I am constantly being approached by the media to comment on the state of the graduate recruitment market. Seems easy enough for the chief executive of the Association of Graduate Recruiters but I can assure you its not! In fact in the current climate it is about as straight forward as knitting fog!
The market is certainly in a state of flux, fast changing, confusing, complicated and difficult to get to grips with. However, at AGR we do try to gauge what is happening by regularly contacting our members in the field. We also feel a sense of responsibility for advising the media as best we can, if only to correct some of the more erroneous headline stories. One broadsheet back in February ran a story that suggested that students who are graduating this year and have not yet got a job, should not bother as it is too late! Highly misleading and plain daft!
In April we undertook a snapshot survey of the people who should know what is happening within their own organisation, those responsible for recruiting graduates, and uncovered some interesting findings:
- Overall confidence in the UK economy continued to fall but confidence in the prospects for the business they work in was less affected, near enough as many people were more optimistic as were less so.
- A third of respondents expect to recruit slightly fewer graduates this year than last and a quarter to recruit many fewer graduates. However, 17% expect to recruit more graduates and only 6% have pulled out of recruitment entirely.
- To demonstrate the volatility in the market, fewer than 3 in 10 employers have kept to their original target figures with a majority adjusting them downwards though in the main by only a few vacancies.
- A side benefit of the tightening graduate market is that the vast majority expect to fill all their vacancies, fewer than 1 in 10 are anticipating shortfall, compared to almost 4 in 10 at the end of last year.
- And here's the statistic that lays the lie to the claim that the graduate recruitment season is over for 2009. One third of respondents are still actively seeking applications for their vacancies.
This last finding confirms anecdotal evidence that businesses have been frustrated in their efforts to fill vacancies by a lack of interest from graduates in applying for jobs. Described variously as apathy, resignation and even downright cynicism, some recruiters have been challenged at careers and job fairs with accusations that they don't really have any vacancies and are only there for PR purposes. Another sign of the topsy-turvy world we live in!
There is a growing requirement for clear, precise and up to date information on the jobs market to inform Class of 2009 of what is really going on. There is a role for university careers services here, a role which should extend beyond the end of the academic year when students graduate and return home. The GRB has its part to play as well through carrying the message to the many thousand of job seekers registered on its database (and, of course, advertising real job opportunities.)
The Government is also concerned to keep people as up to date as possible on the state of the market considering that a record number of graduates are emerging from our universities this summer. With that in mind it is launching the 'Graduate Talent Pool' connecting businesses to graduate skills. The GTP is an initiative to help employers create and offer graduate internships. A rolling programme of internships will be on offer from September. The hope is that these internships will allow graduates to kick start their careers by gaining the skills and experience they need to get on. GTP is part of a package of measures to support graduates to improve their employability. Other elements include postgraduate study, volunteering, Teach First, Knowledge Transfer partnerships and setting up their own enterprises.
Employers can find out more and register their interest at www.dius.gov.uk/graduatetalentpool. It is a bold move on the part of government and there are no guarantees that it will work but unprecedented times require unprecedented solutions. One thing is for certain, internships will only benefit graduates if employers play a full and responsible part. AGR sits on the Government's Graduate Employment Panel which was set up to advise ministers on the developing situation and develop solutions to help new graduates through the economic downturn. One part of the role is to present realistic messages which brings me nicely back to the theme of this column, there is a certain irony in that in our media driven society it seems harder than ever to get accurate information across to the people who desperately need it.
