THE CHANGING NATURE OF GRADUATE RECRUITMENT

STUDENT ENGAGEMENT - REDUCTION IN NEED FOR 2.1 OR 1ST

For any OHs, or parents of OHs at university, it is more important than ever to get organised if you want to land one of the sought-after graduate positions with a leading firm. Luckily, we haven’t dropped into the massive recession that many feared, and most organisations are maintaining their levels of recruitment. This, however, does mask a shift that we have seen over the past decade as most sectors now recruit significantly fewer graduates than they did ten years ago. As an example, Law is down 25%, Investment Banking is down 40%, and the Oil and Energy sector is down 62%. Those propping up the graduate vacancies? Public sector, which is up by nearly 200%, technology, which is up by 140% and consultancy, which is up 69%. It’s lucky all three sectors are very popular with graduates today. Why? Because graduates only stay in their first job for an average of twoand-a-half years; recruitment straight from school and via degree apprenticeships is becoming more attractive to the big brands. For example, magic circle law firms are now recruiting A-level students, paying for their law degree, enabling them automatically to join the graduate intake and follow the same career trajectory.

Another huge shift is the move to include more AI in the selection process. This is here to stay I am afraid, so if you haven’t practised video interviews, gamification and online assessment centres, then you need to before you apply to your preferred company. With 98% of graduate applications being rejected, you mustn’t ignore this shift in practice and we at the HA offer one-to-one coaching to help you with applications to all sectors (see support offered by Graduate Recruitment Support later in this article). Nearly all employers have said they are sticking to online assessment centres so please practise before you attend one for real.

The last two trends in graduate recruitment are student engagement and the value of the 2.1 and 1.1 in the eyes of employers. Universities are struggling, post-Covid, to get students to come to campus, for anything! Attendance at lectures is down (as you can watch them all on playback 24/7) and campuses that used to be a buzz of excitement are becoming quiet places where seeing students walking about is a novelty. This means employers are staying away and not coming to campus to entice you towards their brands. We all think this will change slowly, but please, if you are at university, enjoy and embrace every moment and come to campus for lectures, employer activity and engage in societies and Student Union activity; you will gain so much if you do. Finally, due to the fact 84% of students get a 2.1 or a 1.1, for the first time ever, less than 50% of employers now ask for or require a certain grade to apply to them, instead it’s those pesky games and AI-generated and assessed tests. Still work hard, as do remember you will be in the bottom 16% if you don’t get the higher grades!

James Darley (The Park 19843) HA Board Member and CEO and Founder of Transform Society