Extract from IDS Executive Compensation Review 307, September 2006

Graduate recruitment update

With last year’s graduate recruits establishing themselves in the workforce, and plans finalised for the Autumn 2006 intake, now is a good time to examine the latest batch of published information assessing the pay and prospects of this year’s university leavers. To gain a picture of the latest trends, we examine recent surveys from the Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR) and Graduate Prospects, as well as information from the Hay Group and our own analysis of recent job advertisements.

A rise in the number of vacancies, steady increases in basic salaries and an optimistic outlook for 2007 is the picture painted by the latest survey of graduate employers from the AGR. Collected in May 2006 and based on 235 returns, the survey found that a matched analysis of graduate vacancies showed an increase of 16.7 per cent on the previous year, the third successive annual rise. Salary levels also increased, but more modestly, with the relatively subdued uplift perhaps explained by the corresponding buoyant level of supply, illustrated by the finding that there were 28 applicants per vacancy on average. This article contains information on starting salaries by location and career area as well as a large table showing a selection of current graduate job vacancies by named employer.