Graduates still plan to change jobs - graduate jobs

Graduates are flouting the economic downturn and still plan to leave their first post-university jobs despite the rise in unemployment, according to research.

More than two-thirds of graduates said they intended to move on from their current employer and seek better roles elsewhere, leadership development company Inspirational Development Group (IDG) said.

When IDG questioned some of Britain's largest employers, such as the NHS, Thomson Reuters and Lloyds Banking Group, 22% of managers said graduates moved on within two years. Almost half of employers said they had difficulty hanging on to graduates, and admitted high turnover made measuring the effectiveness of graduate recruitment schemes difficult.

Hana Searson, head of talent management at IDG, said: "The information we have gathered highlights a lack of measurement in terms of return on investment and a need for companies to get better at identifying the right graduates for their business.

"It seems that many companies view the high turnover of graduates at this crucial two-to-three-year point as inevitable. Organisations need to identify potential stars early on in their placements in order to map out clear plans to retain these individuals. How companies measure the value of a graduate also needs examining."