Graduate recruitment in Australia

Roughly 110,000 students graduated each year from Australian colleges and universities, and majority of them (84.5%) joined the workforce within four months of graduating.

Meanwhile, competition for graduates is heating up each year; graduate vacancies rose from 9.8% in 2003, to 11.2% in 2008. Often employers’ problem includes the inability to fill graduate job vacancies.

If you are an employer or a recruiter, the odds are you will be involved in hiring or be in contact with a graduate(s) looking for a job. Given graduates constitute the bulk of new human capital joining the Australian workforce each year, it is important to better understand their behaviour. Below are a few resources.

Graduate recruitment resources:

• Gradient’s recent report – Change by Degree – provides myth busting insights into the behaviour of graduates.
• How much do graduates earn? How much do you need to pay? Graduate Career offers a yearly report on graduate remuneration trends in Australia.
• Members of the Australian Association of Graduate Employers pool resources together to better understand graduates behaviour. The group produce a yearly report on graduate employment destinations. Also, Ben Reeves’, CEO of AAGE, presentation on graduate behaviour.  Graduate Recruitment Industry Awards Winners, 2008.
• Virtual graduate recruitment fair – highly appropriate strategy to reach out to a digital generation.
• NAGCAS (National Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services)  has a wide range of resources on graduate careers development.
• Itinerary of graduate career fairs across Australian universities
• EOC has been in the forefront of graduate recruitment. Careers & Employment Expo is a yearly event targeting graduates across Australia.
• Sydney Talent is an interesting joint initiative of Sydney University and the business community to harness graduate talent. Universities will increasingly cash in on the human capital they helped produce.
• Graduate Opportunities is a career guide for graduates. Includes, snippets of major Australian sectors employing graduates.
• Niche job board targeting graduates – Graduatejobs . Juniorjobs targets entry level job seekers, including graduates.
• SEEK has 2,100 graduate vacancies. All the generalist job board have dedicated graduate sections.