11th edition of the EDHEC Employment Survey (May 2012) shows recruiters are taking a highly prudent stance

This year’s graduate employment survey paints a different picture to last year’s.

The wait-and-see attitude observed at the start of the year has been confirmed by this 11th edition of the EDHEC Employment survey for recent graduates. Of the companies making up our panel, 66% said they were planning to hire during the next quarter versus 74% last spring.

Although recruitment intentions seem to be holding steady relative to the last survey in January 2012, two indicators give slight grounds for concern:
- The first one concerns recruitment actually effected in the previous quarter. Whereas 67.5% had said they were planning to recruit, only 63% actually did so.   
- The second one concerns the 18% decline in the response rate, which indicates that businesses are at best taking a more prudent stance, or at worst that they are reluctant to communicate their plans.

In volume terms, recruitment intentions changed little relative to January 2012, but were only half as high as a year ago: 20% of businesses are now planning to hire more recent graduates than previously, while 64% are planning to take on the same number.
83% of planned hires concern France, which is slightly lower than the corresponding percentage in January 2012 and well below the level recorded in May 2011; 17 % concern Europe and 11% Asia (the latter figure representing a marked increase).

Unsurprisingly, 37% of companies plan to recruit in the corporate finance and management control fields, 29% in sales and marketing and 19% in consultancy, whereas 33% intend to continue hiring in marketing, 15% in purchasing and logistics, and 12% in human resources (these last three areas holding up well).

Lastly, on an optimistic note, 95% of businesses intend to maintain their relations with higher education in France.