Graduates Face Strict Job Needs - graduate jobs

Graduates may have to meet strict recruitment rules this year to help employers tackle an overwhelming response for a reduced number of roles, research has revealed.

The percentage of employers adopting a 2:1 degree result as a minimum requirement has risen from 66.7% in 2009 to 77.5% this year, a bi-annual survey from the Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR) found. The percentage of employers who are looking for graduates with relevant work experience has also increased from 15.2% in 2009 to 33.5%.

There are now on average almost 69 graduates fighting for every job - up from an average of nearly 49 applications per vacancy last year. The report suggests this is due not only to a fall in jobs available, but because students from the past two years who failed to find work the year they graduated are also competing for this year's vacancies.

The study did find that some sectors are performing better than others - with banking and financial services, insurance, consulting and business services, construction, and accountancy predicting they will have more vacancies this year. But graduate engineering roles, investment banking, the public sector, law, retail, telecommunications and IT are all predicting to fall according to firms in each of the sectors, the survey found.

Salaries are also frozen again this year, with new graduates earning £25,000 on average - the same as in 2008.