Graduate Employers Struggling to Fill Vacancies
A recent survey was put to the Association of Graduate Recruiters members; the results suggest that many employers are struggling to fill all their graduate vacancies. It showed that more than 87% of the 68 employers had unfilled graduate positions
The members recruit across all sectors, the highest percentage of unfilled vacancies were in IT (26%), Electrical/Electronic Engineering (23%) and General Management (18%) and were Nationwide. This result has encouraged the Association of Graduate Recruiters members’ to start voicing their encouragement for graduates to look outside of London and the South East for graduate employment as there are still many great positions available around the UK.
These findings come in the wake of the 2014 Winter Survey which showed a predicted 10% increase in Graduate vacancies on last year.
When questioned about the unfilled vacancies, more than half (55%) of employers stated that they had increased their graduate intake targets this year. However, two thirds (67%) of respondents stated that the applications that they had received so far were of ‘insufficient quality’.
This could be due to the fact that graduates are not taking enough time over their applications, thus not representing themselves in the best way they could. The best way to improve your chances of securing a graduate placement is by really researching the roles and sectors that you are applying for, tailoring each approach to show why you want that particular role and the skills you have that are relevant to the role.
