Different graduate labour markets, or Why does everything seem to be about Banking?

In Michaelmas and Lent term, with so many careers activities on campus it can seem that banking and finance take over.  In reality, the Careers Service devotes more resources towards engaging employers who recruit in fields such as Policy, NGOs and Media and Communications than it does toward encouraging the ABC (Accountancy, Banking and Consultancy) employers. So why does it seem that Banking and Finance dominate?

To understand this, you may need to step outside you normal role and think like an Economist!  There are different types of graduate labour market which operate in different ways.  Before you begin your job search, it can be very useful to become familiar with your employment sector.
Ask yourself the following questions:

• Are there a small number of big organisations recruiting?
• Are the skills that they require in short supply?
• Do they each have a discreet but (comparatively) large number of vacancies?
• Do they recruit every year?
• Do these organisations need to be very active to recruit the talent their business needs?

If the answer to all or most of these questions is YES, then you can adopt a reactive approach

If, by contrast, the type of sector or job you want to enter is characterised by the following criteria, you will need to approach your job search as a proactive approach.

• There are many small players
• Each organisation recruits one or two graduates a year, or maybe every second or third year
• There is no skills shortage

Reactive approach

Don’t assume that these organisations are easy to get into. A skills shortage means that employers need to be rigorous in their selection processes, but that the “price” in this market, i.e. starting salaries, will be high.

This market sector is populated by Investment Banks, Financial Services firms, Management Consultants and large Law firms and multinational organisations. These organisations have large departments of talent acquisition, often with substantial budgets to spend on campus.

Proactive approach

These organisations, that may include NGOs, Multilateral Organisations, Media firms, Political Consultants, Lobbyists and Communications firms, do not have large departments dedicated to recruiting talent, nor do they have big budgets. Usually, starting salaries are significantly lower than the finance Law and Consulting fields.

Often they don’t need to advertise their vacancies; they can wait for interested applicants to approach them. This means that you will have to use your research skills to identify who is recruiting. You may find it helpful to use techniques such as developing contacts and making speculative applications to access this ‘hidden’ job market .

Sector table

Using the Careers Service

Using this analysis its easy to see that you may need to be adopt different approaches according to the recruitment styles of your job or sector. Whatever your career interests, do make the most of the wide range of events covering all sectors organised by the Careers Service, and above all be strategic in designing your job search process, making sure that you balance the time spent applying with the demands of your academic work. Careers advisers are able to help you decide on your strategy, either through workshops or seminars devoted to this, or in one-to-one appointments; see Appointment booking.

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