Francis Beckett asks if employers should reimburse graduates they want to meet

With the job market in decline and UK companies struggling to recover from the recession, graduates are finding that there is greater competition for each vacancy they apply for.

As a result they are being forced to look farther from home to find work, with no guarantee that they will be successful at interview. Not only can this knock their confidence but the cost of travelling to and from interviews also drains what little cash reserves they have.

So should potential employers pay some or all of the interviewees’ travelling expenses, or is it a price graduates — already faced with repaying their student loans — have to pay to secure employment?

The Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR) reports that there are now 83 applications for each graduate job — a steep rise from 69 last year, 49 in 2009 and 31 in 2008.

But it is not all gloom. The association says that the number of graduate vacancies is rising, along with starting salaries, which now average £25,000.

James Uffindell, founder and chief executive of Bright, a graduate recruitment agency, says: “Graduate unemployment is rising but there is a finite supply of the best and brightest. For them, there are a lot of options. And, as the economy starts to recover, the demand for the best and brightest will be very strong.”

Bright therefore takes on graduates only from the Russell Group of universities, the Times Top 20 universities, or students who got at least an A and two Bs at A level.

This distinguishes it from most of the other graduate recruitment agencies, which have mushroomed in the past decade as companies find it harder to deal with a growing number of graduate applicants.

Many companies use agencies to help their in-house recruiters, while smaller companies often leave it to agencies to headhunt the graduates they need. Other such agencies include the Graduate Recruitment Bureau and Give A Grad A Go.

Uffindell admits that times are tough and paying your own expenses to go to interviews or doing unpaid internships is a bullet many people may have to bite.

That makes a good CV all the more vital: the first major hurdle to overcome is to reach the interview stage and an impressive CV will give the applicant a huge advantage over the other hopefuls. “There are more applications for each job so you have to build your CV capital early on,” Uffindell says.

“People come to us with a good degree and a sense of entitlement but it is the hungry ones who get the jobs, the ones who do the internships.

“They are in a competitive place. It would often be irrational for a recruiter to take someone who has not done an internship over someone who has. In this marketplace they should take what they can get, if it is legal and will improve their CV.”

Ninety five per cent of AGR members now pay their interns, while several pay interview expenses.

Some graduates may be nervous about broaching the subject but recruiters say that many companies will only pay interview expenses if they are asked. Agencies such as Bright are often willing to do the asking for you.