What's the state of graduate recruitment in 2024?

ISE's Recruitment Survey reveals some new and emerging trends for graduate recruitment in 2024, explains Georgia Greer, head of insights at Institute of Student Employers

This year's Student Recruitment Survey shows the impact economic, political and technological developments can have on graduate recruitment and the student experience.

In our survey of 145 employers who hired more than 40,000 new student hires over the last year we found that competition for graduate jobs has reached a record high.

The average employer received 140 applications per graduate job - a significant 59% increase on the previous year and the highest recorded in more than 30 years.

Overall, organisations reported receiving more than 1.2 million graduate applications this year. Delving into the data we also found roles in digital, IT, and financial services among the most competitive.

So, what's happening?

Economic pressures

One reason for soaring competition is the slowdown in graduate jobs growth, which reflects wider market trends.

Graduate vacancies are growing moderately but growth remains in single digits. This year we found that the number of graduate jobs had grown 4% in the last year, compared to 6% the previous year.

We anticipate that this slowdown will continue with employers now forecasting 1% growth over the next year, citing economic pressures as the main reason for reduced hiring numbers.

This pressure can also be seen in salaries. While the average graduate starting salary increased 3% in the last year to £32,000, they haven't fully kept pace with the cost of living and are worth less than they were a decade ago. Since 2021 graduate salaries have fallen in real terms by £3,559.

Advances in tech

Further boosting competition for jobs is the impact of AI and its ability to make job applications quicker and easier. In previous times students may have made a handful of carefully crafted applications to employers they really wanted to work for. We are now hearing that some students have sent out more than a hundred. 

While a third of employers recommend that candidates don't use AI, almost half reported they are happy for candidates to use it, mainly for writing cover letters/CVs and completing online applications and half said candidates had used AI in this way.

While candidates are able to make more applications in a shorter time frame, the quality of those applications is at risk and the process is driving more rejections. These can be detrimental to the student experience and we are advising employers to be transparent about the process, providing feedback where possible and managing the rejection process with care.

For students making those applications, it's important to be authentic otherwise candidates may find themselves in the wrong job.

Widening entry criteria

Almost a quarter of employers surveyed had no minimum education requirements for graduate roles this year, that's more than twice as many as 10 years ago. Those employers with minimum entry requirements have less reliance on minimum UCAS tariffs and 2:1 degrees.

While this is a deliberate, positive shift as organisations seek to increase applications from people from different academic and socio-economic backgrounds, it is also boosting competition with roles more accessible to a broader group of people.

Political changes

Elsewhere in graduate recruitment we can see early signs of the student visa reforms, which have made the job market tougher for international students.

While most respondents to the survey said that they will continue to recruit international students, 18% had rescinded existing job offers due to changes to the visa rules.

Most (89%) of the international students hired had graduated from UK institutions. They tended to be recruited under the Graduate visa (48%) and Skilled Worker visa (47%). The influence of the new salary thresholds on the Skilled Worker visa and the relationship between this and the Graduate visa will be important to continue to pay attention to in the future.

Final thoughts

Students will also be feeling the economic, political and technological pressures of the job market. There is a danger that we make it appear more difficult than it is and that they struggle with motivation or step away entirely.

It's important to remember that employers need skilled workers and they are maintaining their commitment to investing in graduates despite the challenging environment.

Written by

Georgia Greer

Head of insights

Institute of Student Employers