Stephen Harrison, Operations Manager at Reed Graduate, part of Reed Specialist Recruitment, examines the potential impact of the current financial crisis on graduates. He believes that whilst the market is challenging, it is not as tough as people would imagine and advises how they can put their best foot forward to secure their first step on the career ladder.

Stephen Harrison, Operations Manager, Reed Graduate

In the past few weeks, with the high levels of turmoil in the financial services market, much of the media coverage has focused on job losses and painted a pretty bleak economic outlook for jobseekers.

The CBI predicts that unemployment figures will increase by 450,000 to 2.12m by the end of next year. So how will this impact graduates new to the market, hoping to get a foot on the career ladder and pay off their student debts?

Well firstly, Reed doesn’t expect the current tough economic times to affect graduates jobs as much as many people may first imagine. This is because we know that employers made mistakes during previous contractions in the economy, when they cut their graduate intake and then found themselves three years down the line with big shortages in their talent pipeline at junior manager levels. They will be keen to avoid repeating this mistake.

However, that is not to say there won't be fewer graduate schemes and places available in the short term, especially in the financial services sector. This will mean that employers recruiting for their graduate schemes can be expected to have a larger pool of candidates from which to pick. This is good news for graduates from good universities with first class and upper second degrees, who will continue to be in demand, but it will make things more competitive for other graduates.

Graduates who are not are from top universities and/or have mid-ranking degrees need to be more realistic about the opportunities they can expect to secure at the outset. It is a highly competitive job market and rather than focus solely on getting a graduate placement, they should concentrate on getting a foot on the career ladder and as much skills and experience under their belts as possible. This will of course mean starting at the bottom or an organisation, but with a good attitude, enthusiasm for the role and a willingness to learn new skills, graduates will get noticed and promoted quickly. Once they have gained more experience and improved their skills, they will have more choice when it comes to applying for second jobs.

One thing is for certain however, we will be operating in a highly competitive graduate job market for some time. Students should not therefore rest on their laurels and instead start planning ahead, building up their skills and experience from the time they leave school.

A gap year is a prime opportunity for students to develop some really useful skills and experience that can be easily transferred into an office environment.
One way of doing this would be to spend time working for a voluntary organisation overseas, where they can learn how to be a good team player, how to work with a diverse group of people and understand more about cultural difference, as well as how to work to very tight project deadlines and deliver results.

Further opportunities include getting a part-time job whilst studying University, and of course securing some good old-fashioned work experience in an office environment during the summer holidays. Again, it doesn’t matter too much what industry the students work in, it is more a case of just getting a job and learning the ropes.

When faced with a pile of graduate CVs, any employer will be looking for candidates that stand out and in particular those who have spent their time wisely and gained some skills and experience that can be immediately put to use in their businesses.