Firms warned on graduate careers

A study by professional services firm PwC found a “significant gap” between what graduates working in the financial service sector expected from the job, and their actual experience.

The survey of more than 200 graduates also found that more than half had made compromises when accepting a job during the economic downturn and few were planning to stay in their current post for long.

Jon Terry, a partner at PwC, said: “Financial services companies are already finding it hard to keep younger workers and this is likely to become even tougher as the job market starts to improve.

“This generation of graduates demand a different approach to recruitment, retention, management and development, which organisations simply can’t afford to ignore.

“If companies fail to invest in trying to understand what drives this group, they face the real risk of losing large numbers of them to other companies when the job market picks up.

“Carrying on with the same approach to recruitment and retention is no longer an option.”