Martin Birchall sees a rise in vacancies but work experience is absolutely vital

It would seem a safe bet that the job prospects for graduates leaving university this summer will be nothing but bleak. More than one million people aged between 16 and 24 are currently unemployed and Britain is teetering on the brink of its second recession in less than three years.

But new research shows that graduate vacancies at the country’s leading employers are actually set to increase in 2012, making this the third consecutive year that the graduate job market has improved. The latest survey of the organisations featured in The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers confirms that there will be additional vacancies in nine out of fourteen key industries and business sectors.

The Graduate Market in 2012 report, published last month by High Fliers Research, reveals that despite the uncertain economic outlook, more than half of the UK’s most sought-after employers are planning to expand their graduate programmes and that overall, vacancies for new graduates are expected to rise by 6.4 per cent.

The largest number of entry level roles will be at the accounting and professional services firms, with up to 4,000 trainee positions at the Big Four — Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG and PwC.

And although a widespread recruitment freeze is still in place at government departments and agencies, public sector employers are planning to expand their graduate intake by a fifth this year, an increase of almost 500 posts year on year. These include the prestigious Civil Service Fast Stream and the NHS management training scheme.

On the downside, recruitment targets for the Armed Forces have been reduced again this year, for the second year running.

There will be a substantial increase in recruitment at engineering and industrial employers, IT and telecommunications companies, high street banks and in the retail sector with companies such as Tesco, Aldi and McDonald’s.

Teach First, the two-year programme that recruits high flying graduates to work in some of the UK’s most demanding schools after university, will be hiring more than 1,000 graduates for the first time — making it the country’s third largest graduate employer.

Irrespective of the increased vacancy numbers, the demand for graduate places in most sectors remains extremely high and, on average, employers have received 19 per cent more applications for their graduate programmes this year, with some recruiters reporting double the usual volume of applicants in the early part of the recruitment season.

The continuing fierce competition for jobs means that previous work experience is rapidly becoming a pre-requisite for the best-known graduate programmes. More than a third of this year’s entry-level positions are expected to be filled by graduates who have already worked for the company, either through industrial placements, holiday work or sponsorships. And recruiters at over half the top employers have warned that applicants without any work experience are unlikely to be offered a job.

Almost all of the UK’s leading graduate employers have confirmed that they will be offering paid work experience programmes during 2012: a total of 11,296 places.

PwC offers more than 200 work experience places each year. Gaenor Bagley, head of people at PwC, says: “Giving early paid workplace experience to undergraduates is key for us.It allows them to assess a career with us and vice versa. With the majority of those who complete internships converting to a full time role, we believe that the return on investment from paid internships makes this an increasingly attractive option.”

Martin Birchall is editor of The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers and managing director of High Fliers Research