Internship or work experience vital to secure graduate job

The UK now has 2.68 million people out of work, 1.04 million of them being in the 16 to 24 age bracket. Furthermore, the number of freelancers in the UK has now reached 4.12 million, or 14.1% of the total workforce.

University students nearing the end of their degree course must be wondering whether they have any chance of finding meaningful employment. For some at least, all is not lost. A new survey by High Fliers has discovered that highly skilled graduates with degrees in engineering, financial services and IT will find themselves in high demand this year. However, a good degree is no longer enough to satisfy a lot of employers and they expect to see details of an internship or work experience on a candidate's CV as well.

High Fliers researched the hiring intentions of the Times top 100 Graduate Employers and found that companies in the engineering and industrial sector intend to increase graduate entry positions by 22% this year, whilst firms in the IT and telecoms sector will hire 32% more graduates than they did last year.

These large organisations are looking for skilled, experienced graduates. 62% intend to hire graduates to work in finance functions and 57% need to employ graduates for IT functions.

This year companies are placing a particular emphasis on employing graduates who have gained direct experience already. More than 50% of the surveyed organisations said they were unlikely to hire a graduate who did not have a relevant internship or work experience placement under their belt already.

The technology sector policy advisor at the REC, Andrew Tomlinson, said that the survey results show there is still a demand for highly skilled, experienced graduates despite the lack of confidence in the global economy.

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