Many Commercial Property Businesses Have Difficulty Recruiting Skilled Graduates

Posted on 5 February, 2012 by MOVEHUT

A new report by the Association for Graduate Recruiters (AGR) has revealed some 32 per cent of commercial property businesses struggled to find enough graduates to meet recruitment targets last year after complaining that graduate skill levels often “did not meet their requirements”.

Figures show the number of commercial property organisations failing to hire enough students increased by almost a quarter in just 12 months, despite record numbers of graduates finishing.

Some employers said the quality of applications was “not always good enough” and others did not have the time and resources to re-train graduates who joined lacking skills.

One company said that the panic for jobs meant graduates were not diligent enough when applying for jobs and making too many mistakes on the applications. The disclosure was made despite the fact that rising numbers of university leavers are being left jobless or forced to accept low-skilled positions as shelf stackers, cleaners and bar staff to make ends meet.

The report also went onto highlight that they expect the total number of graduate jobs is expected to drop in 2012 down 2.1 per cent on the previous year, with most public and private sector employers citing concerns over the economic environment.

However, Chief Executive of the AGR, Carl Gilleard, said the off-set by two years of rising vacancy levels should be seen as: “Good news against an uncertain national, European and global economy.”

He said: “With the job market intrinsically linked to business confidence, I am cautiously optimistic for graduate recruitment in 2012 and it is encouraging to see that only a slight drop is predicted.”

The AGR report was compiled after a survey of 214 major UK employers including Barclays, IBM, BAE systems, BP, McDonalds, Tesco, Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Unilever. Collectively, the commercial property businesses advertised a total of 21,325 new positions during 2010/11 recruitment year-up by 1.7 per cent compared with 12 months earlier.

Despite the rise, some 32.3 per cent of employers said they were unable to meet their recruitment targets, with numbers increasing by almost a quarter in a year. One employer from the public sector said the quality of applications was “not always good”.

The employer said: “When we’ve got a starting point of around 1,000 applications, I’d be really surprised if I couldn’t fill six vacancies, whereas if I was looking for 30 I might struggle a bit.”

The largest recruitment gap came from the transport and logistics and engineering industries saying they had missed recruitment targets by an amazing 80 per cent. One employer said they frequently received good applications from international engineers but not British students.

A representative from an accountancy firm warned of inaccuracies on application forms, adding: “There’s a bit of panic out there so graduates are perhaps spending less time on their applications.” The report also said that the average starting salary remained at £25,000 last year-the third year of stagnation in a row.


However, there was some good news for graduates as the average wage for graduates is expected to rise by four per cent over the next year.

In a further conclusion, the AGR suggested that growing numbers of students would be attracted by two-year university degree courses in coming years. But the report said employers: “Expressed some concern that students will be prevented from developing skills due to heavy workloads” imposed by the shorter course.

Mr Gilleard said: “Employers do value graduates that have work experience and those students that have undertaken a year in industry as part of a four-year degree.”

He further added: “Consequently, there are genuine concerns surrounding students undertaking two year degrees as they do not have as much time to gain workplace experience.”




Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.


Recent Posts

Interest Rates Impact on Commercial Property

Commercial Property Investment Outlook for 2023

The best places to stay on the Riviera

The latest property data has identified Newquay as the fastest property seller’s market in the UK

Investing in your garden can increase your property’s value

French Riviera temping high-end homebuyers

How can the ownership rights of my commercial property impact a business sale?

Should I incorporate virtual property viewings permanently?

Investment expected to increase across Asia-Pacific in 2021

UK property industry slows as the conclusion of tax break looms

BNP Paribas cautioned investors on Friday as debt-trading bonanza that increased its earnings this past year

Over 300,000 property purchases fell through in 2020 – we show the most frequent motives and the best way to get your house sale back on track

House Prices in the Capital Surpass £500,000

Optimism from the Bank of England’s chief economist

The most expensive commercial properties.

Businesses operating from shared premises will miss out on grants