Martin Birchall , editor of The Times publication ‘Top 100 Graduate Employers’ visited the school to deliver a presentation to the current Lower 6th Form outlining the research his company has analyzed over the last 10 – 15 years. This was the first time in his career that Martin had been invited to talk to a school directly and relished the opportunity to speak directly to the young people who would be utilising his publication in the next few years.
Graduate employability has recently portrayed a gloomy picture and Martin set out to dispel some of the myths and confirm the facts about higher education and the job market. Through a set of slides he showed us the evidence from surveys carried out that the outlook is encouraging. The recruiters featured in the Times Top 100 Graduate Employers expect to increase their graduate intake by a further 6.8% during the 2010 – 11 recruitment season. There are still a number of universities that are actively recruited from, both in the UK and overseas.
He also stressed the importance of planning your future today and gaining work experience during your undergraduate years, making contacts and researching future employers you may be keen to work for in the future. Become a leader of a society, take a key role in a group and make the most of your time at university.
A very interesting presentation which finished off with a copy of the publication Martin quoted from being given to each student. We hope that this is the first of many visits from High Fliers.
