Congratulations, new graduates! We have good news and bad news for you. Firstly, a new study from independent market research company High Fliers Research has found that there are 11.6 per cent more jobs available to graduates than this time last year, meaning the job market has returned to the ‘pre recession levels’ of 2007. If you’re looking for work, companies like PwC, Jaguar Land Rover and Unilever want you! Hurrah!
Now for the bad news. The High Fliers survey also found that there are as many as 39 graduate applicants for every new role. There are more new graduates than new jobs. In 2007, around 280,000 newly graduated people were competing with each other, but that number has risen by 85,000. That means 365,000 brand new graduates will be hunting for work this summer.
Added to this, four-fifths of the UK’s leading employers require at least an upper second class degree. So it’s not enough to just graduate – you need to have an impressive number at the top of the certificate. Also, certain industries are more oversubscribed than others. The study showed that banking and finance companies, consumer goods manufacturers and media organisations were among those that were receiving at least 50 applications per graduate role.
However, the fact that the number of positions is on the rise can only be a good thing. It’s a sign that companies are becoming more confident about hiring graduates, despite the suggestion that people who are new to the workplace aren’t always sure of what they’re doing.
Hopefully this is a sign that the situation will keep improving, so if you’re halfway through your course, or looking forward to starting uni in the autumn, you’ve got an even better chance of finding your dream job in the future. Whoop!
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Picture: Ada Hamza
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.