Graduate Careers and the Economic Downturn

It is an unwritten rule of job cutting that the most recently hired graduates should be the first ones to be let go when the financial sector is hurting. Some banks are steadfast in their efforts to hire new graduates while others, such as AIB, have eliminated programs of recruitment for the year. What kind of graduates do they seek out? What are some ways for a graduate to stand out in today's poor job market? What can new arrivals hope to gain in the future?

Banks may have difficulty admitting it but, according to bank industry observers, there are fewer job openings available to graduates. Despite the pressure that some graduates are experiencing, and the fact that banks such as AIB have put a hold on recruiting efforts this year, positive signs can be seen. Even though Citi is a bank that has revealed large redundancies worldwide, the number of graduates hired for 2008 are in sync with the number for 2007. Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley are eagerly seeking out new graduates to hire. Even UBS, with its announcement of 5,500 redundancies, plans to go forth with a recruitment season similar to that of last year's.

Goldman Sachs is in the middle of one of its largest summer recruitment initiatives. This summer, over 400 interns will start their placements. In 2009, we believe approximately 75% will be offered permanent employment. Employment in commercial banking has a great outlook. In Barclays, they are looking for new recruit figures to grow by 48% in the globel retail, and the commercial department for the year. In 2009 they are looking to see another increase.

Graduates can rest easy since banks seemed to have learned from past mistakes. Rather than hiring new graduates, many banks were forced to fill jobs from accountancy during the period from 2001-02, which was the last time the financial sector recruiting was as bad as the current decline of 40%. This will not happen again, so graduate jobs will be open to the qualified people.

Article Source: http://modirac.com

Martha is a freelance journalist writing about Pareto Consulting

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