Early bird graduates catch the worm

One in five graduates lost out on jobs to ëquick off the markí students

17% of graduates already have a job in the bag

25% worried about job opportunities

Black and Minority Ethnic students are more confident but have fewer job offers

Social networking daily part of studentsí lives

Graduates need to be quick off the mark to get the best jobs. Nearly a third (31%) are feeling less confident about securing a graduate recruitment role and one in five undergraduates (21%) say that graduate jobs go pretty quickly and they havenít had the time to apply. It is also a case of try, try and try again as 51% have applied for jobs, but failed to secure a role, says new research by TMP Worldwide and TARGETjobs.

The research asked nearly 1,000 undergraduates who are in their final year at University about their views on their future employability. The outlook is pretty positive for students who are graduating this summer. 17% already have a graduate job offer and those students with 400 UCAS points are significantly more likely to have secured a job offer, 28% versus 14% for the rest.

Of those that didnít yet have a job offer, 27% are pretty confident that their good academic record and work experience will see them through. One quarter (25%) however is unconfident or pessimistic about opportunities.

Students have grown in confidence since they started their final year with 39% saying they are now more confident. Black and Minority Ethnic students (BAME) are more confident than white students, 46% compared to 36%. However, of those that are more confident only 24% of BAME students already have a graduate job offer, compared to 44% of white students. Their confidence is based more on the number of graduate job offers available, 27%, and the general atmosphere of confidence on campus, 31%.

Employers would be wise not to ban social networking as it is a daily part of studentís lives. Over half (54%) use sites such as Facebook and Bebo on a daily basis. This rises to 70% for those under 21 years of age but drops dramatically as age increases. 53% of those aged 40 and over never use social networking sites. The key statistic is that 82% of students are on social networking sites at the very least once a week.

Jayne Cullen, Head of Graduate Solutions at TMP Worldwide, says: ìEmployers must not underestimate the importance of social networking to younger graduates. While 76% of graduates do understand that these sites are for socialising and are not work-related, it is doubtful that they will only access them during after-work hours. Banning social networking at work could alienate the population of new recruits very quickly, and after the cost of recruiting them and training them this might not be the wisest move to make.î

Paul Sissons, UK CEO at TARGETjobs says: ìThe doom and gloom over economy reports have not translated to the graduate recruitment market. Organisations are still in need of good talented graduates. This research has also highlighted that while graduates are attracted to sophisticated websites, they still want to know the nitty-gritty details such as details about the application process, the schemes offered by the organisation and a real life picture of what itís like to work at the organisation. They also want a site that is continuously updated and has personalised functionality so it is specific to the role advertised and the person targeted.î