Graduates 'should not panic about jobs'

Experts are urging recent graduates not to panic about the state of the jobs market.

The Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services (AGCAS) has made the announcement following the release of statistics from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.

Research showed that 76.1 per cent of respondents to a survey were in full-time paid employment, up from 60.8 per cent when first surveyed six months after graduation, improving career development..

Perhaps more significantly, though, 86.9 per cent of the same respondents reported themselves "fairly" or "very" satisfied with their career to date.

With competition for graduate jobs showing little sign of easing in the next year or so, Martin Pennington, a director at AGCAS, said: "I know we are in the middle of a recession but it doesn't mean that all jobs and all employers have imploded overnight."

He said that there are still a lot of jobs out there and the evidence is that if somebody has got the skills and the right approach they will be successful.

Mr Pennington added that, aside from gaining experience in their chosen field, graduates should spend their time seeking advice and putting effort into the quality, not the quantity of their applications.