Employers will struggle to fill graduate-level vacancies this year because many university leavers lack the right social skills, according to research published.
Graduate posts are set to increase and salaries will also rise, although by less than in previous years.
But nearly half of employers said they were not confident of filling their graduate-level vacancies, according to the Association of Graduate Recruiters' (AGR) survey.
Carl Gilleard, AGR chief executive, said: "Final year students should be aware that nearly half of recruiters expect to face difficulties in fulfilling recruitment objectives - with the largest factor being a lack of applicants with the right skills.
"Employers are likely to be looking to graduates who can demonstrate softer skills such as team-working, cultural awareness, leadership and communication skills, as well as academic achievement."
Higher education minister Bill Rammell said he understood employers' concerns.
"Employers are rightly concerned that future graduates possess suitable skills for the economy," he said.
"That is why we have placed much emphasis on the growth of foundation degrees, because they are vocational higher education qualifications designed with employers.
"I want more UK business leaders to come on board and reap the benefits of their commitment to the design and delivery of foundation degrees," Mr Rammell said.
"Graduates earn, on average, substantially more than people who did not go to university.
"They are less likely to be unemployed than non-graduates and benefit from what can be the educational and social experience of a lifetime.
"I believe that higher education is likely to be the best investment that someone could ever make."
Study
The study by Hobsons Planning and Research Division was based on responses from 222 leading graduate employers.
It found university leavers could expect a typical salary of '23,000 in 2006.
This was a rise of 2.3% on 2005, the smallest increase for five years.
The biggest pay rises will be found in the public sector, which will see graduate salaries increase by 9.5%, according to the survey.
The telecoms, construction, and oil industries are all also likely to see higher than average pay increases for graduates starting work this year.
Investment banking starting salaries are unchanged for the third year at '35,000.
Nearly four out of 10 organisations are prepared to lure top-quality graduates with "golden hellos", typically of '2,000 each.
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Show me any graduate job in Manchester paying with no experience 23K ???
Graduated 6 years ago with good degree and 9 years varied work experience and am not even in the ??20k band!! ??23k ha nochance - if I had my time again I wouldn`t have bothered.
The top 1000 graduate jobs (if that) may all pay 23k but 95% of graduates do not get graduate jobs. Every 3 months I read a pointless article telling us about graduate jobs. The majority of these jobs will go to people who have been working after their degree or have done very specific masters degrees after their first degree. There is literally no such thing as a graduate job that a 21 yo fresh from uni actually has a chance of getting.
Agreed. IT jobs are commonly regarded as one of the highest paying areas for graduates, however apart from the lack of decent IT/software graduates coming out of universities a typical starting salary is 15K. I have just done a quick search on Jobserve for software jobs in manchester and the highest salary for a grad with 1 yrs experience was 18K. Nuff said
The skills employers want are not taught by our mainstream education system, but at home (if one is lucky). Emotional Intelligence and Power Literacy are the foundation for good communication and social and leadership skills. Those with nonverbal learning difficulties such as Autism/Asperger syndrome can be helped, too. Government and Industry please note and act, don't sit and spin!
I graduated in 2004 and it took me 6 months to find work, let alone a graduate level job. I now work in administration on less than half of the graduate salary and have been turned down from jobs 'because I have a degree'. I'm starting to wonder why I bothered....
Another problem is that alot of middle managers (in IT especially this is usually salespeople who have gained promotion with little technical competency) are usually less well educated and less capable than many graduates and see top notch graduates as threats.
"Graduates earn, on average, substantially more than people who did not go to university"...Bullshit!!!wont even state how long its taken for me to get a job within my sector of work forget a graduate job!and can someone please tell me how us graduates are supposed to have 1-2years experience if we've been at uni for 4 yrs!!!even work placements dont seem worth it! sort it out!!!!!!!!!
I graduated from uni last year in July with a 2:1 in Computer Science.
After 7 months, I still dont have a graduate job.
I have applied for lots of positions, which just hang in the air as employers can never be bothered to give any feedback on failed applications.
¿¿23k as a graduate starting salary in Manchester is laughable. I know two people who are web developers who both gained a 2:1 and earn just 12k!
It would be interesting to know who the respondents for the survey were and where they came from. Employers are not entirely recruiting people with experience. They would rather employ a graduate without work experience over a mature graduate. It is very difficult for mature students to enter large firms in the UK. So saying that employers find it difficult to find people with the right skills is complete non sense unless of course they are not monitoring and evaluating their recruitment department effectively because if they did they would find out that their selection criteria for graduate schemes favours young graduates only. The question is: why should mature students bother?
Maybe if employers want to fill graduate positions with people with the right social skills they should try seriously looking at recruiting more mature students, you only have to look on hobsons own website to see the frustration in the comments of mature students as they are constantly over looked by uk companies who despite recent age legislation only seem to recruit from the under 25's.