce as ever for those seeking top jobs straight out of university.
The UK Graduate Careers survey was conducted with the top universities and covered face-to-face interviews with over seventeen thousand final year students. It seems final year students from the top UK universities had made more applications than ever before and started their search earlier in the year.
More graduates are also looking to skip gap years and dive straight into work after studying. This number is now at its highest for 12 years and is rising fast year on year. 42% of finalists are planning on going straight into work, up 2% on the previous year. The same number (42%) of finalists made applications for graduate jobs almost a year before graduating. This is 5% higher than 2011 and doesn't seem to be slowing. Meanwhile, 61% of finalists in the survey had applied for a graduate job by March of their final year.
So what about those who dream of clear skies and long-haul flights across the world? Only 12% of students plan to take time off after graduating to spend time with family or go on a gap year. Instead 25% are heading on to Postgraduate study, still not deterred by further debt and dissertation doom.
In terms of career paths, the most popular route now is Marketing (for the first time since 2002) whilst the public sector, law and engineering have seen a significant dip in the number of applications. London is the most popular career destination for graduates with 49% of graduates looking to find a job in the capital. Starting salaries are also fairly reasonable, hitting just over £22k but expectations for progression are high with many graduates confident of nearing £40k within five years.
Some interesting food for thought which certainly reflects the competitive spirit evolving in the graduate community. Their focus on impending career prospects and drive to beat the masses remains higher than ever for that all important job
