The Times - UK (2021-11-11)

22 Thursday November 11 2021 | the times

News

Competition for graduate jobs reached
a record high this year with more than
90 applications for every position, a
report reveals today.
A backlog of unemployed graduates
from last year has intensified the
scramble for jobs for this year’s univers-
ity leavers.
While the graduate jobs market grew
by 9 per cent in the past year, it is not yet
back at pre-pandemic levels. Last year’s
graduates left university in the tough-
est jobs market since the last recession.
Some industries had almost 200 ap-
plications per place and there was also
fierce competition for work experience
and internships. The Institute of Stu-
dent Employers (formerly the Associa-
tion of Graduate Recruiters) said in its
annual report that candidates should
avoid a scattergun approach and be
more targeted in their hunt for jobs.
Employers received an average of 91
applications per graduate vacancy, a 17
per cent increase on last year and the

highest number since the ISE began

collecting data in 1999.

The most popular roles were in the

retail and tourism sector, which re-

ceived 182 applications per vacancy.

Competition for jobs in health and

pharmaceuticals was also high, with 155

people applying for a job, and 118 gradu-

ates applied for a financial and profes-

sional services role. The charity and

public sector was the least competitive

with 39 applications per vacancy.

Eighty-three students applied for

Children who consider themselves to be
multilingual do better at school whether
or not they are proficient in a foreign
language, Cambridge academics say.
Research found a link between pupils
who thought of themselves as able to
speak another language and those who

Dozens fight for every graduate job

each internship on average and 82

people applied for each placement.

Roles for school leavers such as ap-

prenticeships have been less competi-

tive than graduate positions, with com-

panies receiving an average of 67 appli-

cations per vacancy. Employers are

predicting that growth across all areas

will continue as graduate jobs and in-

ternships are expected to exceed pre-

pandemic levels over the next year.

Stephen Isherwood, chief executive

of ISE, said: “This highlights the genu-

ine struggle for young people to find

work during the pandemic. There are

more people looking for the security of

a graduate programme, and this year’s

cohort is competing with unemployed

graduates from last year and those who

did a master’s degree.

“Students shouldn’t spray and pray...

it’s better [to] make the right application

to the right employer.”

The survey ran in September and

received 177 responses from large

student employers — 29 per cent have

more than 10,000 employees. Many

employers are recruiting with the

intention that students will work from

home and the office in a hybrid model,

with 13 per cent saying their new

recruits did not have to live locally.

This had an impact on recruitment in

London, which fell to its lowest level

proportional to the rest of the country.

Overall, respondents hired a total of

25,992 graduates during 2020-2021,

and the proportion of graduates locat-

ed in London has fluctuated over the

past few years between 39 per cent and

47 per cent, but this dropped to 37 per

cent this year.

Companies said it was particularly

difficult to recruit within IT, engineer-

ing, technical and skilled trade roles.

The average salary reported was

£30,500 for graduates, £19,489 for

school and college leavers, and £20,000

for interns and placement students, all

higher than last year. But this fluctuat-

ed according to professions — the aver-

age was almost £40,000 within law and

£35,500 in finance while the lowest was

£25,500 in charity and the public sector.

Nicola Woolcock Education Editor

Pupils who think they are multilingual shine in exams

did well at GCSEs. These were not al-

ways the children identified by their

school as speaking English as an addi-

tional language (EAL), which is used as

a definition of multilingualism by the

government.

The study of 800 pupils in England

found a positive relationship between

GCSE scores and “multilingual ident-

ity”, whether pupils felt a connection

with other languages through know-

ledge and use. Those who identified as

multilingual typically outperformed

peers not only in subjects such as

French and Spanish, but in maths, geo-

graphy and science.

This was not necessarily the case for

EAL children, which surprised resear-

chers. Their report said: “Just having

experience of other languages... may

not be valued by the student.”

Academics say that the results indi-

cated that encouraging pupils to ident-

ify with languages and to value different

styles of communication could help

them to develop a mindset that support-

ed academic progress overall.

Nicola Woolcock Education Editor

Job hunting

Source: Institute of Student Employers

Average number of graduate

applications per vacancy

100

80

60

40

20

0

2000 05 10 15 20

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