Are graduates expecting too much?

Fresh out of university graduates expect to walk out of university into a £23k job.

Earlier this week The Metro newspaper reported that graduates wouldn’t ‘get out of bed’ for anything less than £23,700 when in their first role. This is an increase of £700 of last year’s demands from grads.

The news comes as graduates who are beginning to leave university with degrees are the first group of students to pay the higher university fees set by the government. Graduates leaving university now have an average debt of £30,000.

The report from the UK Graduate Careers Survey also showed that one-in-six of the almost 20,000 students screened expect to be earning over £100k by the time they are thirty years old – for most students that is in nine years time!

With the rise of university fees, is the gap between graduate expectations and employment reality bridging further away from each other? Other than extreme circumstances, graduates are expected to work from the bottom to the top – this means taking an entry-level role. This approach is taken by employees often as fresh graduates have not been exposed to real-life experience in employment before. Speaking in a recent Q&A, HR Manager at Penguin, Ellie Pike, said: “It's possible to change career direction as long as you're committed and don't mind potentially starting from the bottom of the ladder.”

As the UK’s largest and most successful graduate sales recruitment organisation, we equip grads with the tools needed to hit the ground running in your graduate career. We balance the needs of our successful grads and our clients whilst also managing realistic expectations for everyone involved.

To apply for a graduate position, click here.