Recession - careers services' response
AGCAS has asked heads of university careers services around the UK what impact the recession appears to be having on their students and graduates, the employers they work with and on the services they offer. The survey was carried out in January and February 2009. Twenty heads replied. This article summarises their responses.
Student reactions
Q: Are you seeing an increase in student or graduate approaches which appear to have been driven by the current situation? What sort of concerns are students and graduates expressing?
A: Most respondents reported some changes to student behaviour - more students seem worried but few appear to be panicking; fewer are showing an interest in banking; more are applying to the public sector, including teaching and nursing; more seem to be considering postgraduate study; law was also reported to be more popular this year; one head reported a decrease in students wanting to start a business; one mentioned an increased interest in gap years.
Some heads reported that more students appeared be planning early as shown by increased attendance at workshops on topics such as creative job hunting; attendance at some (but not all) fairs; demand for one-to-one interviews.
Employer activity
Q: Have you heard of any employers who have said they will not be recruiting graduates, who expect to significantly reduce the numbers they take on or who will be recruiting from a smaller range of institutions? Or, conversely, any who expect to recruit at the same levels as last year or even take on more graduates?
A: Some services reported more vacancies in autumn 2008 than in 2007 but there was no widespread expectation that the trend would continue into spring. Most respondents report that there are fewer jobs in many sectors, including the media, retail, and pharmaceutical, not just banking, property and construction, which seemed to be the case when the survey was last carried out in October. However, there were also reports that some recruiters are reporting a reduction in applications, which they perceive to be as a result of the impact of media coverage on students. Consequently, while some recruiters have brought their deadlines forward, others have extended them. There were some reports of redundancies affecting a small number of placement students as well as graduate jobs. Healthcare, education, the armed forces and other public sector employers and some engineering and utilities firms, on the other hand, were reported by some to be recruiting at or above their normal levels.
In addition, some heads reported that fewer employers were participating in their events programmes such as career management and skills development training; one head reported that some employers seem to be converting some of their graduate equivalent jobs to sit outside of graduate training schemes (ie, positions exist but they are no longer considered graduate positions - a cheaper way to afford the resource); one said that some employers were targeting more narrowly in order to reduce the cost of recruitment.
Extra services
Q: Do you anticipate doing anything differently yourselves - any new services or change of emphasis?
A: Respondents mentioned new publications such as staff and employer newsletters, briefings and flyers; more use of technology such as RSS feeds to which students subscribe for regular updates; a director's blog, podcasts; short videos for students; sessions on topics such as creative job hunting and coping with the recession; ongoing monitoring of the labour market; more presentations and closer contact with academics; more proactive vacancy-seeking including the use of alumni; extra physical and virtual fairs. One respondent mentioned 'a big push on the subjects of volunteering and mentoring programmes, KTP and gap year opportunities'.
Messages
Q What messages would you like to see AGCAS get across via the media to students and to other audiences?
The main messages you asked us to communicate to:
Students - be proactive and positive, target applications, prepare well, continue with your studies; be flexible; understand that some sectors may be affected more than others; don't believe all media coverage; don't panic; and use your careers service.
Employers - think long term; be honest; continue to recruit from a wide range of institutions; and make use of and communicate with careers services.
The media - acknowledge that some sectors may be affected more than others and give more balanced coverage.
Government and HE managers - invest in careers and employability services.
A further survey will be carried out in a few months' time.