Physics just got easier
According to Tim Oates, director of Cambridge Assessment, which owns and manages OCR one of the leading exam setting bodies, the physics syllabus has been made easier. The reason for this, apparently, was to make it easier to attract girls and less bright pupils to study physics at A level.
(I find it pretty offensive to females to regard them as less intelligent. I’m sure that some of the girls I know from Oxford University studying maths would feel the same, as would my PhD wife).
What happens when less bright pupils get to university? According to Alison Wolf who headed a government-ordered review into vocational education, universities are having to provide catch-up classes because too may teenagers with top A-level grades are not ready to cope with the rigours of a degree.
So, that’s a good reason to make A levels easier then?
UK language graduates and global mobility
Multinationals looking for graduate hires look at the ability to speak a foreign language as important but not essential, according to a survey of global firms.
Research carried out by the Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR), the Council for Industry and Higher Education (CIHE) and research agency CFE shows that UK students are Continue Reading »
Competition for jobs in professional services
Leading professional services firms have already been swamped with graduate applications for 2012.
Ernst & Young has received more than 3,200 applications for fewer than 800 jobs; in practice, and allowing for interns from summer 2011 already offered positions, there are only between 480 and 560 jobs available.
At KPMG they have received 7,200 applications for 850 jobs between 1st July and 1st November. By comparison last years applicants for the same period were 4,500.
PwC, which says that it is seeking to hire 1,200 graduates, has said that applications have risen by 90% and Deloitte has indicated that it has experienced a similar increase in applications.
source: The Times
Do all the advertised graduate jobs exist?
Have you been busy applying for graduate jobs in banking and financial services? What level of response have you received? I have feedback that suggests the number of actual vacancies is far less than might be expected from the corporate websites.
I’m told that one investment bank has already recruited 90% of the planned 2012 graduate intake from this years Summer interns. Continue Reading »
Tesco to boost graduate recruitment by 30%
Tesco which is Britain’s largest private sector employer is set to recruit 440 graduates in the next 12 months
Tesco has today delivered very welcome news for university-leavers as graduate recruitment in the next year will increase by 30% – almost 10 times the national average.
This will see the country’s largest private sector employer welcome 440 graduates to its 17 schemes available across our operations in stores, distribution and head office. Continue Reading »
KPMG on the hunt for 75,000 graduates worldwide
Professional services firm KPMG will recruit about 75,000 graduates worldwide over the next three years, representing a 25% increase in the firm’s historical resourcing target.
The global member firm network has identified a need to take on about 250,000 new hires over the next five years, and graduate recruitment plays an essential role in meeting the firm’s long-term global growth strategy. New hires will be integrated into all of KPMG’s functional areas – audit, tax, advisory, and internal firm services. Continue Reading »
FDM Group to recruit 1,000 graduates
FDM Group is to recruit 1,000 graduates by the end of this year.
The IT graduate employer has just reached its target for the second quarter of 2011 by recruiting 618 graduates in the past seven months.
Graduate trainees are offered Continue Reading »
The skills graduates need to succeed
Communication skills are one of the most sought after soft skills among graduates.
Ireland’s graduate recruiters have provided an insight into what they look for from their graduate employees.
The gradireland Graduate Salary & Graduate Recruitment Trends Survey 2011 revealed half of Ireland’s recruiters demand a 2.1 degree classification or above but just 15 percent accept a 2.2.
But the most important evidence employers want to see from candidates is the demonstration of their skills with 54 percent claiming too few jobseekers show evidence of the skills they need to succeed. Recruiters pointed to the soft skills they found in short supply among graduates: communication (57 percent), managing own learning (29 percent) and independent working (28 percent) topped the list.
In terms of hard skills, writing skills need to improve with 44 percent of recruiters highlighting it as lacking among graduate jobseekers. Administration and organisation (31 percent), speaking a foreign language (31 percent) and leadership skills (30 percent) are all in demand too.
Do employers really value degrees?
Whilst recruitment and selection systems often discard graduate applicants who didn’t manage to get a 2.1 this conflicts with what business owners really want according to the findings of recent research. Continue Reading »
Finance Career provides springboard for FTSE CEOs
Ambitious young graduates would do well to seek a career in finance to act as a springboard to land top jobs on Britain’s boards.
Clive Davis, director at finance staffing specialist Robert Half, was highlighting his firm’s latest research, which shows 49% of serving chief executives in the current FTSE 100 Index have financial backgrounds, up from just 31% in 2008. Continue Reading »