Graduate job search up 350%: Expert comment on huge rise in graduate job roles

Following the news that over 1 million job roles are currently available in the UK, many have argued that applicants for graduate jobs still outnumber the available graduate positions despite the massive growth in vacancies (@DebutCareers).

 

 

“Over 2 million students attended higher education institutions between 2019 and 2020 before all the worldwide lockdowns. With rules of socialising having eased, a record number of people started university this year, too, many of whose plans to study were previously on hold due to the Covid pandemic. The demand for graduate jobs has never been so large! 

 

Recent university graduates are facing strong competition from those among the previous year’s cohort who are still actively looking for jobs. Though the ONS has revealed that the labour market has over 1 million job roles available, applicants for graduate jobs still outnumber the available graduate positions despite the massive growth in vacancies.

 

Fortunately, Debut currently has 10,504 live graduate roles on our site and app, which is huge growth in comparison to previous months and years. Between July and September this year we had over 26,000 graduate jobs go live, which is almost double the number of last year.

 

Young people who were the worst hit by unemployment at the start of the pandemic are now seeing a strong increase in employment and a decline in joblessness and economic inactivity. Searches for graduate and entry level job vacancies have increased by a massive 350% for the first time since the March 2020 lockdown while searches for senior level and management jobs have increased by 54.55%. Overall, the UK is witnessing a 75.2% increase in the employment rate for people aged between 16 years and 64 years.

 

Though there are 57,600 open roles in the hospitality sector, there remains a general apprehension to take up a job in hospitality given that this sector experienced the highest furlough rates (34%) at the height of the pandemic.”

 

 

“Our internal data shows that the best month to apply for a job is November, when as many as 14.34% of the year’s jobs are posted on average. This could reflect the fact that the deadlines of many graduate schemes tend to be late in the year, usually in the last few months. Those applying at this time will not only be able to find more available interesting roles, but will also be competing against fewer applicants per position. Following November, the two months with the next-highest number of job listings are October and December, with 13.10% and 12.70% of job postings respectively. This makes the last three months of the year the best time to apply for a job.

 

When applying for a new role, there are certain factors which can make your chances of success higher. From experience, many companies spend their human resources budgets well before the summer hits; not only does this mean hiring managers and recruiters stop searching during these warmer months, but resources could be lacking and many will spend summer months preparing reports and trends.

 

When sending out your application, you should aim to be the first in their inbox when the job goes live. Anyone who works on a computer will know the struggle of email overload. You need to avoid the competition by sending your application early in the day – you want it to be the first thing the hiring manager sees. If you find something in the evening, prepare everything and be sure to send it during business hours so you don’t risk getting buried under a pile of other applications.”