"Younger generation most affected as unemployement rises yet again"

How the bankers bonuses are affecting graduates?

Students are motivated by Money? With rising tuition fees and rising debts, students have far more to pay back than ever than the predecessors that came before us. It might be a wild statement, but I am beginning to think that it is true.

As I have mentioned in previous articles, graduates are faced with uncertain future, with masters degree's replacing graduate jobs, and more experience gained by students before they graduate, the future for graduates isn't the type of degree you have got and more about the practical uses of your degree in the real world.

Reading a recent article combined with the news, that Barclay's PLC has reported that its pre tax profits point towards £6.5 bn, it gives me no hesitation to suggest that most graduates will be applying to these types of companies. A recent report by High-flyers, a leading graduate research agency points towards graduate salaries have risen from £22,000 in 2003 to £29,000 in 2011.

Who is to blame for this rising trend? In my opinion it is the banks, although others may state to rising inflation and increased living costs. Investment banking in seven organisations intend to pay upwards of £40,000, including two banks that are offering packages worth at least £50,000 or more to new joiners. The resurgence of recruitment within the banking sector during 2010, combined with a reorganisation of how remuneration packages are structured at a number of banks has meant that average salaries at investment banks have jumped around 10% over the last twelve months.

You can read the rest of the report by following the link here.

The Graduate Gap

Prospective graduates have been told for the last couple of years that there is a shortage of graduate jobs out there. Moreover employers can now knit pick from the top universities to get the most high calibre graduates for the role. Having nearly graduated myself and from my experience thus far from the last couple of years, the story is a bleak one.

It is of my opinion that there is to exist something called a graduate gap, where the graduates graduating this year, may end up in the role or job, they do not want or not related to their degree programme, but it is the only job they can find at this time. This may even be part time employment which for some probably didn't even cross their mind when they started their degree.

The problem with the whole university degree system, is that there is no limit on the age you are allowed to go to University, furthermore graduate schemes don't restrict on the age you can apply, for some though you must have graduated within the last two years, but in terms of age there is no enforced restriction.

Some key points I keep hearing about my colleagues coming back from assessment centres "When you ask what university your fellow competitors went to? Cambridge, Oxford. It is OK if you can afford to go there.

"Do you have any experience? I have worked for Goldman Sachs for two years prior to University, then another financial placement. Over qualified perhaps? But these are the people we are up against. Another example and this is true, a friend said she was up against someone who had been in a graduate scheme, before for 7 years. Why would you want another graduate scheme surely if you were in one for seven years then it must have been worthwhile?

Altogether this will create something called the graduate gap, where thousands of prospective graduates, graduate and go into a job they aren't entirely set on as a career, of which they may have had different opinions when they started their degree.

Are you a graduate? Are you graduating in the next four to six months I would like to hear from you. What competition have you come up in interviews, assessment centres?