No slow-down in employers demand for graduates

The demand for new graduates has been picking up over the past two years and, despite current economic uncertainties, looks set to continue in the coming year, according to the latest annual study by IRS Employment Review, published by LexisNexis Butterworths.



Employers who recruit new graduates reported a strong demand in 2004/05; over half (51.9%) wanted to recruit as many as in the previous year; three in 10 (30.8%) wanted to recruit more and only one in six (17.3%) reduced graduate recruitment.

The picture looks steady with no material changes in the labour market for new graduates. There has been no boom and the growth in graduate vacancies has simply kept pace with university output. This means that the difficulties employers face in recruiting suitable graduates have not increased overall. Nevertheless, four in 10 organisations have problems recruiting the graduates they need.

The modest upswing in demand is matched by an equally modest rise in the median starting salary for new graduates, which has gone up by just 3%.

This is the 14th in the annual series of graduate recruitment studies from IRS Employment Review and is based on information from 139 recruiters of new graduates, across a broad range of UK employers. Topics covered include: attraction methods, application processes, selection techniques and starting salaries.

Other key points include:

The growing proportion of graduates with good degrees - firsts and upper seconds - is making it more difficult to choose between applicants or to use degree class a main pre-selection or shortlisting criterion.

Age discrimination legislation is not expected to have a substantial impact on graduate recruitment but the full implications will not become clear until case law develops as the courts interpret the new Regulations from October next year.

Graduate recruitment continues to peak in October-November and January-March. Timing is seen as crucial - usually before students have gained their degree.

The most effective attraction methods are national newspaper advertising and recruitersí corporate websites and job boards. In the past year, online recruitment methods have gained credibility while campus visits and sponsorship may be losing theirs.

Eight in 10 (82.2%) graduate recruiters have their own website or use pages on the organisationís main website. However, one in three is unaware that disability discrimination law applies to online recruitment.

Undergraduate sponsorship is relatively rare but highly prized by the organisations that use it.

Online application methods are the most popular and used by two-thirds of employers (65.9%); only four in 10 (40%) still use paper-based formats.

Assessment centres and face-to-face interviews are most effective selection methods. Two thirds of recruiters cite assessment centres as their most effective selection method and four in 10 find interviews work best.

Skill and ability tests are less widely used, and presentations, personality questionnaires and telephone interviews appear to make only a minor contribution to the overall selection decision.

IRS Employment Review recruitment and retention editor, Neil Rankin, says:

Our latest survey shows that new graduates can continue to feel confident about their job prospects. The claim, by some commentators, that the UK is producing too many graduates is not borne out by our findings; in fact, a substantial minority of employers still has problems recruiting the graduates they need.

The picture may be less rosy, however, for graduates with disabilities if they are job hunting online. One in three of the graduate recruiters who use increasingly popular online methods are unaware or unclear that the Disability Discrimination Act applies to these methods. Employers are going to have to get to grips with this important issue if they are not to fall foul of the law.