Whether it’s a traditional employment arrangement or work as a freelancer or umbrella company contractor, graduates seem to be finding jobs much more easily.
New graduates haven’t always struggled to find gainful employment, but the past few years in the wake of the credit crisis and resultant economic downturn have been particularly troublesome for anyone leaving university for the so-called real world. Those first steps on the employment ladder have been a struggle in the current economic landscape, but a new research study has found that vacancies appropriate for trainees and graduates has increased by 11 per cent over the last year.
The new job availability has absolutely decimated the competition for these positions as well, according to the survey. In fact, the ratio of job applications for every vacancy dropped by a massive 22 per cent over the last 12 months for many regions.
This is of course welcome news for anyone who has been trying in vain to secure employment, especially in markets where the skills shortage has been wreaking havoc with the ability of Brits to hold down jobs. Companies in need of specific skill sets have been encountering a dearth of qualified workers with the requisite talent, and many companies have had to rely on a small cadre of freelancers to work on a per-project basis despite the shedloads of Brits aching for a job.
However, the new evidence revealed lately seems to favour the idea that this skils shortage isn’t nearly the bogeyman that people are thinking. I’m not saying that it can’t be a problem – there are still all too many Brits that aren’t graduates or experienced contract workers that are still trying and failing to find gainful employment – but it’s not the cataclysmic event that some economists have been predicting where British industries outsource offshore for their staffing needs and collapsing the still shaky economic recovery. For what it’s worth there’s still quite a way to go to get the economy firing on all cylinders but it’s not going to be as arduous a task as everyone is afraid it will be.
If you ask me, let these less skilled workers go back to fill some of these still vacant trainee positions. Yes it will most likely involve more work for less pay but it’s probably better than being on benefits, right?
