Graduate recruitment in banking and financial services set to rise by 72%, survey finds

Banking and financial services employers are expecting to recruit 72% more graduates in 2010 than in 2009, according to the Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR), which published the summer edition of its biannual survey today.

A total of 199 AGR members took part in the survey and will provide an estimated 17,920 graduate jobs in 2010. While the survey is not representative of the graduate jobs market as a whole, it offers useful insights into the recruitment needs of the larger graduate recruiters.

Although the overall number of graduate jobs on offer from respondents to the survey was down by 6.9% this year, there were significant increases in intended recruitment in some sectors, with banking and financial services leading the way.

Other sectors that showed planned increases in graduate recruitment were insurance companies (up 53%), consulting or business services firms (up 52%), construction companies or consultancies (up 45%) and accountancy or professional services firms (up 17%).

These hiring increases tend to be taking place in organisations that restricted their graduate intake in 2009 and now need to take on more graduates in order to operate effectively. One recruiter from the consulting and business services sector told the AGR, ‘Last year we didn’t recruit many graduates, so in fact there is a shortfall and the business is desperate to fill particular roles.’

However, there were marked declines in recruiting intentions in engineering and industrial companies (down 21%), retail (down 31%), IT and telecommunications companies (down 31%) and fast moving consumer goods, or FMCG (down 45%). The graduate hiring outlook was also down for law firms (by 12%) and the public sector (by 10%).

The number of applications per position surged to a record of 69 per vacancy as increasing numbers of graduate job-seekers chased the smaller number of jobs available from AGR members taking part in the survey. There is also some evidence that graduates are sending out scattergun applications to a larger number of employers. The number of recruiters insisting on a minimum 2:1 degree has increased in response to the surge in applications, up to 78% from 67% in 2008.

The average starting salary on offer was £25,000, unchanged from 2008. This is likely to be higher than the typical graduate starting salary because the AGR’s membership includes significant numbers of large, market-leading organisations.

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Posted by Alison_TARGETjobs on 6 July 2010

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