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Graduates are happiest when they choose to work for utilities
A survey of recently employed graduates found the utilities sector one of the most satisfying industries to work in.
There is a great deal of interest in the employment prospects of students leaving higher education in 2009, mainly because they are graduating into a much more uncertain labour market than their predecessors: a recession labelled as the worst since the Second World War.
At this time it is crucial that employers maintain graduate recruitment to prepare their organisations for equally uncertain futures. While it is largely reported that businesses are making cut-backs, rest assured an equal number are increasing recruitment.
A turbulent graduate labour market calls for robust, up-to-date knowledge about the recruitment, development and management of employees. Despite there being a number of good surveys of students' expectations of working life, there is relatively little evidence about their actual, lived experiences.
A survey of graduate employees by Graduate Prospects, Real Prospects 2009, reveals that life will not necessarily be a bed of roses for those graduates lucky enough to land a job. However, those who find employment in the utilities sector are likely to be in one of the most secure, well managed and rewarding positions at this time.
Surveying 24,500 graduates, Real Prospects 2009 paints a bright picture of working in the utilities sector, which is one of the most likely to meet the expectations of graduates. Eighty-two per cent said that their expectations had been met and one in ten said they had been exceeded. Furthermore, 72 per cent had confidence in the senior management team and 67 per cent thought the organisation was well managed.
Graduates in this sector are also among the most confident about their future. Despite the recession, 89 per cent felt secure about their employer's future and 80 per cent felt confident in their job security, reinforcing the sector's reputation as a secure place to work, which was also found to be one of its main attractions.
Overall, the survey found that graduates were satisfied with their pay and benefits package (73 per cent) and two-thirds believed it compared well with pay for comparable roles in other sectors. Thirty-three per cent reported that they had received a bonus in the past 12 months, with the median payment £1,680. However, almost a quarter (24 per cent) of graduates were dissatisfied with opportunities for overtime.
The top three flexible working opportunities identified as the most important for graduates in the utilities industry were flexitime (66 per cent), time off in lieu (50 per cent) and working from home (43 per cent). It is encouraging that an equivalent high proportion of respondents have these facilities available to them: 56 per cent have flexitime, 54 per cent are offered time off in lieu and 42 per cent can work from home.
Seventy-eight per cent of utilities graduates recognised that their employer had a corporate social responsibility policy and only 19 per cent said they did not know.
Graduates have the ambition to drive the UK economy forward, so it is heartening to hear that this sector is nurturing young talent. As the first of what will now be an annual survey, we look forward to seeing how the climate and graduate experiences will change a year on.
Mike Hill is chief executive of Graduate Prospects.
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