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15th Feb 2010
Careers Centre > News

Graduate and financial services employment news

Prospects for graduates look no better for 2010, according to the latest Emerging Talent Index from Alexander Mann solutions. With only 24% of 2009's graduates working in jobs that require degrees and 53% of last year's graduates planning to apply for graduate jobs this year, 2010's crop of graduates face increased competition in the graduate job market. Confidence amongst those surveyed was very low, with only 26% confident of finding a graduate job this year. Faced with this bleak outlook, many graduates or would-be graduates appear to be taking a scattergun approach to applications, with 18% admitting that they will apply for ‘any job' rather than focusing on their chosen discipline, 59% intending to apply across a range of sectors and only 37% choosing to stick with their long term career ambitions. Clodagh Bannigan, Head of Client Services at Alexander Mann, has identified another worrying trend: "The lack of confidence in today's graduate marketplace means that jobseekers are increasingly likely to formally accept multiple offers and then make their final decision just before their joining date."

The Emerging Talent Index also investigated which sectors graduates identify as offering the most opportunities to graduates: the public sector remains popular, with over 30% of respondents selecting it as the top sector. Banking and financial services recruiters will be disappointed to hear that their sector was ranked at the bottom by 28% of those surveyed: a worrying statistic indeed for recruiters seeking the very best talent for their commercial clients.

Further advice for students was issued by studentgems last week, which revealed in the results of a survey that employers now have to deal with around 120 CVs for each vacancy advertised. According to the survey, shortlists have also doubled and the chances of success at interview stage are now as small as one in ten. 67% of Managing Directors who responded to the survey admitted that "hobbies and personal achievements" are likely to make a CV more attractive. Sue Harrison, co-founder of studentgems advises students to do all they can to make their CV stand out from the crowd, including gaining as much relevant experience as possible.

Recruiter magazine last week reported on optimism in financial services recruitment, as the Morgan McKinley January 2010 London employment monitor revealed a 60% rise in opportunities in financial services compared to January 2009 as well as a 105% month on month increase from December 2009. Interestingly, the rise in city professionals looking for a new opportunity was only 3% compared with the same month last year. Andrew Evans, MD of Morgan McKinley's financial services division pointed out that "...a greater proportion of those starting their job search this January are likely to be doing so voluntarily. This would not have been the case this time last year. With improved confidence in the market, more job opportunities starting to filter through and some bonus payouts having been announced; those in employment are becoming more inclined to kick off their job search."



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