Early Bird Catches The Worm

GRB’s latest poll reveals some shocking results – at least for graduate recruiters. Asked when they plan to start applying for jobs, 34% said not until after they have graduated. Add to this the 19% who plan to defer their job search until after their finals and more than one in two are not engaging in the jobs market during their final year.

Many employers open their applications season in the autumn when as few as 19% of students are ready to make job applications. We can surmise from this that a significant proportion of final year students are choosing not to aim for a graduate job in the year they graduate. This might explain in part why recruiters are receiving more and more applications from graduates from previous years.

Is this good practice? Well, the logic might be that gaining a decent degree is more important than getting into work so the emphasis is on study rather than job search and it is true that applying for jobs takes time and effort. However, the risk is that the market might deteriorate during the year and in 2012 there could be fewer jobs and greater competition. Students pay their money and make their choices. One hopes however that they have not made up their minds that there are very few jobs around so why bother. That kind of negative thinking almost certainly diminishes the prospect of getting a job, no matter what degree class the graduate obtains.

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