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Graduate employers 'need to rethink recruitment strategies'

Published: Monday, 23 November 2009   Category: Employer News

Students are looking at university courses in terms of teaching quality rather than institutional prestige, which means graduate employers need to alter their employment criteria.

That is according to Higher Education Careers Services Unit (HECSU) research, which found that future graduate job hunters are shunning so-called Russell Group institutions - including, Oxford, Cambridge, Leeds and Edinburgh.

Human Resources magazine reported that some of the highest-achieving degree-holders currently in the UK went to newer universities and HECSU is encouraging employers to think twice when looking at graduate job candidates' qualifications.

Jane Artess, director of research at HECSU, told the news provider: "This [research] strongly opposes current views by many employers that they can only find exceptional candidates from the Russell Group. Employers should try and find out about the departments and courses they are interested in."

The Daily Telegraph recently said that top UK blue chip companies are using graduate job candidates' GCSE results on top of degree marks to determine who to employ.