Hi All
So the party season is over, we’re all broke and it’s freezing outside – but if we’re being optimistic, the days are getting longer, so we’ll soon be able to get up in actual daylight. Clutching at straws – us?
With the arrival of the new year, and just two terms until you graduate, we thought this would be the perfect time to bring you an update on the world of graduate employment and what you can expect when you graduate later this year.
With all of the doom and gloom we’ve been hearing recently about the Eurozone and the likelihood of another recession, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the employment prospects post-graduation look grim. But at the Graduate Recruitment Company, we’re finding this isn’t the case at all.
We had a fantastic year in 2011 , and, despite the headlines, graduates have been a real priority for digital, media and corporate businesses as companies try to nab the best talent to train themselves, rather than investing in more experienced, expensive employees, that might need extensive retraining anyway.
So to help put you in the best possible position when you start your job hunt, have a look at our industry roundup and suggestions to make yourself the ideal candidate come the summer!
2011- The Highlights
Every year brings its own challenges for the graduate market and with the government announcing changes to university funding there was a lot of uncertainty about the future of higher education. Degrees will become less common and fewer students will be able to afford to take their learning to the next level.
This isn’t all bad though and we are hoping it will make employers open up to looking at a more varied skill set with candidates, and will become less specific about the degree subjects and universities that they require.
Changes were all around this year in the media, digital and corporate recruitment worlds. We saw a huge rise in media agency graduate vacancies as the advertising world started to spend again. For the years of recession media was hit hard with marketing and advertising taking on a large brunt of the spending cuts so as the industry started to recover we saw a 35% uplift in media vacancies across both traditional media roles and digital specific. And it doesn’t look like it is going to slow down in 2012...
Corporate also seemed to pick back up again with some of the larger organisations holding recruitment drives.
Then of course there is the digital industry... it has been touted for years that the year of the mobile is here but 2011 was still very focused on search engines with almost every company focusing on driving revenue and customers through the power of Google! We did see a slight shift though with big media publishers finally bowing to the trend and creating digital specific sales roles.
We recruited four new consultants at the Graduate Recruitment Company in 2011, so showing no signs of the market slowing down at all! We had over 2000 candidates through our doors throughout the year, and found full time work for over 400 graduates across the media, digital and corporate sectors.
2012 – Predictions
But enough of 2011!! We’ve made some our own predictions for the year ahead, looking at events that will shape and define the graduate job market in 2012.
£1billion of extra money is expected to be generated by the Olympics this summer, and advertising has already gone mad with everyone wanting a piece of the action.
The extra attention and revenue should help cocoon London, and to a lesser extent the rest of the UK, from the looming recession that the rest of the EU faces. This will have a direct impact on companies recruiting at a junior level in the media industry – more money means more recruitment.
We’re finding that a lot of our clients, despite the uncertain future of the Eurozone, have put a real focus on developing international business so languages such as French, German and even Swedish have become very popular demand. If you have a second language, you’re in a strong position so make sure this is prominent on your CV!
We spoke to some of our most senior staff to see what their predictions for 2012 were and they had some interesting responses...
‘Whether it is what's happening with Facebook, who Google will buy next or what impact Twitter will have on how brands communicate with their customers, 2012 promises to be another year packed full of excitement and innovation. As our lives become further immersed in the multiple screens that we now consume them through (mobile, web and connected TV) the digital economy continues to thrive. 2012 promised to be another year of groundbreaking innovation and creativity coupled with rapid growth for globes fastest growing and the UK's most important industry.’ Ed Steer, Digital Associate Director for Aspire Global Network
‘Throughout 2012 corporate businesses will be putting a lot of time and money in to their sales force in terms of training and professional development to make sure their team stand out in the market place. It will allow businesses to stay close to their clients and develop business in new markets. On the whole, corporate businesses have and will continue to adapt to meet the demands in the market, many looking to expand internationally – especially in to Emerging or Frontier markets, so it is important that graduates looking to go in to the corporate sales market are innovative, adaptable and flexible.’ Justin Plowman, Manager for Business Information at PFJ
‘Whilst the 2012 outlook is challenging, businesses will actively be recruiting top candidates for their sales teams. Graduates will need to be able to position themselves in the market place as sales focussed, ambitious, money hungry and driven in order to stand out to top employers. It is likely that companies will opt for candidates with a knowledge of sales so it is worth any undergraduates looking to move in to the Corporate Sector to get a part time / holiday job in a call centre / sales role or even join their university alumni fundraising team to give them the best chance of getting their dream job after university! It’s also a good bit of extra pocket money!’ Claudia Heumann, Manager for the Corporate Division at The Graduate Recruitment Company
So there you have it – from the battle ground itself! It is a tough market out there but for graduates who work hard, do their research and really focus on a goal landing your dream job and getting onto that career ladder doesn’t have to be impossible. To make your application really stand out, there are a few things you can start thinking about now:
- Find out what people with different job titles actually spend their day doing. Being able to talk knowledgeably about the role when you speak to recruiters will make you stand out.
- Set up a profile on LinkedIn. It is the business Facebook and graduates with recommendations from previous employers who detail their skills on the site immediately stand out as more savvy.
- Think outside the box about what you want to do. Unless you’ve done a specific degree like law or medicine, there’s no set career path and honestly, you’re unlikely to directly use your degree. Instead look at it in terms of transferrable skills, and research the areas you could best use those skills.
- Get a part time job if you can, or even freelance for a company. Whether it is working in their customer service, sales or admin department – work experience will really set you apart and gives you the edge.
And of course there are tools out there to help you – including us! We provide more than just jobs but sales training, interview tips and CV writing advice as well. We can take the hassle out of the job hunt for you. But don’t take our word for it – here’s what some of our previous candidates have said about us...
‘Very professional, friendly and supportive. And they didn't bombard me with paperwork!’ Nicholas
‘Very approachable. During the initial recruitment interview, my consultant made a great connetion between my personality, passion and interest with a currently available role. I am delighted to have now secured this role and incredibly excited about this new digital media realm which I didn't initially have in mind.’ Biba
‘The Graduate Recruitment Company offered professional advice and effective help within a comfortable environment. The positive demeanour of everyone in the office allowed me to be confident and dismiss any nerves, meaning I could be myself completely.’ Imam
‘Very approachable, very helpful and very realistic.’Barney
Good luck for your exams and dissertations and we look forward to seeing you later in 2012....
If you’re interested in finding out more about sales roles and applying check out: http://www.graduate-recruitment.co.uk/sales-jobs
If you’re interested in finding out about digital roles and applying check out: http://www.graduate-recruitment.co.uk/digital-online-jobs
If you’re interested in roles a little different check out: http://www.graduate-recruitment.co.uk/other-jobs
