Graduate salary and vacancy survey

• Scope of the survey
• Key findings
• Key findings by job category
• Key findings by type of employer
• Caveats

Scope of the survey

This survey analyses vacancies advertised in the fortnightly digital magazine Prospects Graduate, and in search for job vacancies on Prospects.ac.uk, the UK’s official graduate recruitment website - both are published by Graduate Prospects, the commercial subsidiary of the Higher Education Careers Services Unit (HECSU). The study examines 9,923 vacancies, of which 4,892 (49%) provided salary information, advertised by employers between 1 January 2006 and 31 December 2006.

See caveats for a list of facts which must be taken into account when making inferences from this survey about the overall population of new graduates.

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Key findings

Table 1 shows the salary distribution for these vacancies, and Figure 1 shows the distribution of vacancies within broad salary bands.

• In the year to 31 December 2006, the mean salary offered by recruiters advertising in Prospects Graduate and in search for job vacancies was £18,744. This represented a healthy, above inflation, increase of 3.8% from the average figure a year ago (£18,054). There has, however, been no year-on-year change in the median, at £18,000.
• Salaries offered ranged from £7,735 to £41,000. The highest salary (£41,000) was for a IT recruitment consultant in London with minimum six months experience. The next highest salaries (£39,500 and £38,928) were advertised for a web server administrator and a government principal social researcher.
• The lowest salary (£7,735) was offered to an office intern.
• The high number of vacancies within the salary range of £14,000-£14,999 was largely attributed to one employer with 1,000 vacancies for graduate management trainees.
• The mean and median salaries reported here are lower than those reported in the Prospects Directory salary and vacancy survey, featured in the Winter 06/07 issue of Graduate Market Trends. According to the earlier survey, the average salary was £23,024 with a median figure of £22,000. The employers featured in Prospects Directory are almost exclusively large recruiters operating formal corporate graduate schemes and are more likely to offer higher salaries. Although job postings in Prospects Graduate and search for job vacancies also feature a high number of these large recruiters, there is, in addition, a significant number of small- and medium-sized firms.

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Key findings by job category

Discussion of vacancies is limited to those job categories where there were 30 or more vacancies offered. Discussion of salaries is limited to those job categories where there were 30 or more vacancies with salary information. Smaller sample sizes are too open to variation to identify any significant trends or factors at work.

These key points focus on the period 1 January 2006 to 31 December 2006.

• The most buoyant type of work advertised in 2006 was in administration, accounting for one in four (25.6%) vacancies advertised. Included in these were general graduate management trainee positions. This was followed by vacancies in finance, insurance, pensions and actuarial work (15.5% of the total number of vacancies), sales, retail and buying (14.3%), IT (11.5%) and engineering (10.5%).
• Two in five vacancies (39.4%) in administration were attributed to one employer recruiting for graduate management trainees.
• For job categories which had more than 30 vacancies with salary information, finance, insurance, pension and actuarial work offered the highest median and average salaries, at £23,000 and £24,577 respectively. This was followed by positions in management consultancy, with an average salary of £22,450 and a median salary of £21,467.
• The lowest mean and median salaries (£16,001 and £14,000 respectively) were for positions in administration. These figures, however, were skewed by the inclusion of 1,000 graduate management trainee vacancies at £14,000 offered by one recruiter (see second point above).

For details, see Salaries and vacancies by job category.

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Key findings by type of employer

Discussion of vacancies is limited to those types of employer where there were 30 or more vacancies offered. Discussion of salaries is limited to those types of employer where there were 30 or more vacancies with salary information. Smaller sample sizes are too open to variation to identify any significant trends or factors at work.

These key points focus on the period 1 January 2006 to 31 December 2006.

• In the year to December 2006, other commercial services had the highest concentration of vacancies (12.8%), largely attributed to one employer in this category recruiting 1,000 graduate management trainees.
• The second most buoyant sector was computer consultancy, accounting for one in nine (11.3%) vacancies, an indication of the continuing recovery of the IT industry.
• For types of employer which had more than 30 vacancies with salary information, the finance industry offered the highest mean and median salaries, at £24,469 and £23,000 respectively.
• Of the five main types of employer, professional services offered the highest mean and median salaries, at £22,718 and £21,000 respectively. The lowest was found in the service industries, where salaries averaged at £15,798, with a median value at £14,000.

For details, see Salaries and vacancies by type of employer.

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Caveats

The following facts must be taken into account when making inferences from this survey about the overall population of new graduates.

• The vacancies covered in this survey are aimed specifically at graduates. A substantial number of graduates, however, obtain posts which are not specifically targeted at degree holders. As a result, the average salary reported in this survey is likely to be higher than the average graduate starting salary.
• Although this survey is large, it still only includes a small sample of the total number of posts on offer to graduates, and trends identified from such small samples may not necessarily be representative of the overall graduate recruitment market. Many small companies also tend to only recruit locally.
• Occupations which require additional qualifications such as law, medicine and education, are not covered in this survey.
• Salaries are recorded at the lowest base level reported in the advertisements, and do not include commission or bonuses.
• Vacancy sizes do not necessarily reflect the number of organisations recruiting. For example, in some cases, a large number of vacancies could arise as a result of the recruitment activities of just a few companies.

Copyright © 2002-2012 HECSU | Content last updated: Summer 2007