But how do we go about matching the graduate with the right job? Graduates Yorkshire – the winner of the University spin-out category in the Excellence in Business Awards – has the answer.

It's a dedicated recruitment website which matches employers in Yorkshire and the Humber with graduate talent from the region's universities.

It's enjoyed great success after launching as a stand-alone social enterprise business earlier this year.

Graduates Yorkshire is built upon the success of the original Graduate Link project. Established in 1996, Graduate Link provided a recruitment service to meet the growing demand for graduates in small and medium sized businesses and its services later expanded to help employers of any size. Graduate Link's activities are still going strong today under the name of Graduates Yorkshire.

Regional development agency Yorkshire Forward previously funded Graduates Yorkshire, which is jointly owned by the region's 10 universities.

The company offers a range of recruitment-based services to provide all the information and support graduates and employers need to find each other.

Graduates Yorkshire's emergence as a social enterprise followed a recent warning that the region's economic development is being threatened by its failure to retain more graduate talent. Graduates Yorkshire is vital to the region's economic health.

It's earned high praise from Tom Riordan, the chief executive of Yorkshire Forward. Mr Riordan noted that, during the five years that Yorkshire Forward supported Graduates Yorkshire, thousands of graduates were persuaded to stay and work in the county who might have gone elsewhere.

He added: "By encouraging so many graduates from the region's universities to seek employment in Yorkshire and the Humber, Graduates Yorkshire is helping to retain crucial sector skills which will make us more competitive nationally and internationally."

Operating in partnership with the region's 10 university careers services, Graduates Yorkshire offers a range of services including low cost vacancy advertising, enhanced adverts, recruitment packages and a candidate CV search and CV Match through the site's database.

As well as providing all the benefits of a large job site, Graduates Yorkshire also offers a number of services that are delivered locally by the region's universities. Graduates Yorkshire has more than 14,000 graduates registered to the website and has managed more than 25,000 vacancies in the region. To find out more, visit the website – www.graduatesyorkshire.co.uk