Student confidence rock bottom but vacancies still available

Student survey reveals that final-year university students are feeling less confident about their graduate job prospects as the academic year has progressed, but there are vacancies.  

Just under 1,500 final-year students from universities across the UK were surveyed in April 2010. The results of this survey were compared to previous research carried out in February 2010. Confidence in career prospects has significantly fallen during the last two months, with only 49.7 percent of students surveyed claiming that they still feel confident about finding a graduate job, compared with 59.1 percent in February.

The perceived lack of jobs available is the biggest factor in final-year students’ pessimism. A lack of work experience is also a concern.  Final-year students studying in Yorkshire and Humberside are the least confident about finding a graduate job. Students in Wales are the most confident. Of all the regions surveyed, only students in Wales feel more confident about their graduate career prospects in April 2010 than they did in February. Male final-year students were more confident (62.2 percent) about finding a graduate job than their female counterparts (42.9 percent).  Confidence among female students has decreased since February 2010 (54.4 percent).

Further research with employers has revealed that graduate vacancies are still available with 59 percent of graduate recruiters. Over 80 percent of recruiters are offering the same, or more, graduate positions than 2009. Macro-economic factors also show that graduate employment has seen a marked increase from 2009 to 2010, both in region and sector; these reasons combined ought to raise confidence in all students.

Chris Phillips UK Publishing Director at GTI Media suggests that the outlook is bright for this year’s graduates. ‘Despite the results from the TARGETjobs.co.uk confidence survey highlighting that confidence is low amongst final-year students, students should feel positive about their job prospects post-recession. Overall the number of graduate positions has increased and many employers are still accepting applications, which is a marked improvement from last year’s graduate job market.’