Edinburgh and Glasgow graduates to benefit from jobs bonanza

Employers are preparing to recruit their biggest-ever intake of university graduates in 2016, according to a new report.

The median starting salary for graduate jobs is £30,000, according to the High Fliers report. Picture: PA

The Graduate Market in 2016, a trusted annual survey of the UK’s biggest firms, said the universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow were among those being targeted by employers.

Published today, the report said the number of graduate vacancies is expected to grow by 7.5 per cent this year.

The research also showed that more than 1,000 positions were left unfilled in 2015 after unprecedented numbers of final-year students turned down offers.

According to the annual report, which is carried out by the firm High Fliers Research, the median starting salary for graduate jobs is £30,000.

The highest published graduate starting salaries for 2016 include Aldi (£42,000), law firms Allen & Overy, Baker & McKenzie, Herbert Smith Freehills and Linklaters (all also £42,000) and the European Commission (£41,500).

Martin Birchall, managing director of High Fliers Research, said: “For students leaving university this summer, it’s very welcome news that Britain’s top employers are recruiting their biggest-ever intake of new graduates in 2016 and will be investing a record amount in their ­training, development and starting salaries.

“But as the job market goes from strength to strength, it’s clear that our brightest graduates are becoming increasingly choosy about the employers they join and last year record numbers turned down employers’ job offers or changed their mind about an offer they had accepted during their final months at university. As a result, more than 1,000 graduate positions at some of the country’s most popular employers were left unfilled.”

According to the research, the universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow are among the 25 institutions most targeted by leading employers.

The report is based on a poll of 100 leading firms including BP, Google and Tesco.

The biggest growth in vacancies is expected in public sector organisations, banking and engineering. The largest individual recruiters of new graduates in 2016 will be the English-only Teach First scheme (1,870 vacancies), PwC (1,540) and Deloitte (1,100).