Graduates in Selling 2011 - the value of work experience

3/5th of employers from the High Fliers Research Survey stated that it was either 'not very likely' or 'not at all likely' that a graduate who'd had no previous work experience - either with their organisation or at any other employer- would be successful during their selection process and be made a job offer.

Many recruiters commented irrespective of the academic results that a graduate had achieved, it would be very hard for an applicant to demonstrate the the skills and competencies that they were looking for if they'd not had any prior work experience.

Across all the employers featured in the research , an estimated 32% of this year's graduate vacancies will be filled by applicants who have already worked for an employer as an under graduate and in some sectors the proportion increases to 50% or more.


High Fliers Research measure the impact of recruitment activities with 120+ employers selected from the 100 Top graduate employers for 2010.

Almost all of the UK’s leading graduate employers are offering work experience programmes for students and recent graduates during 2010-2011 academic year. Total of 10,665 places are available.

3/5th of employers are providing industrial placements for undergraduates (typically 6-12 months) or vacation work lasting more than three weeks.

2/3rd of recruiters warn graduates who have no previous work experience at all are unlikely to be successful during the selection process and have little or no chance of receiving a job for their organisations’ graduate programmes.

High Fliers Research have recently published their 32 page report on graduate vacancies & starting salaries at Britain's leading employers.

It is organised into 5 sections Click for High Fliers Web site where you can down load the report scroll down to the bottom left hand site of their home page.


1. Introduction: Researching into the Graduate market. The Times Top 100 Graduate employers.
2. Graduate Vacancies : Job vacancies, Type and Location plus the impact of the recession
3. Graduate salaries
4. Graduate recruitment programmes
5. Work experience: Types of work experience on offer, availability and value of work experience










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Click for Careers Guardian forums well worth following



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