Prospects reveals the best places to land a graduate job

Graduates seeking well-paid positions, with good training opportunities at an environmentally sound company should look no further as the best places to work are revealed by Graduate Prospectsí Real Prospects 2009 survey.

Graduate Prospects surveyed 24,500 graduates UK-wide about their views of employers based on actual experiences, rather than their perceptions pre-employment. 100 companies took part in Real Prospects 2009 and the findings reveal the top performers in six key areas:

Corporate Social Responsibility - Green-minded graduates would be well-placed at Accenture and Waitrose who take joint first place. DLA Piper UK, Pinsent Masons and GSK also perform well to come second.

Training and development - Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Explore Learning and Cancer Research UK scored highest for graduate satisfaction in their training and development. DLA Piper and Pinsent Masons also deliver in the area to take second place.

Pay and benefits package - Graduates most likely to be satisfied with their pay and benefits package are working at Sellafield Ltd. Baker & McKenzie and Bruckhaus also perform well in this area and take second place.

Organisational leadership and senior management - for a strong leadership, graduates would be best suited to positions with Explore Learning (highest score) or Intel.

Support, supervision and progression - if youíre looking for a supportive environment, the Foreign & Commonwealth Office and Explore Learning fair the best with the most graduates reporting satisfaction. The Bank of England came in second.

Recruitment and induction – graduates most satisfied with their recruitment and induction programmes were working at Pinsent Masons and DLA Piper (joint first place). Baker & McKenzie, Explore Learning and Cancer Research UK all took second place.

Mike Hill, chief executive of Graduate Prospects comments: ìWhen we launched Real Prospects we wanted to paint a true picture of graduate working life, so it was vital that the study explored all areas of employment. The findings deliver great insight into which companies perform well in key areas, so if youíre a student or graduate thinking about where youíd like to work it will help you to make more informed decisions.î

Real Prospects is a new annual survey conducted by Higher Education Careers Services Unit (HECSU), which launched in January 2009. Responding graduates completed a first degree between 2004 and 2008, and are in full-time or part-time employment. By taking part, employers are verifying their commitment to improving transparency and raising standards within the industry, facilitating more informed decisions for developing graduate programmes.

Real Prospects has been developed by Graduate Prospects in partnership with the Association of Graduate Recruiters, the Guardian and Human Resources magazine. To get involved in Real Prospects 2010 contact Allan Brown (0161 277 5200 a.brown@prospects.ac.uk).