The hard graft of finding a graduate job in the City of London

Emma Jacobs:

This summer Michael Olagunju and his friend Zain Abbas decided that if they were to get the jobs they so desired - as an investment banker and an actuary, respectively - they needed to do something to lift them above the torrent of featureless email applications by their graduate peers. So they dusted off their best suits and each made a placard advertising themselves and stood outside Canary Wharf, the east London hub of finance.

"I knew there had to be a better way to get noticed," says 22-year-old Mr Olagunju, who qualified with a first-class degree in maths from Aberdeen university. "I just needed to get my toe in the door."

Competition for graduate- level jobs is fierce. According to figures released by the Office for National Statistics last month, almost half the UK's new graduates are working in non-graduate jobs. Forty-seven per cent of those who had finished their degree in the past five years were working in roles such as sales assistants and care workers. Recent analysis by the Financial Times showed that people who graduated this year are earning 12 per cent less than their counterparts before the financial crash.

Typically, positions at investment banks or fund managers are highly contested. These industries receive 135 applications per job, according to the Association of Graduate Recruiters.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at December 27, 2013 12:57 AM
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