Graduate market remains buoyant, but predicted salary rise lowest for five years

Citation

(2006), "Graduate market remains buoyant, but predicted salary rise lowest for five years", Education + Training, Vol. 48 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/et.2006.00448dab.004

Graduate market remains buoyant, but predicted salary rise lowest for five years

Graduate vacancies will continue to grow in 2006 for the third consecutive year, but almost half of recruiters are not confident that they will be able to fill all vacancies, according to research by the Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR). The Graduate Recruitment Survey 2006, based on the responses of 222 AGR members, reveals that the number of graduate positions is predicted to increase by 14.6 per cent – significantly higher than last year’s vacancy increase of 5.1 per cent. Graduate salaries also look set to continue rising – AGR members are predicting a median starting salary of £23,000 in 2006. This is an increase of 2.3 per cent – the smallest for five years – but employees do not foresee starting salaries to be a recruiting challenge in 2006.

Despite increased numbers of graduates in the UK, a significant number of employers are experiencing difficulty in filling all vacancies. Reasons cited include “not enough applicants with the right skills or qualifications” and “graduates’ perception of the industry sector”. Carl Gilleard, AGR chief executive, said: “For the third year running, vacancies for graduates are predicted to rise, which is great news for the Class of 2006. Starting salaries are also set to increase, with the graduate-recruitment market remaining buoyant, and employers continuing to acknowledge the additional contribution to the bottom line that graduates bring. However, final-year students should be aware that nearly half of recruiters expect to face difficulties in fulfilling recruitment objectives – with the largest factor being a lack of applicants with the right skills. Employers are likely to be looking to graduates who can demonstrate softer skills such as team-working, cultural awareness, leadership and communication skills, as well as academic achievement”.

Meanwhile, research by information technology (IT) recruitment specialist FDM reveals that the IT job market is growing more difficult for graduates. The research shows that 46 per cent of IT students believe that their degree course has failed to provide them with relevant IT skills, and 41 per cent say that, in hindsight, they would have skipped university and gone straight into work. In particular, there is growing dissatisfaction among graduates with universities that fail to prepare them for the commercial marketplace by not offering them some of the essential programming languages. As an alternative to degree-based IT training, 53 per cent of respondents said that they would have preferred to complete vocational or on-the-job training.