Two City firms are paying graduates to defer taking up their jobs, amid
fears the economic downturn is hitting home.
Accenture has told 400 graduates not to come to work for three months and 20
of 100 Citigroup analysts due to start training have been offered about £13,000
to take a year out.
Only 170 out of 570 graduates will start work with Accenture next month and
the remainder have had their start dates put back three months.
They will receive half their salaries while they wait, and £6,000 of their
promised £10,000 signing-on fees on the day they were due to start and the
remaining £4,000 after a year as planned.
Accenture’s UK HR director Tim Robinson said the firm had taken the action
because graduate acceptance rates were 15 per cent higher than anticipated.
A spokesman for Citigroup said, "Due to the current economic situation
we have actively sought out graduates from this year’s intake who would like to
defer their start dates for a year."
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– More than half of employers do not care which university graduates attend,
according to a survey released to Personnel Today this week by the Careers
Service Unit.
Nearly half of the 100 employers questioned do not think it is important for
graduates to be well informed about their organisation.
