With graduation ceremonies in full swing up and down the country, a comfortable 37% of graduates have already got a job role lined up, according to new research.
High Fliers Research has revealed that 2015 has seen the highest proportion of graduates land permanent jobs before graduation since 1995.
Meanwhile, 25% of graduates are planning to go onto a postgraduate course, while one in seven are hoping to travel the world during a gap year.
Chasing the graduate roles
Adzuna has seen the number of job adverts for graduates go through the roof this year, reporting a total of 62,750 entry level roles available across the country – a 15.7% increase compared to 2014.
However, the firm have said that competition is fierce among these young professionals with over 350,000 graduates set to be chasing roles. In some areas, it means 35 graduates could be applying for each job advertised.
As expected, the competition is strongest in the likes of London and the South East of England.
Andrew Hunter, Co-Founder of Adzuna, said that London is hungry for graduate talent and is pulling in these young professionals even faster than vacancies are created.
However, the competition for these roles has decreased by 9.2% when compared to 2014.
Growing sectors
Hunter notes that the best locations in the UK for graduate roles remain in London, the South East and East of England.
Graduates looking for higher salaries should make their way to Cambridge where the average pay for newly qualified professionals is close to £40,000 per annum, says Adzuna.
High Fliers looked at the most popular job sectors graduates are heading for, with Consulting coming in at number one and Marketing a close second. Charity, Media and voluntary work are the next most popular sectors.
Adzuna noted that there have been a number of sectors who are offering considerably higher salaries than 12 months ago, including:
- Customer Service – £22,193 (+17.3%)
- Administration – £22,277 (+14.5%)
- Manufacturing – £30,454 (+12.2%)
- Travel – £25,789 (+11.9%)
- Trade and Construction – £38,924 (+11.2%)
If you are a graduate hunting for your first graduate role, take a look at the jobs available on the Discovery Graduates website.
