IT graduates to struggle for jobs

The future is looking uncertain for IT graduates

IT students will struggle to find jobs when leaving university this year, as technology firms look to cut back on their graduate recruitment programmes in reaction to the ongoing economic crisis.

According to the latest biannual study from the Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR), firms in the technology sector expect to post seven per cent fewer vacancies in 2009 than last year.

The outlook is even bleaker for those wanting to enter the financial services sector, unsurprisingly. Investment banks and fund managers expect to recruit 28 per cent fewer graduates than last year.

In 2008, IT roles accounted for seven per cent of all graduate vacancies, making it the fifth highest for graduate career roles after accountancy, investment banking, general management and legal work.

And for those graduates who do manage to land their dream IT job, they are also likely to have to accept a lower salary compared to previous years.

The AGR study revealed that starting salaries for IT graduates are set to fall by four per cent this year, taking it down from an average of £27,000 in 2008 to less than £26,000. According to the AGR's 2007 Winter Review, the median starting salary for IT graduate roles was £28,000 two years ago.

However, this still compares favourably to the average graduate. In 2008, the median starting salary across all sectors was £25,000, and for the first time ever in the history of the study, the AGR said this figure will stay the same - in previous studies it has always increased.

The report also gave an interesting insight into the gender make-up of the IT sector. Technology firms came right at the bottom of the chart, with women accounting for only 22.5 per cent of all new graduate hires. Engineering and construction companies, also often thought of as male-dominated industries, managed a more respectable proportion of females at 32 per cent and 31 per cent respectively.

The AGR Graduate Recruitment Survey 2009 is based on the responses of 245 organisations in the UK, including Microsoft, IBM, Cisco, BA and Waitrose. Across all the participating firms last year, they were responsible for recruiting 21,144 graduates.