The AGR Graduate Recruitment Survey 2010

53 Pages·2010·0.72 MB·English

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The AGR Graduate
Recruitment Survey 2010
Winter Review

Produced for AGR by

The AGR Graduate
Recruitment Survey 2010
Winter Review
Graduate Recruitment Survey 2010 Winter Review

Association of Graduate Recruiters
The Innovation Centre
Warwick Technology Park
Gallows Hill
Warwick CV34 6UW

Survey produced for AGR by

CFE
Phoenix Yard
Upper Brown Street
Leicester LE1 5TE

For more information please contact Hayley Lamb on 0116 229 3300 or [email protected]
Website: www.cfe.org.uk

All information contained in this report is believed to be correct and unbiased, but the publisher does not accept
responsibility for any loss arising from decisions made upon this information.

© CFE and the Association of Graduate Recruiters

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in
any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without prior permission of the
publisher.
Graduate Recruitment Survey 2010 Winter Review

Contents
Foreword ................................................................................................................................... 2
Executive Summary ................................................................................................................... 3
Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 6
Methodology .................................................................................................................................................................. 6
Participation ................................................................................................................................................................... 7
Graduate vacancies and salaries .............................................................................................. 12
Graduate vacancies in 2009 and 2010 .......................................................................................................................... 12
Changes in vacancies by business sector ...................................................................................................................... 14
Vacancies in 2009 by business sector ........................................................................................................................... 18
Vacancies in 2009 by region ......................................................................................................................................... 19
Vacancies in 2009 by career area ................................................................................................................................. 19
Achievement of 2009 recruitment targets ................................................................................................................... 21
Diversity of graduate recruits in 2009 .......................................................................................................................... 22
Challenges in filling anticipated 2010 vacancies ........................................................................................................... 25
Graduate salaries in 2009 and 2010 ............................................................................................................................. 27
Graduate salaries in 2009 by business sector ............................................................................................................... 29
Graduate salaries in 2009 by region ............................................................................................................................. 29
Graduate salaries in 2009 by career area ..................................................................................................................... 31
Expected salary changes in 2010 by business sector .................................................................................................... 32
Lump sum payments to graduates in 2010 .................................................................................................................. 33
Education premiums and other remuneration for graduates in 2010 ......................................................................... 34
Graduate recruitment marketing ............................................................................................. 37
Total marketing spend in 2009 and 2010 ..................................................................................................................... 37
Graduate recruitment marketing activities in 2009 ..................................................................................................... 38
Spend on key activities in 2009 and 2010 .................................................................................................................... 39
Marketing spend per vacancy ....................................................................................................................................... 39
Targeting universities in 2009 and 2010 ....................................................................................................................... 40
Hot topics in graduate recruitment .......................................................................................... 44
School-leaver entry programmes ................................................................................................................................. 44
Recruiting for UK vacancies overseas ........................................................................................................................... 45
Advice to graduates in difficult times ........................................................................................................................... 46

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Graduate Recruitment Survey 2010 Winter Review

Foreword
I begin by welcoming our new research partner, CFE, who have stepped up to the plate admirably and
produced a very readable and fascinating report. I must also pay tribute to the previous research team at
Trendence for the professional way in which they dealt with the handover.
While I am expressing my gratitude, I want to issue a big thank you to all the organisations who took the
trouble to complete the survey questionnaire. Without your efforts the Review would be a meaningless
exercise. The more members who contribute, the more meaningful the findings become. These are busy
times for graduate recruiters and we do appreciate your support in ensuring that the AGR Graduate
Recruitment Survey continues to be the largest and most respected survey of its kind. It is our intention to
build up the participation rate and if your organisation did not manage to complete the survey this time,
prepare yourselves for the next survey, which is to be revised following a consultation exercise with AGR
members, before it goes live in May 2010.
Much has happened to the UK economy in the past 12 months and this has clearly had an impact on the
graduate recruitment market – but in what ways and to what extent? The Summer 2009 Graduate
Recruitment Survey predicted significant cutbacks in recruitment activity. Were these predictions met?
For the first time since we have undertaken the survey, graduate salaries were predicted to stagnate rather
than rise. Was this actually the case? And what has been the impact of the recession on marketing
activities and spend?
To find out the answers to these and other intriguing trends in the sector, read on!
Carl Gilleard
Chief Executive
AGR

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Graduate Recruitment Survey 2010 Winter Review

Executive Summary
Graduate recruits, vacancies and salaries
The 8.9% decrease in graduate vacancies experienced during the 2008/09 recruitment season is far less
dramatic than the 24.9% fall that was predicted in the Summer 2009 Review. While AGR employers
anticipate a further 1.6% decrease in graduate vacancies during 2010, this does suggest that the fall in
vacancies may have started to level out.
The 2009 graduate vacancy market was dominated by accountancy/professional services, oil companies
and investment bank/fund managers who together offered nearly half of 2009’s graduate vacancies. Oil
companies are expecting to significantly increase the number of graduates they recruit in 2010, while
employers in the public sector are among those predicting a decrease in vacancies. More than half of
graduates continue to be recruited in London and the South East although notable increases were reported
in Scotland, the North West and Europe during 2009.
The AGR employers predicting an increase in vacancies during 2010 attributed this to either an anticipated
or actual growth in business. In most cases, employers predicting a decrease in vacancies reported that this
was either a direct or indirect consequence of the economic climate.
The vast majority of AGR employers did not face difficulties filling their 2009 graduate vacancies and over
nine-tenths felt they met their 2009 recruitment objectives. However, AGR employers expecting to recruit
graduates during 2010 predict they are likely to experience high dropout rates as candidates apply to a
large number of organisations simultaneously.
In 2009, almost half (48.1%) of graduate starting salaries ranged from £22,001 to £26,000, with only one in
ten (11.9%) exceeding £36,001. For the second successive year, it is predicted that there will be no change
to the average starting salary offered by AGR employers. Mirroring the Winter 2009 Review, the median
starting salary for graduates recruited in 2010 is anticipated to be £25,000.
Investment bank/fund managers and law firms again topped the salary charts in 2009. While most sectors
predict there will be no change to graduate starting salaries during 2010, construction or consultancy and
transport or logistics both anticipate increasing salaries by more than 6%. No sectors are expected to
experience a dramatic decrease in salaries during the year. The proportion of organisations offering lump
sum payments to attract graduates is expected to fall by 6.3 percentage points to 26.6% in 2010.
There has been an 11.7 percentage point increase in the number of employers intending to offer a financial
premium for qualifications above an undergraduate degree. Pension schemes and training for professional
qualifications remain the most common non monetary benefits offered by AGR employers to graduates.
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Graduate Recruitment Survey 2010 Winter Review

Graduate recruitment marketing
AGR employers’ median spend on graduate recruitment marketing activities in 2009 was £20,000.
Although significantly less than the £80,000 predicted in the Winter 2009 Review, the median marketing
spend is not expected to drop further in 2010. AGR members plan to use a mixture of marketing
techniques for their 2010 recruitment campaign. More than nine-tenths will use brochures and/or the
company website followed by on campus activities and advertising. Just under three-quarters plan to use
online promotion techniques. Compared to 2009, AGR employers plan to allocate bigger median budgets
on their recruitment websites and smaller median budgets on recruitment brochures for their 2010
campaign. Median budgets for online promotions, advertising and on-campus activities are expected to
remain unchanged during 2010.
Hot topics in graduate recruitment
The proportion of AGR employers offering a school-leaver entry programme for 16 to 18 year olds has
declined by 3.4 percentage points since 2008 and now stands at 26.3%.
2009 saw a further fall in the number of AGR employers looking overseas to fill their UK graduate vacancies.
Despite this, many AGR employers still look abroad to ensure they recruit the most talented graduates
available and to reap the benefits of an international workforce.
As the UK emerges from the longest recession since records began, many graduates are still struggling to
find a job. In these difficult times, the advice from AGR employers to graduates is to attend interviews well
prepared. Conducting research into prospective employers and their sector is crucial, as is gaining
interview practice. To graduates considering postponing their job search to improve their employability,
AGR employers stress the importance of accepting temporary employment, undertaking skills training or
accepting unpaid work. In the current climate, graduates must do everything they can to get ahead of the
competition.

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Graduate Recruitment Survey 2010 Winter Review

Introduction

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Graduate Recruitment Survey 2010 Winter Review

Introduction
Welcome to the AGR Graduate Recruitment Survey 2010 – Winter Review. The AGR Graduate Recruitment
Survey is the definitive study of AGR employer members and their recruitment practices, providing up to
the minute insights into conditions and trends in the graduate recruitment market alongside benchmarking
of key market indicators such as vacancy and salary levels.
As the leading survey of graduate recruitment practices, spanning the longest continuous series of
recruitment seasons, the Survey is the primary source of information on graduate recruitment levels,
methods and practices amongst AGR members – an invaluable tool for assessing and optimising graduate
recruitment activities.
The Graduate Recruitment Survey is conducted twice a year. Undertaken on behalf of AGR by CFE, the
Winter Review provides an assessment of the latest graduate vacancy levels and salary information while
also examining AGR employers’ predictions for the near future. It describes the ways in which employers
marketed their graduate opportunities during the 2009 recruitment season and provides insight into their
recruitment marketing plans for 2010. The content of the Winter Review is largely unchanged from
previous years, although work will shortly be undertaken to develop the content of both the Summer and
Winter surveys to ensure they continue to meet the needs of AGR members. CFE will be consulting with a
sub-group of AGR members as part of this process. It is envisaged that the format of the Winter and
Summer Review reports will change following this consultation; in the meantime, we have included some
additional commentary in the Policy Insight and Comparative Data boxes to position the findings in a wider
context.
The Summer Review, to be published in July 2010, will further investigate recruitment practices and
graduate recruitment management.
Methodology
An online survey was developed and hosted on the CFE website. AGR employer members were invited to
participate in the survey by an email which included the link to the survey and a personalised password.
The survey contained a combination of different types of questions; some of these were mandatory in
order to ensure a high in-variable response rate for key questions. Respondents were automatically routed
through the survey on the basis of their response to previous questions.
The survey was open for a period of four weeks between November and December 2009. The results were
analysed using statistical software and are presented using tables and a variety of charts and graphs. In
addition to frequencies and averages for the overall sample, data is also reported by business sector, region
and career area where the size of the base is sufficiently large to permit robust analysis. The number of
organisations that responded to each question is presented for each table and chart as the base; that is, the
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