News

August 17, 2010

Small firms don’t want to recruit graduates, says survey

Three out of ten small firms are planning to recruit in the next six months, but just five per cent of fresh faces are likely to be university leavers, research by software firm Sage has found.

In its monthly Omnibus survey of 1,500 small businesses, Sage found that confidence in the sector is expanding, with 40 per cent of small businesses forecasting growth in the second half of 2010.

But few firms are looking to new graduates to fill their human resources needs, preferring instead to go for people who already have work experience.

“It’s understandable because there are an awful lot of very skilled people out of work due to the recession,” said Darren Simmons, managing director of Remarkable Recruitment. “It’s very much a client-driven market, in which firms have their pick of good candidates.

“Companies at the moment are investing in real experience,” Simmons added. “They want results straight away and people who can hit the ground running. But the situation will change as we come out of recession and it will become more of a candidate-driven market.”

The survey also found that 61 per cent of small businesses do not employ interns, which can be a good way for graduates to gain valuable work experience. With research by the University of Nottingham suggesting small firms create two-thirds of fresh jobs in the UK every year, the reluctance to employ graduates in the current market spells bad news for this year’s university leavers.

“Our research highlights the very real challenge for graduates looking for employment straight out of university,” said Sage’s small business division managing director, Brendan Flattery.

Simmons added: “We’re finding a lot of very good graduates having to take roles that don’t really suit them, just to earn a wage. But if they stay out of their chosen field for too long, they find it even harder to get back in.