Impact of the Recession

Anne-Marie MartinThe Careers Group,

University of London

The Research• Originally Undertaken in Feb, Updated this week• All Russell Group Institutions

Birmingham, Bristol, Cambridge, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow , Imperial, King's, Leeds, Liverpool, LSE, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne, Nottingham, Oxford, Sheffield, Southampton, UCL, Warwick,

• All 94 Group InstitutionsBath, Birkbeck, Durham, East Anglia, Essex, Exeter, Goldsmiths, Royal Holloway, Lancaster, Leicester, Loughborough, Queen Mary, Reading, St Andrews, SOAS, Surrey, Sussex, Warwick, York

• All other member institutions of the Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services

The Research

“There’s no such thing as qualitative data. Everything is either 1 or 0.” Fred Kerlinger

“All research ultimately has a qualitative grounding.” Donald Campbell

The Questions

©Florencephotos.com. info@florencephotos.com http://www.florencephotos.com Firenze,1999-2008

Institution• Vice Chancellors were concerned• Offer of additional resources.• Recession Contingency Planning Groups• Higher Education Funding Council for

England provided additional funding – ‘Economic Challenge Investment Fund‘

• Government Graduate Talent Pool• Recently rather worrying signs re funding

of university places in 2010/11 and beyond

Employers• Conflicting messages in February, slightly clearer now. • Activity on campus buoyant during Autumn 08 & Spring 09• Summer Fairs across the country report a decrease in both

employer and student attendance• Attraction activity in Autumn 2010 looking positive• Current vacancies – full and part-time.

– Some institutions reported number of vacancies are down

– Significant number of services report number of vacancies identical or up on last year

• Employers reducing their graduate recruitment budgets• Unemployment up in July 2008 cohort especially in London

Students in FebruaryAnxiety but not panicConcerned because their parents are concerned Increased use of the careers service Attendance at events mixedBelieving the headlines so giving up before they start.

“Large accountant, still with 200 vacancies, attracted 4 students here yesterday despite lots of leafleting”

Some signs of avoidance of particular sectors

“Those finalists who are already far down the path, with interviews etc lined up, are active; the others have decided to shelve the

issue for the moment”The exceptions

Most popular questions

• Which are the safest jobs to go into?• Information on volunteering

opportunities for a year?• Benefits or not of a postgraduate

degree? • Public versus private sector?

Students in June

The Frustrating News

• Graduate Recruitment is always behind the curve

• It is the last to collapse and the last to re-emerge

• But nobody hears this message!

Careers Services• Preparing for anything• Trying to communicate clear messages

through many media• Encouraging students to engage• Preaching Quality and Quantity in applications• Talking to and involving academics• Extending activities beyond the normal cycle • New products and services• Encouraging early application in 2009/10 cycle

New Products and Services

• Seminars & Workshops: Job Hunting in a Recession; Creative Job Search; Commercial Awareness; Understanding the Market;

• Increase in Coaching: Selection Perfection• New info: Top ten tips for surviving the

recession; Guide for Parents• New Messages: Plan B; Quality AND Quantity• New Opportunities: Internal Internships;

Graduate Placement Schemes• Boot Camps• Tissues for the unlucky few• This recession is different

A recession like no other

• The Head of the Management school at LSE agrees with careers service view

• Four engines of the economy – USA, Europe, Japan, Emerging markets

• Previous recessions have seen 1 or 2 of these failing and the jumbo jet of the economy has managed to continue on 2 or 3 engines

• This recession has effected all four engines and the plane is therefore gliding gently downwards

• All areas of graduate recruitment likely to feel the effects

When all the engines fail you need

experienced pilots