AGR Recruiters Want You In 2011

As members of the Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR), the voice of mainly graduate scheme recruiters, GRB were invited to the Winter Survey Launch in London last night. Attended by MP David Willetts and chaired by Terence Perrin, the mood was upbeat and hopeful for 2011. Surprisingly, many AGR members had vacancies unfilled in 2010 which unfortunately didn't register with last year's graduates. A 3.8% increase in vacancies for 2011 across most sectors was encouraging and a message that needed to get out to graduates despondent with recent events.

GRB has also seen an uptick in business and would agree things have turned around but it is still an employers market with recruiters standing firm on graduate salaries with an unprecedented freeze on the average of £25,000 and sticking to high entry requirements of a 2.1 from a Russell Group university. Although this survey represented 222 recruiters offering 20,971 roles on schemes this was only 10% of the overall graduate jobs market. GRB have seen many graduates opting for non-scheme roles which makes up a huge part of the destinations for recent high calibre graduates. Here's a round up of how some of the media is reporting the survey;

BBC - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-12266766
The Guardian - http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2011/jan/25/graduates-employment-rise-outlook
Financial Times - http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e633b398-27f9-11e0-8abc-00144feab49a.html