TARGETjobs graduate news roundup

Hello, good afternoon and welcome to the TARGETjobs news roundup. We’re counting down to the bank holiday weekend here, and we hope you’re looking forward to it too. To celebrate we’re giving you loads of reading material. It could mean the difference between job and not-job.

This week it is the legal sector that is leading the news. There have been developments at both ends of the university process. But there have also been changes in other sectors as well. Retail, property, accountancy, consultancy and IT have all generated interesting news:

• First up the Law Society Gazette has announced that law degree courses have risen in popularity following last week’s A-level results. While applications for most degree courses have dropped off, two law colleges received at least twice the normal amount of applications.
• And for those who want to go on to become trainee solicitors there’s more good news, many magic circle firms are retaining the vast majority of their hires. It could be worth keeping an eye on those figures in future years.

However, if law isn’t your area of interest, there is plenty going on in the other sectors:

• First up, there’s interesting news for both the retail and property sectors. More and more retail chains are beginning to advertise property vacancies. In part this may be linked to the rise of small urban outlets.
• There’s good news for people going into the construction sector, Balfour Beatty will have 150 graduate vacancies to fill. This is despite the fact that it recently announced a focus on business opportunities outside of the UK.
• In accountancy news Ernst & Young has announced that it wants to pursue greater gender equality. This was announced after the 205 nations which competed in London 2012 all sent at least one female athlete. 
• We asked recruitment teams from a range of consultancy firms what they look for in candidates. They said they wanted commitment, relationship building and confidence with numbers.
• A report by KPMG suggests that the IT sector will perform well in the coming months. According to the report, business analytics, cloud computing and enterprise mobility will lead the way.

But there are also important goings on which are not attached to any particular sector:

• For those of you about to start your final year it’s now more important than ever to try your hardest. According to research from the Consumer Business Index and Pearson, degree class is one of most important factors when employers hire graduates.
• We’ve also had a bit of a tongue-in-cheek look at five things you shouldn’t do on work experience. It would be hard to mess up badly enough to do all five, but you might just be making one of these mistakes.  
• And then there is the usual roundup of graduate job deadlines. As with the last two weeks, there are plenty of jobs in IT. This week though, they are joined by vacancies in engineering, retail, finance and human resources. Check out the latest jobs here.

To get graduate careers news as it happens, check out the TARGETjobs news feed. Alternatively, check out the roundup this time next week!

TARGETjobs offers the largest choice of graduate jobs, internships and placements. Independent reviews on top graduate employers and career planning tools and expert guidance. Become a TARGETjobs blogger by getting in touch with jackie.balchin2@targetjobs.co.uk.