Graduate recruitment under varied pressures

There has been a significant amount of debate surrounding the state of graduate recruitment as the economic crisis grows tighter but one Guardian report has once again offered mixed opinions.

Published yesterday (November 4th), Paul Redmond mentions in his report that for the first time in five years the total number of jobs advertised by the top 100 recruiters dropped year-on-year in 2008.

Typically it is the financial institutions that are worrying undergraduates at present, but with many companies stating that they hire graduates with a view to training them for several years, the economic downturn does not pose a threat to recruitment levels.

Indeed, Richard Freeborn, recruitment manager at HSBC, said: "We always look at our graduate recruitment numbers from the point of view of our needs for future senior managers, six or eight years down the line."

Some sectors, of course, are suffering from more direct negative fallouts.

Chartered surveyors and solicitors are suffering from a lack of work but insolvency solicitors are reporting a boom period, for instance.

Graduate recruitment is certainly under pressure, but this pressure is not evenly spread throughout the working spectrum, meaning graduates will need to be canny to find the right jobs.

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