Extract from IDS Executive Compensation Review 326

Graduate recruitment: the year ahead

Ensuring the supply of tomorrow’s business leaders is a crucial task for any organisation and one of the key talent pools are graduate recruits. To remain up-to-date with the latest trends, this article draws on our own and other research to gauge the temperature of the graduate recruitment market.

Despite current economic uncertainty, employers are still looking to increase the numbers of graduates they take on this year, although, if present projections are any guide then starting salaries are not expected to increase substantially. This is the picture that emerges from the latest Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR) survey, Graduate Market Trends from Graduate Prospects and our own Pay and progression for graduates 2008. This article looks at pay movements in graduate starting salaries for the coming year as well as the numbers of graduates employed. Analysis is also provided on starting salaries by subject, and vacancies by function and region. Tables detail starting rates and salary increases for 2008 by type of organisation as well as by specific industry.