Demand
for the best graduate talent is set to soar across Europe for the next three
years, a study reveals.
The
Eurograduate Survey of EU Recruitment Trends reveals that 70 per cent of
organisations are planning to increase the number of graduates they employ
until at least 2004.
It
shows that those organisations planning for growth aim to increase graduate
numbers by 17 per cent next year.
Fifty
per cent of the European HR or recruitment managers and directors surveyed also
state that they are seeking to take on 350 or more graduates across Europe this
year and 23 per cent are looking to recruit over 500.
The
survey claims nearly half of all corporate organisations in the EU find it
difficult to recruit graduates of the right calibre. The main reasons include a
lack of business awareness, interpersonal skills, technical skills and
communication skills.
The
engineering sector has the most problems recruiting graduates, with 61.5 per
cent of respondents from the industry reporting difficulties, followed by the
IT sector with 38.5 per cent of those surveyed finding it hard to recruit
suitable candidates.
The
research finds that more than a quarter of the graduates recruited last year
were hired across EU borders and of all the graduates recruited in the EU this year,
70 per cent can expect to go on cross-border assignment during their career.
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