The blog article below is based on the findings from the High Fliers 2016
Research publication which is available online: http://www.highfliers.co.uk/download/2016/graduate_market/GMReport16.pdf
The latest findings from High Fliers research highlight the importance UK's
leading graduate employers put on the value of work experience on students'
CVs. This is reflected in the large number of paid work experience programmes
now being offered by such companies.
This is all positive news for the students on Royal Holloway's Year in Business
programme who need to secure a placement position for their 3rd year at
University. Many may also seek summer internships/ taster days during their 1st
year at University to establish the areas which interest them and also gain
valuable experience for their CVs.
Research background: High Fliers Research, established in 1994, is an
independent market research company which specialises in student and graduate
research. This research study was conducted in December 2015 and reveals
details of the graduate vacancies, starting salaries and undergraduate work
experience programmes at the country's one hundred leading employers.
Key Findings related to work experience quoted from the High Fliers 2016
Research report:
1. More
than 90% of the UK’s leading graduate employers are offering paid work
experience programmes for students and recent graduates during the 2015-2016
academic year – an unprecedented 14,058 places are available.
> At least half of UK's leading graduate employers offer industrial
placements for undergraduates. (typically lasting 6-12 months as part of a
university degree course such as Royal Holloway's Year in Business programme).
> Three-quarters of employers provide paid vacation internships for
penultimate year students.
> Increasing numbers of
employers now also have work experience places for first year undergraduates –
over a quarter of organisations offer paid internships and two-fifths
of employers run introductory courses, open days and other taster experiences
for first year students.
2. Almost
half the recruiters who took part in the
research repeated their warnings from previous years – that graduates who have
had no previous work experience at all are unlikely to be successful during the
selection process and have little or no chance of receiving a job offer for
their organisations’ graduate programmes.
3. Recruiters have confirmed that they expect a
third of this year's full-time graduate positions to be filled by graduates
who have already worked for their organisations, either through paid
internships, industrial placements or vacation work.
This High Fliers report builds
on the findings from other research studies, such as the CBI survey (2015)
which indicates that after attitudes/ aptitude for work, relevant work
experience/ industrial placement is the 2nd most important factor considered
when recruiting graduates.
Some of the employers who have visited Royal Holloway this year to talk to students about their placement positons:
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| GE |
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| IBM |
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| Toyota |
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| NetApp |
