Tech roles account for 13 per cent of all graduate vacancies

Technology students received some welcome news today after non-profit organisation the Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR) revealed that 13 per cent of graduate vacancies in the UK are for people entering IT careers.

The latest AGR research suggests that IT is the second largest career area in the UK job market in terms of graduate vacancies after accountancy. The need for graduates with technology skills has increased just over five per cent since last year.

In comparison, the number of graduate vacancies in the UK job market as a whole is expected to grow by nearly three per cent.

The average starting salary for graduates entering an IT role is £25,500, which is just over the average salary paid to graduates starting a career in a business function.

The AGR survey is based on the responses of 202 UK members across 20 sectors. Five per cent of responses came from IT and telecoms companies, including Accenture, BAE Systems, BT, IBM and Logica.

These companies indicated that there will be 538 graduate vacancies in the coming year, a slight rise of 0.8 per cent since last year.

The outlook for graduates wanting a career at an IT company is slightly negative when compared to the increased demand for graduates in other industries. Consulting and business services, for example, are expected to see graduate vacancies rise by nearly 150 per cent in 2011.

Starting salaries for graduates in IT companies have dropped slightly since last year to £25,750. Meanwhile, the number of graduates applying for each graduate job has reached the highest number ever recorded by AGR.

There are 130 applications for each graduate vacancy in IT and telecoms companies, and graduates are having to be more competitive in these fields than elsewhere in the job market.

In the UK job market as a whole, there is an average of 83 applications for each graduate job.

The AGR research also showed that London and the south east dominate the graduate recruitment market, collectively offering more than half of all graduate vacancies in the upcoming year.