When do students start looking for a job?

In 2004, Graduate Prospects commissioned Brahm Ltd to do a survey on degree finalists. In total 1,000 interviews were completed with degree finalists from 24 universities, which were conducted between 25th October and 6th December 2004. According to the report, at the time of the survey:

• The majority of degree finalists claim that they have researched for information for their future, with almost nine in ten claiming they have looked for information on careers, job hunting and further education (85%).
• 10% of degree finalists claimed they had secured their future through either obtaining a graduate-level job (4%), a place on a postgraduate course (3%) or a non-graduate job (3%), leaving nine in ten degree finalists not having secured a job or a place on a postgraduate course at the time of the research (90%).
• Of the students who had obtained a graduate job or a place on a postgraduate course, over half started planning in the last academic year or earlier (66%). Just fewer than five in ten students (47%) say they began planning in the last academic year and 19% claim they had begun looking earlier.
• Of the students who have not yet obtained a graduate-level job or a place on a postgraduate course, 36% expect to be working in a graduate-level job after the summer.

More recently, a survey of 16,357 final year students published in April 2009 by High Fliers Research shows that 36% of the finalists were expecting to start a full-time graduate job or be looking for a graduate job after graduation, 17% were preparing to take time off or go travelling and 8% expected to temporary or voluntary work. The same survey shows that more university leavers were applying to work in the public sector, teaching, engineering, the charity or voluntary sector and the Armed Forces.

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