Graduates Yorkshire, which offers a range of recruitment services aiming to create employment opportunities for graduate talent in the region, has announced it is launching the region’s first Yorkshire Graduate Internship Awards.

The new awards follow on from the success of Graduates Yorkshire’s paid graduate internship programme which offers recent graduates a route into employment by helping them gain practical work experience. The Internship Programme is funded by regional development agency Yorkshire Forward.

Graduates Yorkshire is now inviting entries to Yorkshire Graduate Internship Awards from employers currently running a graduate internship programme and from graduates who have benefited from work experience in the region.

The winners will be announced at a special ceremony and dinner in Leeds on March 31 to be held at Anthony’s Piazza at the newly renovated Corn Exchange.

The awards aims to recognise the achievements of local employers which offer graduates a route into the workplace through work placement and internships whereby they can acquire new skills that will help them in their future career.

There will also be awards for graduates who have made the most positive impact through their internship.

Martin Edmondson, Graduates Yorkshire Chief Executive, said: “The success of the Graduates Yorkshire’s paid graduate internship programme has given us access to a lot of employers in the region who have embraced graduate internships to enhance their business performance.

“Meanwhile, we have witnessed the positive effect on graduates who have been benefited from a company internship. They all have very positive stories to tell and we hope these awards will recognise that.”

The awards, hosted by Graduates Yorkshire, are supported by all Yorkshire’s University Careers Services and Yorkshire Forward. They will be open to all companies in the region offering graduate internships including ESIF funded schemes and the Graduates Yorkshire Internship Programme.

Awards are split into four regional categories – covering North, South and West Yorkshire and the Humber with prizes for the top graduate and employer in each region as well as an overall Yorkshire-wide winner.

Already confirmed to sit on the judging panel is Becky Heath, Chief Executive of social enterprise Internocracy and Harrogate MP Phil Willis, who is leading a petition for fair parliamentary internships in central government. Jo Taylor from 4Talent – the Channel 4 offshoot which aims to nurture talent of the future, has also been confimed a speaker at the dinner.

Interested companies can nominate themselves or their intern by visiting the awards microsite at: www.graduatesyorkshire.co.uk /awards

Graduates Yorkshire was established twelve years ago with the support of Yorkshire Universities to close the “knowledge gap” between the region’s universities and its business community by matching graduates with companies looking to make best use of that talent. It became a self-financing social enterprise three years ago.

More than 200 employers are participating in Real Prospects 2010, double last year’s figure, making it the biggest piece of research into the UK graduate employment market. 

The annual survey by Graduate Prospects explores what graduates think about their jobs, covering areas such as training and development, leadership and management, salary and benefits, progression opportunities, corporate social responsibility and work-life balance. Real Prospects 2010 will track graduates with up to five years’ experience in the workplace.  

Almost 13,500 graduates responded to the 2009 survey, and this figure will increase substantially this year as universities including Manchester, Warwick and Nottingham are sending a link to the survey to their graduates.

“With more than 200 organisations participating, the results will form a truly comprehensive picture of the reality of graduate employment,” says Carl Gilleard, chief executive of the Association of Graduate Recruiters.

“We are delighted to continue our support for this important project, the only one of its kind, and I urge all graduate recruiters to get behind it.”

Eden Keane, manager of Real Prospects, says: “It’s been a fascinating year for the industry and it will be interesting to see how the downturn has influenced graduates’ views of their jobs. We are expecting the survey to yield some astonishing data, providing invaluable information for employers who will be developing recruitment strategies and graduate programmes post-recession.”

Recruiters participating in Real Prospects 2010 include NHS, Procter & Gamble, Audit Commission, RBS and the Co-operative Group. Those who have opted for Partner or Associate status, which provides them with a personalised survey and report, include RWE npower and Mott MacDonald.

As well as forming a unique picture of the industry, Real Prospects 2010 will help recruiters understand how they are shaping up at a critical time.

“Real Prospects tells recruiters what they are doing well and what they need to do better,” continues Carl Gilleard. “As the economy emerges from recession, Real Prospects will be nothing less than a signpost for the future for graduate recruitment.”

The results of Real Prospects 2010 will be launched in June. It’s not too late to participate – employers can register now by emailing Russell Rhys Davies at R.Rhysdavies@prospects.ac.uk or calling 0845 077 1965. Product information and copies of last year’s survey are available on request.

Masters graduates were less affected by the early stages of recession, experiencing lower levels of unemployment than their first degree counterparts, but harder times are expected to follow, reveals a study by the Higher Education Careers Services Unit (HECSU), published today (27 January 2010).

HECSU’s What do Masters Graduates Do? shows the unemployment rate increased 0.4 percentage points to 4.1% in 12 months for the 32,195 Masters students surveyed in January 2009 and who graduated in 2008. However, there was a significant difference between part-time and full-time Masters graduates (2.2% and 5.8% respectively). In November 2009 HECSU reported that over the same period, the unemployment rate for first degree university leavers had increased 2.4 percentage points to 7.9%.

The research published in Graduate Market Trends, HECSU’s quarterly guide to higher education research, shows the first signs of recession in the job market for Masters graduates. Charlie Ball, deputy research director at HECSU says: “Compared to the increase in unemployment for first degree graduates over the same time period, this cohort has been less affected. We expect that the full effects of the economic downturn will be more apparent for the most recent crop of Masters graduates.

“The research also showed a very small increase of 0.7% in the number of Masters graduates since the previous year, which I’d expect to increase as the effects of the recession continue to be felt on the graduate labour market.”

What do Masters Graduates Do? also reveals that there are two distinct groups of Masters students. Part-time learners are frequently mature and experienced in the job market, with many returning to previous employment. They often go into professional and managerial roles and are typically less likely to experience underemployment or unemployment on graduating.

Full-time Masters students are those often seen as more ‘typical’, embodying the view of young people moving straight from their first degree. They are less likely to be experienced in the labour market, are more likely to experience underemployment and unemployment as well as continue in education. They also have different employment outcomes, being more likely to enter social or conservation roles or go into sales, marketing or the media.

Charlie adds: “As the figures show, the view of Masters graduates generally being young, new first degree graduates moving seamlessly from first degree to postgraduate study is inaccurate, and Masters students are a much more diverse body. This has significant implications for information and guidance for Masters graduates.”

Graduate Market Trends (GMT) is now available on www.hecsu.ac.uk. It is published quarterly, free of charge. For more information and to subscribe email gmt@prospects.ac.uk

Like Dick Whittington in pantos across the country this holiday season, the UK’s graduates are heading for London to seek their fortune.

New research by graduate recruitment website GradFutures.com (www.gradfutures.com) reveals that graduates are focussing their job search almost exclusively on London and the South East, despite being willing to move anywhere in the UK to secure a role.

However, as Demetrios Zoppos, Director at GradFutures.com, warns: “Graduates will find that London’s streets aren’t always paved with gold.

“Times are undoubtedly tough for graduates but there are still job opportunities to be found outside the capital. By focusing their job search on the South East graduates could be missing out on career opportunities elsewhere.

“Similarly, regional employers must widen their nets and step up marketing of opportunities to attract the cream of the country’s graduates.”

London Calling

The vast majority (91%) of graduates are looking for work in London, and a third (31%) are job seeking in the South East, according to the study among students and recent graduates.

Demetrios Zoppos commented: “Graduates believe the only place to build a successful career is in London, to which we have to say ‘Oh no it isn’t!’

“London has always had the most competitive graduate job market thanks to the sheer number of applicants for the capital’s positions. This situation has only worsened as a result of the recession.

“By simply focussing on London, graduates close the door to opportunities at the huge number of firms of all sizes that don’t operate in the capital.”

It’s Behind You!

Major UK regions outside of these areas each only manage to draw 13% of graduate jobseekers on average.

Indeed only around one in ten (11%) graduates are looking in the North West, 7% in Wales and barely 4% are considering vacancies in Northern Ireland.

This is despite the fact that the majority (53%) of graduates claim to be ready and willing to move across the country for a job.

Demetrios Zoppos said: “As things stand, regional employers are only accessing around one in ten of the total graduate population.

“There is a big opportunity for employers outside of London to improve their graduate ‘gene pool’, by getting in front of the country’s best graduates at exactly the right time with an attractive offering.

“Reward budgets are tight, but recruiters can tempt graduates away from London by meeting their desire for varied and challenging work and offering clear career progression with structured training.”

“Graduates will miss out on some fantastic opportunities if they don’t look beyond London,” added Caroline Griggs, Personnel Manager at Open Logic Solutions. “We are a company at the cutting edge of our industry and we need enthusiastic graduates to increase the flow of talent coming into the business. This is key to our success and we know as an IBM award winning, regional employer that we have a lot to offer graduates looking to build a successful, long term career in IT.”

Who Goes There?

The following league table shows the proportion of graduate job seekers attracted to each UK region.

Region  % of Graduate Jobseekers Considering Region    
London  91%  �
South East      31%  �
South West      20%  �
East Midlands   17%  �
West Midlands   16%  �
Yorkshire and the Humber        16%  �
North West      13%  �
North East      11%  �
Scotland        10%  �
Wales   7%   �
Northern Ireland        4%

Despite popular belief that today’s students are living the high life, the Higher Education Careers Services Unit’s (HECSU) FutureTrack report reveals two thirds of students are working to pay for essential living costs and study materials as well as avoid crippling debt from loans and top-up fees. 

HECSU’s Futuretrack is tracking 50,000 students over five years, from when they first applied to university. Stage two* of the report reveals that almost half (44%) of students have difficulty paying for course books and 40% struggle to meet essential living costs. This has fuelled an increasing number of students working during term time and vacations (66%) and it is likely that more than ever will be seeking work this Christmas.  

The study, undertaken on behalf of HECSU by a research team at the University of Warwick, also revealed that women were more likely to work than men and those studying in Scotland worked longer hours than in any other region in the UK.

As students report that they are more likely to work during term time to satisfy course requirements, but during vacations to gain relevant employment experience Jane Artess, director of research at HECSU said: “Holiday periods offer good opportunities for students to gain valuable practical skills that will help them get their foot on the career ladder when they graduate. If they know what kind of job they’d like to go into and manage to get related work that’s even better as it will give insight into what that job will entail and whether it suits them.”

The study  shows that students most likely to understand the importance of doing paid work  in addition to study to gain employment experience, were on less vocational courses such as physical sciences (64%), maths and computing (63%),  linguistics and classics (62%), which rarely have work experience integral to their courses, as well as those doing business studies (62%).

HECSU’s Futuretrack survey is the largest study tracking the career development of higher education students ever undertaken in the UK. In 2006 every full-time UCAS applicant was invited to take part in the Futuretrack census, including EU and overseas applicants. It covers the full spectrum of UK higher education, across the range of universities, colleges and regions. It provides information supplied by students from when they applied to enter full-time higher education and is tracking them through their experience as students and out into their first jobs and further career development outcomes, through to 2012

The second report is available on www.hecsu.ac.uk

With 81% of graduates starting work outside London*, Graduate Prospects has cemented its alliance with university careers services to offer a central point for employers to post local vacancies.

Companies recruiting graduates regionally or nationally can now promote their job-openings to more than 80 university careers services throughout the UK using Prospects Net, the online vacancy handling service from Graduate Prospects.

Mark Watts, e-commerce business manager at Graduate Prospects explains: “London has always been seen as the hub for graduate talent, but with the majority of graduates choosing to remain locally employers should consider moving their focus to the regions. We’ve put a lot of work into regional penetration this year to reduce the time it takes to post vacancies with the many careers services across the country, simplifying the whole process for those looking to recruit talent outside London.” 

Prospects Net has been developed in response to the growing demand from employers for a centralised database to improve the efficiency of online vacancy advertising. Advertising to university careers services can be targeted regionally or nationally. 

For further information visit www.prospectsnet.com or to post a vacancy, contact 0845 077 1966 or email sales@prospects.ac.uk

Some of the UK’s best students are choosing ‘new’ universities over Russell Group institutions, as a study launched today by the Higher Education Careers Services Unit (HECSU) reveals students differentiate universities on course reputation rather than university name.

Findings from stages one and two of HECSU’s Futuretrack*, a longitudinal study that surveyed almost 50,000 students, revealed that in some subjects, such as law, high achieving students are just as likely to be studying at a ‘new’ university as a Russell group institution.

The study highlighted that current university ranking systems don’t always closely align with the experiences and qualifications of applicants. In response, HECSU’s research team at the University of Warwick, where the study was undertaken, has generated a new ranking system based on access tariff points.  

Typically, the institutions that require the highest tariff scores are those that students find the most difficult to get an offer of a place and are perceived to attract the brightest students. Institutions in the new classification system differ from the well-known categories (Russell Group, Pre-92, Post-92, and Other) in the following ways:

Highest Tariff Group: contains all but three Russell Group universities, five universities previously classified as ‘other old universities’, four medical schools, a veterinary school and an institute focussed on languages.

High Tariff Group: contains the remaining three Russell Group universities, all except four of the remaining ‘other old universities’, four ‘new universities’, a university that was not a former polytechnic, and three specialist institutions.

Medium Tariff Group: includes four ‘old universities’, 25 ‘new universities’ and 10 new universities that were not polytechnics.

Lower Tariff Group: contains eight ‘new universities’, 13 new universities that had not been polytechnics, five former HE colleges and 10 other HEIs, mainly University Colleges.   

Jane Artess, director of research at HECSU calls for employers to revaluate where they seek student talent: “It is known that many students choose where to study based on departmental or course reputation as much as university but, Futuretrack shows clearly where and why students with very high points enter ‘New’ universities and specialist HE institutions as well as those places usually associated with top grades. Also, many high achievers choose or need to study close to home, so find themselves opting for ‘lower tariff ‘ universities rather than aiming for more prestigious ones. 

“This strongly opposes current views by many employers that they can only find exceptional candidates from the Russell Group. This simply isn’t the case. Employers should try and find out about the departments and courses they are interested in; the net should be cast much wider.”

Professor Kate Purcell, who leads the research at Warwick, points out that the new classification reveals how the structure of higher education has been changing as student numbers and the range of courses available have grown.  She reflects that it is increasingly inappropriate to group HEIs based on patterns and associations 17 years ago, commenting: “The old ‘class structure’ of HEIs has been evolving, albeit slowly.  It is necessary to measure the extent to which differences in ratings do or do not reflect differences in the current quality of opportunities available to students.”

HECSU’s Futuretrack survey is the largest study tracking the career development of higher education students, yet undertaken in the UK.  In 2006 every full-time UCAS applicant was invited to take part in the Futuretrack census.  Responses were received from nearly 130,000 applicants, including EU and overseas applicants and researchers are continuing to track the cohort through to 2011/12.

For the full report or further information visit www.hecsu.ac.uk

 You’ve got your marketing degree but what else should you be doing to ensure employers are attracted to you?

What are the biggest challenges facing university graduates who are looking to secure career positions?  More and more we are hearing about the graduates leaving university, unable to secure work at all, let alone in their chosen profession.  Whilst the number of marketing jobs and, indeed, graduate marketing jobs may be on the rise, competition is fierce.

You are in a better position than some though.  Marketing is a sought-after industry and thousands of marketing vacancies are over-subscribed with applications from people without any tangible knowledge at all.

So what more could graduates be doing to effectively promote themselves?

Here are six top tips to help you get started:

On-the-job experience

Qualifications are great but employers would rather combine these with life and work experience. Most marketing degree courses offer the chance to apply your knowledge in a commercial environment but if you haven’t managed to do this, keep trying.  A lot of employers have neither the time or the money to pay an intern but by offering them something for nothing or by being innovative it is amazing what comes up.

A great place to look for intern marketing vacancies online is Rate My Placement.

Organising your CV

Despite the current age of digital technology the common CV remains the key ingredient to any jobseeker’s application process.  And it should not be taken lightly.

Whizzing your CV off to email addresses and ‘Apply Now’ buttons is the easy part but once it reaches the intended destination you have no control over who reads it or what they gain from doing so.  Therefore, you need to ensure you have sufficiently and professionally optimised this sales tool.

Of course most recent graduates will only have a limited amount of work experience to add to their employment history.  It is important, then, to maximise what you say about yourself – your ‘softer’ skills.  This is where developing a fantastic personal profile and writing a compelling cover letter comes in.

Read how to write the perfect cover letter and produce an amazing profile via individual career coaching.

Social media

These days employers are as likely to find you as you are them. With more than 70% of employers admitting to checking candidate credentials online at some stage during the interview process, it is essential you are not only visible but visible for the right reasons.

You need to ensure that the information you post on your social pages is both accurate and sends out the right signals about you. This should be your first step to ensuring a good application strategy.

If you are looking for marketing jobs make sure you hang out in all the right places. Some good places to start are: LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Ning.

Personal Branding

In any climate standing out from the crowd is essential. Simply submitting your CV is no longer good enough.

Investing time (and a little money) into developing the way people perceive you will set you apart from your competition. Are you dressed appropriately for the occasion? How sincere is your handshake?  Have you considered the impact of your non-verbal communication (NVC)?  These are a few of many essential elements in the compilation of ‘brand you’.

Of course, personal branding is not just about the way you look.  And it is not all about face-to-face interaction, either.  Your online presence is just as important. 

Above all though, personal branding is about confidence.

Learn more about developing ‘brand you’ and maximising your career chances with a personal branding expert.

Networking

Any marketer serious about their career needs to network.  Establishing and building contacts is essential to both personal and business development.  Online networking is, of course, a critical component to any progressive strategy but nothing beats face-to-face interaction.

You should look to attend as many marketing events, seminars, conferences and professional social occasions as possible – time and money permitting, of course.

Make no mistake, getting out there, showing people who you are, what you do and – most importantly – what you can do for them, is imperative to any jobseeker’s strategy.

Applying to suitable vacancies

The key word here is ‘suitable’.  Too many graduates spend their time applying for positions for which they are clearly unsuitable.  This is incredibly counter-productive and never pays off.  All you will achieve is a sense of under-achievement as the frustration of not hearing back from your application heightens.

When searching for jobs to apply to go for job titles such as Marketing Assistant, Marketing Administrator or Marketing Executive.  Whilst not everything is in a name this will provide you with some guidance.

As for salaries, most graduate-level marketing jobs start between £18-24,000 per annum, though certain disciplines will pay more.

Simon Lewis | Editor | Only Marketing Jobs

Graduates Yorkshire has been short listed in the Golden Twit Awards – the first UK awards celebrating Twitter, the social networking phenomenon which has dominated the internet over the past 12 months.

The Golden Twit Awards aim to celebrate the best users of Twitter through which companies and individuals communicate with key target audiences and friends.

Graduates Yorkshire, which “tweets” under the name @gradyorks, offers a range of recruitment services aimed at creating opportunities for graduate talent in the region. It recently launched a paid graduate internship programme which offers recent graduates a route into employment by helping them gain practical work experience.

The internship programme is being funded by regional development agency Yorkshire Forward and offers paid graduate internships with employers in the region.

Graduates Yorkshire has been short listed in three categories in the Twitter awards -
Business to Consumer, Business to Business and Information Services. The public can vote on the eventual winner at the Golden Twit Awards website at www.goldentwits.com.

Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read messages known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters displayed on the author’s profile page and delivered to the author’s subscribers who are known as “followers”.

Martin Edmondson, Graduates Yorkshire Chief Executive, said: “We have been early adopters of social media and social networks and they have been a powerful platform for getting our message out to our two target markets – graduates seeking employment and employees seeking graduate staff.

“Twitter has proved particularly effective for us and we are delighted to be short listed in the awards – but it will be interesting to if we have to give an acceptance speech in just 140 characters.”

A spokes person for the Golden Twit Awards said: “Unlike other schemes which are purely judged through online voting the Golden Twits includes a live, living and breathing jury, whose task it to ensure the winners are selected on merit although as opposed to jiggery pokery and gerrymandering.”

The unemployment prospects for university leavers have seen a year-on-year increase of 44%, rising to a highest level in 12 years, reveals a study by the Higher Education Careers Services Unit (HECSU).

The rate of unemployment increased 2.4 percentage points to 7.9% for the 220,065 students surveyed in January 2009 and who graduated in 2008, reveals HECSU’s What Do Graduates Do? published today (2 November 2009). The last time graduate unemployment reached this level was in 1995/6 (8.1%).

The construction industry has been particularly hard hit, as architecture and building graduate unemployment more than doubled from 2.9% in 2007 to 8.5% for 2008 leavers. Similarly, unemployment for civil engineering graduates increased from 2.4% to 7%.

What Do Graduates Do? also showed that despite the recession, public sector recruitment continues to be buoyant with a year-on-year increase of graduates entering healthcare, teaching and social work. Just under 5,100 graduates worked as medical practitioners or pre-registration house officers, compared with 4,430 in 2007(15% increase). Graduate physiotherapists, occupational and speech therapists increased 17% from 2,235 to 2,625.

Similarly, the number of secondary school teachers rose by 14% from 1,850 to 2,110, and the number of educational administrators and language assistants increased substantially by half. Social work was also buoyant with a 55% increase since 2007 to over 2,500 graduates. Graduates in sports instructing and coaching have also increased – 17% to 1,400.

Unsurprisingly, the number of 2008 graduates going into business or financial work was down: 7.5% of graduates worked in this area in 2008, compared with 8.7% in 2007. The number of graduates working as financial and investment analysts/advisers or mortgage consultants dropped 19% from just under 2,100 in 2007 to just under 1,700 in 2008. IT occupations also saw a year-on-year decrease. IT consultants, software professionals and computer programmers fell 18% from 2,980 to just under 2,450, whilst those working as IT support decreased by 15% from 795 to 675.

Mike Hill, chief executive of HECSU comments: “We’re now starting to see the extent of the impact the recession has had on graduate employment. Despite unemployment increasing, for those who have found a job, salary levels are holding up. Any signs of economic recovery may not be reflected in the destinations of new graduates until the 2010 graduating cohort. In fact it’s likely that unemployment for 2009 graduates may be even higher than that reported here. However, graduates shouldn’t feel disheartened, many organisations continue to recruit and a degree will certainly remain valuable for many years to come.”

For those that reported their salaries in What Do Graduates Do? the average salary was £19,677, an increase of 2% from 2007. Unsurprisingly, graduates working in London reported the highest mean salary at £22,570, but the lowest year-on-year average salary rise (0.4%). Conversely, the average salary in Scotland saw the largest year-on-year increase (5.6%). With a reported average figure of £19,953, this was better than that in the South East (£19,561), which is traditionally the second highest paid region after London.

What Do Graduates Do? is published in collaboration with the Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services (AGCAS) and UCAS. Margaret Dane, Chief Executive of AGCAS, says: “This publication gives HE applicants a useful overview of the range of graduate opportunities. University Careers Services offer current students and graduates who may be worried and need help, a wide range of advice and resources. A tougher jobs market only emphasises how important it is to plan ahead, and do as much as possible to improve employment prospects.”

The What Do Graduates Do? data was collected via the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education survey from the Higher Education Statistics Agency. For the full report visit www.hecsu.ac.uk