spring/summer 2016 grovelands graduate insights than salary. students feel a starting salary of...

Grovelands Graduate Insights

Spring/Summer 2016

ForewordThis time we have focussed our attention on the graduate market, specifically examining the experience of graduate workers, how they approach job-hunting, and what employers should be doing to attract top talent.

Every summer and autumn a large number of graduates enter the job market for the first time. It is a highly competitive market, both for the graduates seeking their first roles, and for the businesses trying to attract them.

We examine the realities of seeking work for the first time; how prepared are graduates? How do universities support their students and alumni? What types of roles and what level of pay attracts graduate interest? How do these realities match up against the expectations of students still at university?

With the high cost of attending university, we try to understand and explain how this has impacted current students’ attitudes, expectations and career aspirations.

This survey reports on current students, employed graduates, and graduates who have so far been unsuccessful in securing a role.

This report will help students in forming their employment expectations, graduates in assessing their position in the market, and employers in understanding how they can attract the top talent for their business.

I hope you enjoy the report. For more information on our findings please get in touch at [email protected]

Best Wishes,

Ben WilsonCEO, Grovelands

Welcome to the latest edition of our Grovelands Insights series.

ContentsExecutive summary 04

Meet our respondents 06

Expectations vs realities 09

Looking to the future 16

Our conclusion 18

This survey reports on current students, employed graduates, and graduates who have so far been unsuccessful in securing a role.

4 | Grovelands Graduate Insights | Spring/Summer 2016

Of 221 respondents 69% have graduated and 31% are still at university. The most common age of our respondents is 22-25 years. Most are single and without children.

Our graduates and students have attended universities across the UK and covered a wide range of degree subjects including humanities, arts and sciences.

51% of current students say they are aiming to achieve a 2.1 degree classification with 39% aiming for a 1st Class; however our data suggests far fewer will actually manage to achieve these grades with almost as many graduate respondents leaving university with a 2.2 as with a 1st.

Students were evenly split when asked whether they were concerned about student debt; a small percentage say they do consider debt when thinking about future employment. 42% of students aim to enter employment immediately after leaving university with the remainder aiming to travel or complete further study.

Meet our respondents

This edition of Grovelands Insights report deals with the graduate market and its views on work, starting a career and finding jobs. Here, we outline our key findings from each section:

Executive summary

Executive summary

Students and graduates are open to a wide range of career options, 20% of students say they have no specific career path in mind and 59% of graduates say they are working in a role unrelated to their degree subject.

Respondents who began to consider and apply for roles earlier at university seem to have better success in finding work after university. However the majority (53%) plan to wait until after graduation before completing a single job application.

47% of graduates say it takes at least 6 months to find a graduate role with 18% saying it takes more than a year. The competition for roles is our respondents’ main concern and reason why they feel they are unsuccessful in applications.

57% of respondents say they did not use their university careers services until their final year of study and 15% did not use it at all, this suggests that universities could be doing more to engage with students earlier.

A good work/life balance is considered crucial to graduate workers with 75% feeling this is more important than salary.

Students feel a starting salary of between £20,000 - £30,000 is realistic however most graduates are earning between £15,000 - £25,000.

Expectations vs realities63% of respondents feel further study will be necessary in order to achieve the graduate role that they want, suggesting an undergraduate degree is of most value in conjunction with other qualifications.

On average, graduates expect to achieve lifestyle milestones (such as owning a home) by age 30-35. However students expect to earn higher salaries by age 35 than graduates.

Looking to the future

Executive summary

Grovelands Graduate Insights | Spring/Summer 2016 | 5

Our pool is made up of 221 respondents, of these 69% have graduated and 31% are still at university. We surveyed people on both sides of graduation in order to examine how the expectations of students match up against the realities of life after graduation.

Meet our respondents

77% of current students surveyed are in their penultimate or final year of study, and 28% are in the early stages of their university education. Part of our interest has been in examining at what point in their university life students begin to consider career options. We want to understand the correlation between those who consider their options sooner and success in finding work.

We have seen a fairly even gender split with 54% female respondents and 46% male. 49% of respondents are 22-25 years of age, with 18-21 and 26-30 both at 23%. The majority (64%) are single without any children.

51% of undergraduates are expecting to achieve a 2.1 grade and 39% expect to achieve a 1st Class degree. However, 68% of graduates achieved a 2.1, 14% achieved a 1st and 13% achieved a 2.2. Clearly students aim to achieve the highest grade possible, but these figures suggest fewer graduates manage to achieve a 1st Class grade than those who hope to. With most graduate schemes asking for a minimum of a 2.1 degree, gaining a lower classification can cause difficulties in finding work.

Are you currently studying or have you graduated?

Studying (31.2%)

Graduated (68.8%)

Over 2/3rds of respondents have already graduated from university.


Respondents are studying for a variety of qualifications:

10% of our respondents changed their degree subject part way through their course. In most cases this was due to a personal dislike of the original course. Better career prospects was the second most common reason for changing. Undergraduate students appear to recognise that they need to get their course choice right and that a university education is an important platform to better employment prospects.

Only 49% of students say they are concerned about student debt while 51% say they are not. This even divide of attitudes to student debt suggests that while debt is a concern, students are not being put off university by the cost. However, with increases to tuition and cuts made to grants, students may well ask what their universities are doing to offer them value for money.

Only 3.4% of students said they expect starting salaries to be in proportion to increased costs of study. This suggests students do not expect to see an immediate financial reward after studying.

Bachelor of Science 82 respondentsBSc

BA

MSc

MA

ME

BL

Fd

PhD

AAT

PhD

MB

HND

Bachelor of Arts 70 respondents

Master of Science 23 respondents

Master of Arts 9 respondents

Master of Engineering 6 respondents

Bachelor of Laws 3 respondents

Foundation Degree 2 respondents

PhD 2 respondents

AAT 1 respondent

Professional Doctorate 1 respondent

Bachelor of Medicine 1 respondent

HND 1 respondent

Meet the respondents

66% of our group are White British with a wider ethnic diversity amongst our student respondents. Students and graduates were from universities from all over the UK including Bath, Bristol, Exeter, Sussex and Glasgow amongst others. We also gained a cross section of degree subjects covering Sciences, Economics, English and Humanities, Management and Marketing.

Home location

North East EnglandDurham University Leeds Beckett University Newcastle University Northumbria University Teesside University University of Huddersfield University of Hull University of Sheffield University of Sunderland University of York

North West EnglandBlackpool and the Fylde College Lancaster University Liverpool John Moores University University of Central Lancashire University of Liverpool

MidlandsAston University Birmingham City University Coventry University Keele University Oxford Brookes University University of Bedfordshire University of Birmingham University of Derby University of Leicester University of Lincoln University of Northampton University of Nottingham University of Wolverhampton

East AngliaAnglia Ruskin University

South East EnglandCanterbury Christ Church University Northbrook College University of Brighton University of Chichester University of Essex University of Kent University of Portsmouth University of Surrey University of Sussex

South West EnglandPlymouth University University of Bath University of Bristol University of Exeter University of Gloucestershire University of the West of England

LondonCity College, LondonDrama Centre London London Metropolitan UniversityLondon South Bank University Queen Mary University of London University College London University of East London University of Greenwich University of Hertfordshire University of Westminster

WalesBangor University Cardiff University University of Glamorgan

Scotland Edinburgh Napier University Glasgow Caledonian University Heriot-Watt University University of Dundee University of Edinburgh University of Glasgow University of Strathclyde University of West Scotland European Politehnica University of Bucharest (Romania)

Non-European San Ignacio de Loyola University (Peru)Acadia University (USA) Goa University (India)

SOUTH WEST ENGLAND (32%)

MIDLANDS (14%)

SOUTH EAST ENGLAND (20%)

NORTH WEST ENGLAND (6%)

SCOTLAND (5%)

EAST ANGLIA (5%)

LONDON (4%)

WALES (1%)

NORTH EAST ENGLAND (2%)

Respondents come from a wide variety of locations across the UK with some from much further afield.

EUROPEAN (6%)

NON-EUROPEAN (5%)

This section examines student expectation of employment and how this matches up against the experiences of graduates.

20% of students said that they had no specific career plans after graduation. Of those who were decided, a broad range of careers were planned including Medicine, Teaching, Acting, Finance and Law. In April 2015, the Telegraph newspaper revealed the top 10 most popular subjects to study at university. Of these the majority were career specific – with Medicine the top result, Business Studies second, and Creative Art/Design came in third.

In order to attract talent from the entire graduate pool, employers need to be accessible to students from a range of disciplines. 59% of employed graduates say their role is not specifically related to their degree. This suggests graduates are open to, and able to find, different career paths and so can be attracted to a range of businesses. 73% of graduates who are currently seeking work are looking for roles directly related to their degree specialism, which is in stark contrast to those who have found employment. One possible conclusion is that graduates who are open to differing employment routes and more adaptive to the opportunities open to them, succeed sooner in finding employment.

63% of existing students said they will not be completing a placement year as part of their degree; however 56% have completed some form of relevant work experience throughout their study – mainly in the form of summer internships. The most common total length of experience gained was 0-6months (39%); however 19% have gained up to a year of work experience alongside study.

Of the graduates surveyed who have not found work, 63% have completed work experience of some kind; most commonly 0-6 months in length (43%). 57% of our graduate workers had not completed any work experience during their study. This suggests that a lack of work experience has not stood in the way of these graduates finding work. However, this contradicts graduate advice, which promotes the need for work experience. There are also varying requirements for work experience across different industries.

Expectations vs realities


Few of our employed respondents found work through traditional graduate schemes. While these are a common way to capture graduate talent, with most major businesses running a graduate programme, they are not a route taken by the majority of graduates each year. There are limited places on these schemes and a lot of competition. 36% of graduates had received job offers prior to graduation day, with 8% having competing offers for work. Comparatively, 53% of graduates wait until after university before starting to apply for work, 34% began applying during their final year, with 17% beginning to apply in their first 2 years at university. Graduates who began applying prior to graduation seem to have more success in gaining employment, whereas all of the unemployed graduates waited to apply for roles after their final year. There appears to be a positive correlation between early job applications and finding paid employment.

Finding employment


70% of current students have not yet begun applying for work, 58% say they plan to start applying during their final year of study, and 18% are not planning to apply until after they graduate. This could be an opportunity for employers. Typically graduate schemes have only one intake per year, usually in the autumn to coincide with the availability of fresh graduates. However, if employers were to offer a second intake at another point in the year, then arguably they would gain access to a greater pool of top talent. Employers could open themselves up to those graduates who chose to focus on their studies until the end of university rather than start applying for roles early. This second round of on boarding could be crucial in gaining more graduate talent out of university.

Where do students find the jobs they have applied for?

72% 68% 37% 28%

find jobs advertised by social media/email

find jobs via web search

find work via friends and family

use the website ‘Milkround’


72% of students apply for jobs that have been advertised via social media and email marketing campaigns from their university career service. 68% complete simple web searches for relevant roles, and 28% use Milkround. Interestingly, 37% stated that friends or family contacts play a key part in their search for work, suggesting that the power of who you know is still very prevalent.

Only 3% of graduate respondents gained their role through university careers services. 24% found roles using online sites such as Reed and TotalJobs, and an equal number were placed in roles by recruitment agencies. 23% found work through family or friends, which supports the reliance on personal network building. 11% were contacted directly by firms and invited to attend interviews. This demonstrates the importance of students self-promoting on sites such as LinkedIn, and having searchable CVs on job boards.

47% of graduate respondents believe it takes 6 months to 1 year to find a graduate role, and 18% believe that it takes more than a year. With high numbers of graduates leaving university each year, the graduate market appears to be more competitive than ever. Of our unemployed respondents, 50% felt competition for roles was their main barrier to success. Whilst this is good news for employers, as it suggests they can select from a larger pool of talent, it does pose a possible negative for universities. School leavers may be put off university education knowing how competitive the job market can be. Less conventional routes to employment, such as apprenticeships and school leaver schemes, may increase in popularity.

Do you, or did you work part-time to finance your education?

Yes (59.3%)

No (40.7%)

Would you consider voluntary or unpaid work in order to gain experience?

Yes (72.6%)

No (27.4%)



Universities seemingly have a real obligation to better support students in job applications and seeking work. Of our current students, 21% have already applied for 1-5 jobs but 30% of employed graduates stated that they applied for more than 30 roles before finding success. Students may benefit from advice to improve their application skills.

57% of our respondents did not make use of their career services until their final year of study. Additionally, 15% said they had never made use of their careers service. Whilst universities cannot force students to make better use of the facilities, they may need to promote their services better to undergraduates. The majority of current students felt their tutors are helpful in preparing them for work. A surprising 58% of unemployed graduates say they did not receive enough support from universities to prepare them for work. 50% of graduate respondents felt that having a degree has not benefitted their search for work as much as they had anticipated. Some respondents felt personality was of more importance than qualifications in job interviews. Others felt the connections and relationships made whilst at university were more helpful than the degree itself.

Assistance with seeking workWe have gained a real insight into how graduates find work and what employers do to attract top talent. 34% have been in their role for 1-2 years, and 45% are less than 1 year into their current position. 44% are earning £20,000-£30,000 per annum, with 24% earning less than £20,000, and 7% earning more than £40K. However, 29% said they were expecting a higher salary than the one gained, and 27% stated they had no expectation of salary after graduation.

We also examined how graduates find working life. A recent PWC survey of their employees found key distinctions in how the ‘Millennial generation’ (born between 1980 and 1995) approaches work, in comparison to older generations of employees. One key distinction they noted was a greater expectation from Millennials to have a good work/life balance. This was reinforced by our research which found 75% of graduates felt a work/life balance was more important than a high salary. 62% of our graduate respondents felt that their work was not having an adverse affect on their personal lives, suggesting that employers are meeting demands for a good balance between work and life.

Graduates in the workplace



If you are still studying, does your current course have specific modules that focus on finding work and work skills?

Yes (40.7%)

No (59.3%)

Is a work/life balance more important than a high salary?

Yes (74.9%)

No (25.1%)

24% of graduates are earning less than £20,000, with 44% earning between £20,000 - £30,000.


We also examined the leave entitlement graduate workers are receiving from employers; the majority at 44% receive 21-25 days, 25% receive between 26-30 days, and 7% receive more than 30 days holiday per annum. Another indicator of a healthy work/life balance is the number of hours worked per week. At 49%, 30-40 hours were most common for a graduate’s working week, 43% work a 40-50 hour week, and only 5% work more than 50 hours a week. This would support the assertion that graduate workers expect and maintain a good work/life balance in their early careers.


We also examined how recent graduate workers measure their productivity at work. Traditionally work is measured by hours and time spent working on projects. However, the latest generation prefer to be measured against a different set of criteria. 49% say they should be measured against targets achieved and 40% saying that work completed is the best measure, regardless of time spent.

Setting regular, quantifiable targets seems to be the best way to clearly demonstrate to graduate workers what they need to do to succeed in the work place. This relates to the importance placed on a healthy work/life balance expressed by our respondents. Modern firms are already adapting to this way of working, by offering flexible working hours rather than following a fixed 9-5 structure. This also indicates a strong level of trust from employer to employee, as they can be left to work independently and complete their workload in their own time.

We asked how much salary mattered to graduates, or if other benefits carried equal or greater weight. Overall, students ranked salary highest, followed by holiday and flexible working. Of the employed graduates, 46% wished for flexible working, and 39% wanted the ability to work from home (respondents could select more than one option). This is in keeping with Millennial’s desire to maintain a good work/life balance. Work, salary and bonus came in highly at 66%, followed by healthcare at 50%. This suggests that considerations for work/life balance come into prevalence for graduates after they have started employment. We also examined the benefits graduates are currently receiving; additional bonus or commission was a common benefit with 63% saying this was offered, however less common benefits included additional days off of work to volunteer with charities, team break out spaces, team events, and discounts for high street shopping.

The working environment on offer is a key way in which employers can attract talented graduates without increasing salary expenditure. 46% of graduates stated that they enjoy their current position, and are committed to staying and developing with the same firm. 36% said that, while they enjoy their job, they would soon be looking for something new.

Measuring productivity



What employee benefits do you receive? We asked current students what salary they

expect to be earning in their first role. This showed a discrepancy between expectation and realities for graduates. 37% expect to earn £20,000-£30,000 straight out of university, with 9% expecting to earn more than £30,000. Sources differ on average salary figures as we see statistics from reports such as the High Flyers detailing high salaries via graduate schemes. However we know that only a small percentage of graduates are successful in achieving these positions. It seems more common that graduates earn a lower salary (graduate information site Graduate Fog suggest £22,000 as an average starting figure) hence we see continual reports of the ‘boomerang’ generation who return to the family home after graduation as they cannot afford a place of their own.

Health care 46.7%

Gym membership 27.2%

Flexible working 42.4%

Ability to work at home 22.8%

Other 15.2%

Bonus/commission 63%

The most popular of benefits are those related to a good work/life balance.


Expectations of first role


Graduates in the early stages of their career tend to see the quickest progression and increase in their earnings. 45% stated that they have been promoted since starting work, and 19% have progressed though additional training or study. Finding a career where they feel able to grow professionally is a key consideration for graduates. Of those who have not yet progressed, 22% felt that this was likely to happen in the near future. Our graduates were also asked what would most encourage them to remain in a role; after salary (77%) the ability to progress and develop was the second highest factor (66%) (respondents could select more than one answer).


How would you rate your future outlook?

Very positive 29.9%

Positive 49.7%

Undecided 15.3%

Negative 4.5%

Very negative0.6%

We also examined education and whether further study would be beneficial to our respondents. 63% of students felt further study and qualifications would increase their ability to find work. However, these can be through vocational and professional qualifications as well as traditional university pathways. 42% of students plan to go on to complete further education in the near future, 38% of graduates plan to complete another qualification and 39% are still open to the option of additional study. Of our unemployed graduates, 57% feel further study would be helpful in finding work. This may suggest that with a saturated graduate market, employers look for further qualifications on top of an undergraduate degree. If this is the case, then it does call into question the value of a degree unless topped up with other qualifications.


Respondents are feeling positive about their futures with 50% saying they have a positive future ahead and with a further 30% saying they feel very positive. Only 6% feel negative about their future. Interestingly this 6% consists of current students and employed graduates. Whilst this is only a very small portion of respondents, it indicates a level of doubt and concern amongst graduates regarding the value of their education and qualifications. From our feedback the reasons for this are concern over the competitiveness of the graduate market and whether having a good degree will be meaningful in seeking work.

A series of questions about milestones in life allowed us to gauge the level of future success expected by our graduates. 40% of respondents hope to own a home by the age of 30, but 9% anticipate that this will not happen until they are nearer to 40. Across all respondents, 28% expect to be earning £35,000-£45,000 per year by 35. However, 20% of students felt £75,000 was an achievable salary by that age, but hardly any graduate respondents agreed with this. This appears to be an example of student expectation far outweighing the realities of working. It perhaps suggests that until they join the world of work, students are less realistic or do not properly consider what salaries and working life will be like.


Are you happy with the feedback that you receive on your performance?

Yes (69.7%)

No (30.3%)


Another major cost occurred in life comes from raising a family; our respondents felt this would be financially viable for them aged 25-30 (36%), or aged 31-35 (48%). Only 8% of respondents said that starting a family was not an important consideration as part of their future. Despite different and new approaches in work, Millennials do appear to plan to lead a fairly traditional life in the same footsteps as previous generations.


1. Increase the number of graduate intakes to get the best talent. The majority of students and graduates do not start to seek roles until after they have left university. With employers running only one major graduate intake a year, they run the risk of missing out on this large pool of talent. By running more than one intake throughout the year, businesses can better attract and capture graduate talent that otherwise would be missed.

2. A healthy work/life balance is a must. Our respondents want a decent work/life balance. For many, it is a consideration that ranks higher than salary. In addition to this, rather than being measured by hours worked, graduates respond to having the freedom to choose how and when they go about completing work and wish to be measured against the quality of work delivered rather than time spent at work.

3. Graduates are not concerned about university costs. To our surprise the rising cost of attending university does not appear to be overly worrying or concerning to the graduate workforce. However, with a more competitive graduate market than ever, there is a greater expectation and pressure on universities to properly prepare and equip their students for job applications and working life.

4. Graduates are open minded about careers. We have also found that few graduates leave university with a specific career pathway in mind, and even fewer graduates find themselves working in roles directly related to their degrees. Employers who are open and available to a cross section of degree disciplines will profit more than those who are selective in their intake requirements.

We hope you find the results of this survey as interesting and insightful as we do. We look forward to publishing the next edition of Grovelands Insights.

What have we discovered?

Ourconclusion

To find out more about this survey and the Grovelands Insights series please email us at [email protected] would like to thank all those who took part in the survey and have helped us to produce this report.

After examining how both students and graduates approach their job search and envisage their working life, some key differences between expectations and reality have been revealed. We have picked out 4 key trends from our analysis; some of which we expected to see, and other elements which came as a surprise.

Cumming, Ed. “Boomerang Generation: the young adults living back with parents.” The Daily Telegraph 15 July 2014. www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/property Web. 29 Oct 2015.

Dar, Aliyah. “Youth Unemployment Statistics.” House of Commons Library 11 Nov 2015. www.parliament.uk/commons-library 11 Nov 2015.

Davidson, Lauren. “Growing- Ups: Why people in their 20s won’t move out of home.” The Daily Telegraph 2 Dec 2014. www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics Web. 29 Oct 2015.

Graduate Fog, “Average Graduate Salary £29,000 (as long as you’re on a prestigious grad scheme.” http://graduatefog.co.uk. 1 July 2013. Web. 29 Oct 2015.

Higher Education Careers Services Unit. “What do graduates do?” October 2015. www.hecsu.ac.uk Web 20 Oct 2015.

High Fliers Research Limited. “The Graduate Market in 2015. Annual review of graduate vacancies and starting salaries at Britain’s Leading employers.” 12th Jan 2015. www.highfliers.co.uk Web. 9 Sept 2015.

PwC. “PwC’s NextGen: A Global Generational Study.” 2013. www.pwc.com Web. 9 Sept 2015

“Student Life: Top Ten Most Popular Subjects.” The Daily Telegraph 15 Jan 2014. www.telegraph.co.uk/education Web. 29 Oct 2015.

Bibliography

The statistics and data used in this report were compiled from research carried out by Grovelands using an online questionnaire in Autumn 2015 which surveyed students and graduates drawn from our in-house database. This report summarises key findings along with our own interpretations of the research, it has bee carefully prepared but it has been written using the most common terminology and general terms. The results are provided as generic market information only, rather than any guarantee of personal viewpoints regarding salary, position, benefit or any other market condition. Grovelands does not make any warranties regarding the use, validity, accuracy or reliabilityof the results and information obtained.

©March 2016 Grovelands. All rights reserved

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