Graduates First
ECONOMIC IMPACT

The current climate has had a clear impact on the employment sector and graduate recruitment has suffered immensely. According to the Head of Recruitment from one of the big 5 companies, 300,000 graduates will be competing for only 30,000 jobs available at relatively large organisations Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR) 2009.

This year, 300,000 graduates will be competing for only 30,000 jobs at leading organisations.

Psychometric testing is commonly responsible for rejecting over 50% of graduates at the online application stage of the recruitment process and this is often achieved by administering two tests – numerical reasoning and verbal reasoning – and simply rejecting the bottom 30% of the applicant group after each test. This means that for the 300,000 applicants this year – 30% will be rejected after the first test leaving 210,000. A further 30% will be rejected after the second test leaving 147,000 candidates.

Although previously a criterion of 30th percentile has been required to pass through a stage – which has led to a reduction of applicants by 50%, this year it s expected that this criterion will rise due to the huge influx of candidates and reduction of jobs – thus leading to a greater percentage of candidates being rejected than previously.

It can be assumed that more than 50% of graduate job applicants will be rejected at the online Psychometric testing stage.

The need to practise Psychometric Tests to ensure success through the recruitment process has never been greater!

Survey Reveals a 25% decrease in Graduate Vacancies

According to the AGR survey (2009), graduate vacancies have dipped to levels approaching those not seen since the last recession in 1991; and have far exceeded the dips predicted by graduate recruiters previously. The survey also revealed the following facts:

  • The engineering sector alone has experienced cuts of around 40%.
  • IT and Banking have been hit the hardest in comparison to other sectors.
  • Energy, Water and Utility sectors have seen a rise in vacancies.
  • 62.7% of employers are offering fewer vacancies than last year.

Forecast for 2010

According to AGR, employers are cautious when looking at graduate vacancies for 2010 recruitment.

  • 53.4% of employers are expecting little change.
  • 22% are cautiously optimistic.
  • 11% anticipate a worse situation than 2009.
  • 2.4% expect further severe cuts.

Our Advice

To give yourself the best chance of success, in a climate of increased competition due to fewer vacancies, more graduate applicants and tougher acceptance criteria, we recommend you practise, practise and PRACTISE!