UK employers place Birmingham in graduate recruitment top six

The Graduate Market in 2017, produced by High Fliers Research, is the annual review of graduate vacancies and starting salaries at Britain’s leading employers.

In the report, published yesterday, Birmingham has risen from 11th  to sixth place in the table of Universities targeted by the largest number of top employers in 2016-2017.

Eluned Jones, Director of Student Employability at the University of Birmingham commented: “We value our employer relationships very highly and take great pride in the University of Birmingham’s increase in the High Fliers ranking.

“This reflects our strong partnerships with a range of employers and a very successful year which has seen an increase in the number of employers visiting the campus as well as growth in vacancies – both for graduate and undergraduate roles.

“As a University we are producing highly employable graduates so it is very gratifying to see this reflected in our growing reputation with a range of top graduate recruiters.”

The new rankings come at a time when just eight of the UK’s leading employers have opted to reduce their graduate recruitment targets for 2017 because of uncertainty following the Brexit vote.

Together, the country’s top employers have received nine per cent more graduate job applications so far, compared with the equivalent period in the 2015-2016 recruitment round.

The report’s key findings include;

·         The country’s top employers plan to increase their graduate recruitment by a further 4.3% in 2017, the fifth consecutive year that graduate vacancies have grown.

·          Employers in six out of thirteen key industries and employment areas are expecting to take on more new graduates this year than in 2016.

·          The biggest growth in vacancies is expected at public sector organisations and high street and online retailers, which together intend to recruit over 1,200 extra graduates in 2017.

·         Just eight of the UK’s leading employers have opted to reduce their graduate recruitment targets for 2017 because of the uncertainty following the Brexit vote.

·         Graduate starting salaries at the UK’s leading graduate employers are expected to remain unchanged in 2017, at a median starting salary of £30,000.

The ten universities whose graduates are most in demand by leading UK companies are named as: Birmingham, Warwick, Manchester, Bristol, Cambridge, Leeds,  Nottingham, Oxford, Durham and Bath.