From the following article by Pareto Law, these two graduate recruitment trend stand out.
- It’s just worth being aware that graduates are applying much earlier in the recruitment season,
- And for at least seven roles- so don’t give up if you get a no.
Spring time at University and the only tweeting you know about is that Twitter spree you had in the library when you should have been working. In the final year, you can feel overwhelmed by the amount of work you have to do while still keeping up some form of a social life.
When you’re swamped with dissertations, exams, lectures and the pressure to do well, the prospect of dedicating an evening to finding a career seems impossible.
As if this wasn’t enough to deal with, articles that start “up to 160 applicants applied for one job” can worry even the most rational of undergraduates. (Whilst this may sound daunting, these figures are only reflective of one vacancy at national company Proctor and Gamble, not the graduate employment market as a whole.) However, the general graduate recruitment trend isn’t far from it.
In reality, leading graduate employers on average receive 39 applications per job, but even this study was only based on larger companies in the UK, making it not totally representative.
There is no doubt that competition is fierce for graduate positions, but getting a job as a graduate is not as unrealistic as it is portrayed in the media. When you’re a student you can be forgiven for thinking that only a few graduates find employment soon after graduating. However, the number of graduates working in the UK or overseas six months after University now stands at 70%.
What’s more, this does not mean that the remaining 30% are unemployed; last year saw the rate decrease to just 6%- the rest were off doing further study or travelling for instance.
The key is to be prepared. This does not mean that your chances are lower if you haven’t applied by October for the following year. It’s just worth being aware that graduates are applying much earlier in the recruitment season, and for at least seven roles- so don’t give up if you get a no.
Every year, students manage to balance completing their final year with finding a career, so why can’t you? Stop panicking and be one of the 70% in employment after you graduate.
Author Bio – Bryn Thompson, is the Sales Director at Pareto Law, a company which specialises in sales training, recruitment and graduate training. A team of over twenty work with Bryn to produce resources to aid graduates and job seekers, which you can find here.
