Looks like the graduate jobs market in the US is looking poor, according to a research by Gallup up to twice as many are likely to be unemployed.

Well thank goodness the UK graduate jobs market is not seeing the same outlook.  Let's hope the economy carries on expanding in 2010.

Labels: graduate employers, graduate jobs

Graduate job hunters may be interested to hear that the Conservative Party plan to set up a "service academy" which could create up to 50,000 work and training positions for unemployed individuals via partnerships with major employers.




Of course this piece of legislation requires David Cameron's party to be elected to government later this year but if it does then big firms including Pizza Express, Starbucks, InterContinental Hotel Group and Whitbread are laying in wait to help.



As part of the initiative, the academy would train people in necessary skills that most employers require, People Management reports.



Theresa May, the shadow secretary of state for work and pensions said: "The creation of a service academy will not only give people practical skills but also an entry route into a career in a growing area of business."



Shadow chancellor George Osborne added: "The argument is that we need a sustainable private-sector recovery to create new jobs. That we cannot go on relying the public sector to provide the great majority of new jobs, as we did over the last decade."



The general election is rumoured to be scheduled for May 6th 2010.

Labels: graduate employers, graduate jobs

Graduates hoping to find employment at a big firm have been handed a boost by the news that nearly half of chief executives (CEOs) who took part in a recent survey are confident of increasing their headcount in 2010.


The poll, conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers, showed that 42 per cent of UK CEOs plan on increasing their headcount over the next year as part of a growing investment in staff.
 
Said survey, revaled at Davos, suggests that CEOs are trying to find ways in getting the best staff and increasing employee retention, something that could suit the brightest and best graduates.

Michael Rendell, partner and leader of human resource services at PwC, said: "We are all well-versed in the assertion that the deep cost-cutting and headcount reduction many companies felt forced to undertake during the recession could impact speed of recovery and competitiveness so it's encouraging that CEOs are now prioritising the people agenda."
  

Labels: graduate employers, graduate jobs, graduate recruitment schemes

It was interesting to read in the The Times that competition for graduate jobs is increasing as the record number of university undergraduates start to think about applying for graduate positions in 2010. 

This year there has been an unpreciendented number of applications and 2010 looks like it will be again a highly competitive year for graduates leaving univesity.

Many of the traditional graduate schemes are full which means that graduates who traditionally appliy for these schemes will need to cast their nets wider.

Graduate jobs in sales are especially attractive to the top graduates due to the potential earning salary that can be generated, our graduates can up to and over £35,000 in the first year with most earning around £30,000.

With there being so many graduate sales jobs available we expect the applications at Pareto to be very high this summer.

Labels: graduate earnings to be tagged, graduate employers, graduate jobs, graduate recruitment schemes

I was interested to read about the rethink of graduate recruitment strategies.

The Higher Education Careers Services Unit has found that the UK's top students are selecting their higher education providers based on different factors than those of their predecessors. One of the outcomes of the research is that employers are advised to modify their graduate recruitment strategies to accommodate changes in behaviour.

The HECSU's study surveyed around 50,000 students and found that historic selection factors such as the history and reputation of a university were becoming less important to prospective students. Institutions such as Cambridge, Oxford, Edinburgh, Leeds, Manchester, Cardiff and Glasgow (Russell Group Institutions) are not always the first choice for high achieving students. Rather it is course reputation, rather than university reputation, that can steer a student's choice.

The impact on graduate employers could be profound if they don't react to this news. Simply put, the talent may not be exclusively found within that Russell Group. The cost of studying full-time is becoming more and more apparent in university choice. As more students opt to stay at home and attend a commutable university, they naturally have their options limited.

The benefit of understanding the findings could be overshadowed by a greater problem- that of determining a more up-to-date and effective system for attracting and managing entrants to corporate graduate jobs. While employers may be temporarily diverted by more immediate recession related problems, there are those with a shrewd eye to the future.

Casting the net wider in terms of the "ideal" graduate employee may be much harder than it sounds, and it may also have long-term repercussions for the credibility of some long standing educational establishments.

Labels: graduate employers, graduate jobs, graduate sales jobs