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- Jo Faragher
It’s certainly positive news that the jobs market for graduates is back on the up, after a number of employers froze or even shut down their schemes during the years of the economic downturn.
But despite the fanfare that there is an 11.9% increase in graduate vacancies, according to the Association of Graduate Recruiters, many of those roles remain unfilled – in large part because employers simply can’t find the right skills.
AGR members complain that many applications are poorly thought out, that there are spelling mistakes – as though applicants are failing to get across any enthusiasm for why they want to work there, or why they would fit well into that employer’s culture.
AGR’s findings echo those of another survey by Hay Group earlier this year, which found that over three-quarters of hiring professionals felt forced to employ graduates without adequate skills because there was so little choice.
At the same time, graduates themselves admitted to placing more emphasis on technical skills, with 61% feeling this was more important than having strong people skills. Over half even thought that having people skills would get in the way of getting the job done.
On the one hand employers need to recruit an increasingly diverse set of skills as new technologies and new roles emerge, yet at the same time still need graduates to cope well in the world of work – to manage deadlines, work well in teams, and understand wider business goals.
There’s a business cost whatever happens in this situation: failure to fill those empty vacancies reduces productivity because work simply isn’t getting done; hiring someone with a lack of skills may be expensive in the long run because they may disengage or take longer to train.
No one is suggesting we start spoon-feeding graduates their skills, but employers and recruiters alike need to find ways to boost employability at this level before the economy gets left behind.
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