A recent survey from Universum has shown that banks and the financial services sector are still hugely popular employers for graduates, with the most popular employer being a bank (well done JP Morgan!); and work life balance remains the number one focus with job security only coming third.
This on the surface may be a surprise but if you think about it the banks have put huge investment over the years into their graduate brand and are now really seeing the value & return on that investment – a number of other sectors should take note of this!
But most importantly it shows that this generation of graduates (the Gen Y’ers) have been ‘formed and shaped’ from their experiences over the last 20 years – so they still remain self assured & highly confident and want the life they want – a recession however deep cannot erode 20 years of ‘value’ shaping.
So all those of us who thought “a good recession would sort the out” and get them “thinking more realistically” need to think again! Generation Y’ers are here to stay and with it their values and attitudes remain very much intact and embedded.
January 27th, 2010 at 1:02 pm
Simon –
I am going to respectfully disagree with your post. The survey you quote is the collective response of UK Business Studies Undergraduates. #2 was PwC, #3 Goldman Sachs (GS). Of course graduates would choose the healthiest of banking institutions. I am not sure to the extent the UK Government bailed out those institutions, but in the US they were given essentially a blank check. If my industry (engineering) had unlimited government money from the federal reserve at essentially 0% interest, we would be hiring, and a top choice of Gen Y’s as well.
I’d like to re-see those survey results 6 months post graduation, and see how many students views change after being unable to land a job. I am not aware of the unemployment rate for new grads in the UK, but in the US it is above the national rate of 10%, some estimate as a high as 18%.
Gen Y’s attitudes will shift, if they have not already, especially as the economic climate continues to deteriorate. In the U.S. we’re facing a $1.3T operational deficit in 2010, a housing market that by most consensus has much more to fall, consumer spending which will continue to contract as households balance their budgets, and states forced to increase taxes and slash services.
Gen Y’s will likely become much more frugal than previous generations as a fiscal “survival” mindset sets in. While discretionary spending on electronics will likely remain high, don’t expect this generation to pay top price on automobiles, houses, or other material goods. Unfortunately since so many are saddled with student loan debt, pending some sort of executive action limiting the amount required to be repaid, this generation will have less $ for investment and funding of retirement accounts. With the very real risk of significant inflation, (look at energy and food prices already) many within this group will likely be much more disenfranchised about employment in general, and job security will likely surpass work-life balance as a number 1 concern.
And from what I’ve read, the UK is in a worse situation than the US.