Now it’s all over, will the election make a scrap of difference to graduate prospects?

I held off writing my latest epistle for the GRB until the results of the General Election were known. Then I was going to predict how the emergence of a new government might impact on the graduate recruitment market.

Well, as we all know, the result was confusing to say the least and now that we have our first coalition government for 70 years, no-one, perhaps even Cameron and Clegg themselves, can say with any certainty how things will work out.

To say that we are moving into unchartered territory is an understatement. Nevertheless, the early indications are that the nation as a whole favours the arrangement, breathing a sigh of relief that the cloud of uncertainty that hung over the UK has been blown away like volcanic dust, at least for the time being.

Uncertainty is something that people are not comfortable with. The markets certainly get very nervous when they can’t see into the future. Uncertainty also impacts on business confidence and that in turn has a knock-on effect on recruitment. Businesses look forward when considering their graduate intake. They want to know with as much certainty as possible that the talent they are recruiting and developing will be needed to cope with growth and attrition. When businesses are unclear about what the future holds, then they reduce their intakes. Trying not to be too political, I suspect that most CEOs and Boards of Directors are happier with the coalition than some of the other possibilities that were being mooted just a few days ago.

As if to prove the point, in AGR’s latest graduate recruiter confidence poll, 55% of respondents were more confident about the prospects for their business than they were in January. 37% have higher recruitment target levels than a year ago and 58% are still actively recruiting.

This last statistic is important to Class of 2010. Uncertainty about the future is something that many finalists feel as they approach the end of their higher education experience. I imagine that most final year students will be focused on their final examinations as they strive to get those few extra marks to guarantee a 2:1 but, if it is their intention to enter the labour market this summer, they would do well to take a little time out to investigate what vacancies are available. A jobs board sales manager told me the other day that they had received details of a thousand new vacancies in recent weeks.

Graduate job seekers must do all they can to research the market. The most certain way to allay uncertainty is to find out the facts. A year ago, we faced a situation where many graduates had given up the ghost of a chance of a graduate job yet some of the country’s top employers were screaming out for applications in May and June. The same could occur this year. Just as the Tories have decided they need to work with the Lib Dems, graduate job seekers would do well to forge alliances with those who know what the market holds, including making use of their careers services and agencies such as the GRB.

Carl Gilleard

Chief Executive AGR