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Jobs 'unlikely to fall from trees' for graduates
Graduates face a desperate struggle for good jobs as employers cut back for the first time in years.
- By Tim Ross
- Published: 23:35 January 5, 2009
London: Graduates face a desperate struggle for good jobs as employers cut back for the first time in years.
University-leavers should be prepared to stack shelves or work behind a bar as the recession bites, according to the Association of Graduate Recruiters.
Many of this year's graduates will be in for "a shock" because they have grown up in an affluent society believing that good jobs "fall from trees", the organisation said.
Downward trend
The forecast comes as the latest unemployment figures show that 18 to 24-year-olds are already faring worse than any other age group.
The association, which represents 600 leading graduate employers, is analysing responses to its winter recruitment survey.
Chief executive Carl Gilleard said: "It will be the first time in six years that the trend is downwards."
He added that final-year students must be prepared to be flexible and that a good degree on its own is no longer enough.
Graduates now need to make themselves as attractive as possible by emphasising work experience and life skills.
"Perhaps as a result of years of growth, we have become a little complacent and think graduate jobs fall from trees," Gilleard said. "They don't. And they certainly won't this year."
"It has been a little bit too easy in recent years and comes as a bit of a shock. Graduates sometimes don't really understand that it's a competition. I think it's something to do with the affluent society that Generation Y has grown up in," he said.
Gilleard said university-leavers should make the most of any job they can get.
"Even if you're just stacking shelves or working behind a bar, you are gaining experience," he said.
He added that a university education is still a good investment but that some people will question this in the light of the downturn in graduate jobs.
National Union of Stud-ents president Wes Streeting said the figures "will make worrying reading for students and their families preparing for graduation in 2009."
- Evening Standard
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