EDHEC Business School launches its Young Graduates Employment Barometer

EDHEC continues to monitor the job market for Master-level young graduates, and regularly conducts studies on the main trends, which includes the impact of the economic situation on recruitment.

"We felt that given the current economic context and the growing concerns regarding the graduate recruitment of new, it was essential to offer all the business players involved a tool to monitor the quarterly trends in the job market for freshly-minted graduates. This information will allow both businesses and future job seekers to follow market changes closely and to adapt accordingly", the Head of EDHEC Career Service told us.   The EDHEC Young Graduates Employment Barometer studies the main trends across all career and job sectors every 3 months, providing useful information on the key evolutions and market trends for Master-level graduates and students as well as recruiters.   The first edition of the barometer, published in March 2009, is based on an online survey conducted between February 20 and March 5, 2009 with HR managers from 388 of France's leading firms (79 respondents). The first EDHEC Young Graduates Employment Barometer indicates that companies are still recruiting new graduates with a Master's degree (71% of the firms that replied said they would continue to recruit over the next 3 months). Nonetheless, the trend is downwards (81% of companies had recruited in the previous quarter). In addition, while 57% of firms who intend taking on new staff in the coming 3 months said they would recruit the same numbers as before, 38% said they would be taking on fewer newcomers. On the other hand, the companies questioned have drawn lessons from previous downturns: one of them will be breaking off their relations with business schools, as they are keen not to damage their brand capital as employers.   The next edition of EDHEC Young Graduates Employment Barometer will be published in June 2009.