More grad jobs available for 2013

**A recent study by independent market research company High Fliers suggests there will be more jobs available for graduates with the _Times_’ top 100 employers in 2013.
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Based on responses from 100 top graduate employers, such as Teach First and Deloitte, the study suggests that graduate recruitment is expected to rise by 2.7 percent in 2013, with these top employers planning to hire 18,306 graduates.

This comes following a 0.8 percent downturn in recruitment from 2011 to 2012, and will still leave graduate recruitment down 11 percent on pre-recession levels.

Top employers are also expected to offer 11,387 paid work experience placements for students.
The study emphasises the need for work experience in the current job market, with half of all recruiters polled warning that graduates with no previous work experience would struggle to attain jobs on their graduate programmes.

A third of firms went on to confirm their expectations of filling a third of entry level positions with students that had previous experience of working for them.

Students do, however, appear to be picking up on these developments. A 2013 study on the website graduatejobs.com suggests more than four times as many students start their career search before their graduation year.

In spite of the rise, several students are not hugely encouraged, such as third year psychology student, Matthew Cairnduff: “It’s obviously a small rise, and a step in the right direction, but I think we’re all finding it pretty daunting that the bar has been set so much higher than it was when we first got to university.

“The prospect of not getting a job on a graduate scheme is fast becoming the norm, even from one of the more impressive universities like Warwick, and this is something we have to be prepared for”.