As today’s employers continue to fight over the nation’s most talented candidates, we can reveal which graduates have been most in-demand so far this year. Using data from jobs posted on CV Library during the initial months of 2016, we can now reveal that the Engineering industry is desperately seeking graduates, with over 1,200 roles available. The full list of the sectors relying on newly qualified graduates is:
- Engineering – 1,204 jobs
- Education – 1,139 jobs
- IT – 893 jobs
- Construction – 817 jobs
- Personnel/Recruitment – 708 jobs
- Manufacturing – 540 jobs
- Medical – 534 jobs
- Marketing – 533 jobs
- Accounting/Financial – 508 jobs
- Admin – 500 jobs
It’s not surprising that Engineering and Education graduates are the most sought after, as the much talked-about skills gap continues to grow; recent news from EngineeringUK revealed a lack of engineers in the sector as experienced engineers retire and universities struggle to attract in new candidates to replace them. Similarly, the Education sector has repeatedly highlighted retention issues as keeping newly qualified teachers in the industry has become a challenge, with increasing levels of admin, red tape and overbearing workloads to blame.
However, despite being lauded as the answer to the UK’s growing skills gap, latest research suggests that graduates don’t necessarily have what it takes to reboot the country’s labour market; when we surveyed over 500 leading recruitment experts, 80.9% admitted that degrees aren’t as valuable as work experience.
Furthermore, overall data surrounding the value of a degree in today’s job market suggests that university qualifications may actually be decreasing in value, as over half (52%) of recruitment experts revealed that they wouldn’t bother getting a degree themselves if they were starting out in today’s job market. We actually asked the same question in 2015, and at the time only half of industry experts felt that a degree was not worthwhile; this reveals a 2% decline in the value of a degree year-on-year, and suggests that degrees could be obsolete by 2041.
Adding to the concerns that graduates are not the answer to the nation’s labour challenge, we can reveal that over two thirds (69%) of UK employers don’t have formal graduate schemes, further suggesting that the investment in hiring, training and developing university leavers is too great, especially if it’s unlikely to aid with filling skills gaps.
Despite these recent revelations, there are still employers who are looking to graduates to fill their roles. And while a number of businesses are taking skills shortages into their own hands and training recruits on the job by simply seeking graduates with a ‘2.1 degree’ with no specified subject, we can reveal the most sought–after degrees on our site:
- Civil Engineering
- Mechanical Engineering
- Structural Engineering
- Core Sciences (Chemistry, Biology, and Physics)
- Mathematics
- English (Literature and Language)
- Physical Education
- Computing
- Computing Science
- Construction (across a broad range of disciplines)
The reality is that many people are pointing to the next generation of workers as the answer to our economic challenges, but it’s becoming increasingly clear that graduates simply aren’t the answer to the current skills shortages. Ultimately, more support is required from the government to tackle these challenges; businesses simply cannot manage on their own. To really bolster the UK’s economy, government intervention is essential; the next generation of workers must be better equipped to enter the workforce, and enticing young professionals into key sectors such as Engineering is paramount.