The British Graduate



	It is a common worry for many graduates that the changes going on in the country's economy will have an adverse effect on their ability to get jobs. Although record numbers of graduates are setting their sights on jobs in investment banking, according to High Fliers Research "nearly two-fifths believe there will be fewer jobs in that sector".
	It cannot be denied that last year's credit crunch and its economic fallout has affected almost every business in the UK and around the world, although some were hit more than others. But will this affect the British graduates ability to get a job? Well, the battering that businesses have taken due to the lending crisis has had a big effect on job losses – almost ever major bank has announced significant redundancies in the last year in order to cope with the massive write-offs made following the sub-prime crisis (if you have reached this point and don’t understand what ‘write-off’ or ‘sub-prime’ means, click on the link to the right for a simple explanation of the financial situation).
	The Confederation of British Industry, or CBI for short, recently warned that up to 200,000 may lose their jobs by 2009 if the predicted recession actually occurs. Losses will be felt hardest in financial services, somewhat unsurprisingly considering the cause of the meltdown – could be bad news for that record number of graduates that are setting their sights on that sector. But while this may seem like curtains for the 185,000 or so graduates leaving university each year, it might not be quite as bad as it seems. Although jobs are being axed left, right and centre, Caroline Roberts of Robert Walters recruitment consultants told ‘The British Graduate’ that graduates are big business these days, and employers will always look to recruit more talent for the future.

	While graduates will always be sought after by companies, the fast-increasing competition for places is becoming undeniably heated. Even if graduate places are not being removed, they are by no means growing at the same rate as the number of people going through the university system. UCAS figures show that applications to English universities are up 7% from last year, adding over 20,000 more potential graduates. The question facing British graduates is: do you have the skills and the qualifications to stand out? The following section, 'Does Britain need talent?' looks at the implications of the changing nature of the jobs market.