Employers Held To Ransom By Class Of 2000

The Guardian's GRAD FACTS 2000

8 December 2000

Graduates are an increasingly powerful and demanding group, brimming with confidence and forcing employers to fulfil their expectations or risk losing the war for talent. Seven per cent of graduates now expect a 'golden hello' and one in five who had received a job offer felt sufficiently confident to turn it down, according to The Guardian's Grad Facts 2000 in association with the Association of Graduate Recruiters published today (Friday, December 8 2000).

The survey of over 2,000 final year University students reveals the class of 2000 expects to walk into a graduate job, but has no employer loyalty; a third don't anticipate staying with their first employer for more than a year or two. Work/life balance rates highly with 36% rating over 30 days holiday as a more attractive benefit than a car or pension scheme.

In the longterm, I want more from my career

Job satisfaction is still the main criterion - from both the work itself and from colleagues. Men are more anxious than women about having an excellent salary (61% versus 52%) and a good social life (36% versus 29%). Women want to feel more passionate about the industry in which they work (68% versus 56%); be treated with equality (58% versus 34%) and be able to give something back to society (52% versus 38%). They are also much keener than men to have an inspirational boss or mentor (31% versus 19%).

Leaving it late

Confidence is high and graduates are optimistic about their job prospects, despite starting job-hunting late. More than half (52%) expected to be job hunting in September 2000 and 3

in 10 (29%) said they had not carried out any job hunting prior to the time of the survey (July 2000). One in five graduates who had received a job offer felt sufficiently confident to turn it down, giving their top two reasons as holding out for a better job (44%) and not believing they had received the right offer yet (41%).

Don't make me work too hard to get a job…

51% of graduates said having to perform some kind of test would discourage them from applying for certain jobs. Being asked to do role play exercises (24%) or give a presentation (23%) were considered the worst options, closely followed by giving handwriting samples (20%), writing essays/reports (15%) and being interviewed over the phone (15%). In the end, 57% confessed that doing anything other than supplying a CV, filling-in a form or having a straight-forward interview would put them off.

Perks of the job?

Training is expected by 71% in their first job, along with 20-25 days holiday (65%). Seven per cent now expect a golden hello and a few expect a subsidised mortgage (5%), a clothing allowance (5%) or a car (6%). When asked which three benefits would be the most attractive, extra holiday (over 30 days) came top (36%), followed by a car (33%) and contributory company pension scheme (27%).

What about the money?

Seventy per cent expect an initial annual salary of between £10,000 - £18,000, with more than half of those hoping for at least £14,000. One in five expects to earn more than £18,000. Eight per cent expect to receive in excess of £20,000. Women graduates continue to have more modest expectations about pay. More than one third of women expect to start on less than £14,000 compared to only a quarter of men.

After five years, more than half of the men (55%) expect to be earning over £25,000 compared with less than a third of women (31%). One in ten men see themselves earning more than £40,000 in years compared to just 2% of women.

Media babes

Twenty per cent of graduates, in particular women, would most like to demonstrate their creativity by working in media, broadcasting or publishing. But it's toys for the boys with computing/IT - the second most popular industry sector (19%) - which is three times more likely to appeal to men than women. Finance and banking are also more attractive to men, along with telecommunications, engineering and new media/dot.com companies.

…and the not so popular

Despite recent high-profile recruitment drives, nearly half of all graduates (47%) - men and women alike - think working for the police/armed forces/prison services would be their most disliked job. Other unpopular industries include building and construction (40%), agriculture/forestry/fishing (37%) and hotel/catering (35%). Teaching was similarly given the cold-shoulder with 33% saying it wouldn't be the job for them.

The dot.com bubble bursts

The class of 2000 would rather work for a private or publicly owned company (50%) than a dot.com company (11%) - at least for their first job. A third of graduates, particularly women, would prefer to work in a public sector organisation. Small companies with under 50 employees are completely out of favour - only a handful of graduates would choose to work for one.

Training

While 45% don't anticipate staying with their first employer for more than a year or two, over half of graduates (56%) are looking for jobs offering a graduate training scheme. Of these, one in five is looking specifically for 'fast-track' graduate schemes. One in ten confesses to looking for 'anything at all'.

Embracing the American way

Despite the introduction of tuition fees, 71% of graduates felt that going to university was a good financial investment and 93% that it had been a worthwhile experience. Graduates are tending to study in their area of origin and nearly half worked part-time while at university (48%). Having enough money to pay off debts quickly rates high in the factors influencing their first graduate job choice (42%).

In my first job, I would like to…..

The vast majority are looking simply to enjoy their work (88%), get on well with their colleagues (71%) and would like to be challenged (69%). Enough money to afford the things they enjoy is important to two-thirds. At this early stage, an excellent salary is important to only 26% and having good perks and benefits to 28%. A mere twenty per cent of a label conscious generation are looking to work for a well-known company and 16% doesn't want to have to work overtime or at weekends.

Finding a job

Newspaper adverts continue to top the list for sourcing careers information (53%), followed closely by the internet (up 24 points to 49% since 1998). Only 3% use the milk round. More rely on personal contacts (18%) or company brochures (18%) to glean facts.

Better than sex

Getting a good job and friends were rated more highly than sex or money in terms of graduates' personal interests. Family and having a good time were also highly prized. Graduates were least interested in politics, football and television. Men rated sex and money, and particularly sport, more highly than women. Women rank food more highly than sex.

Before leaving university, 89% regularly used the Internet/World Wide Web and 59% worked to support themselves whilst studying. Nearly half (48%) of the men regularly played sport (against only 29% of women).

The lengths I would go to…

'I would be prepared to do extra training and studying for a maximum of 3 more years at a lower salary, and work with people I don't like for about the same time. But I would only work very long hours with no holidays for one year maximum.' (Male, 21, Business)

'As long as the benefits of the job were not outweighed by the costs of getting it.' (Male, 21, Humanities)

'I would befriend people I didn't like to further my career - sad but true.' (Male, 22, IT)

'Anything short of sleeping with the recruiter or completely humiliating myself!' (Female, 21, Social/Political Sciences)

'Studying for 6 years with no money, no car and poor accommodation.' (Male, 23, Law)

'Strip naked in front of the Queen Mother on her 100th birthday.' (Male, 42, Languages)

'I would certainly exploit friends/contacts and ask them to help. Networking and sycophancy are not below me! I might sell my grandmother depending on salary and benefits.' (Male, 22, Social/Political)

Technical details

Background to Grad Facts

Grad Facts is the UK's most in-depth and wide-reaching study into career expectations and aspirations. Grad Facts provides employers with a unique insight into how and when UK graduates look for jobs, how they see themselves fitting into life after university and what attracts them to a particular organisation

Sample and Methodology

• The Grad Facts 2000 research was carried out on behalf of The Guardian by MORI, the UK's largest independent research agency
• Participants were recruited following 4365 face-to-face interviews of undergraduate finalists at universities and colleges across the UK in May and June 2000. Interviews were then followed up by a detailed questionnaire, which was sent out in July 2000. In total 2009 questionnaires were completed and returned.
• The survey universe was final year, full time undergraduates. As the survey investigates the career decision making of students and how they go about looking for a job, those students on clearly vocational courses were omitted. The sample is therefore representative of final year students available to graduate recruiters
• Students were carefully selected from a representative sample of HE institutions across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, stratified by region and institution type
• To ensure that the sample is representative, data has been weighted by sex, age, region of study and institution type