Graduates want cool start-ups not stuffy banks
The brightest graduates are continuing to reject banking and finance sectors in favour of Start-ups and SMEs, as discovered by a feature in the Sunday Times.
The allure of the big salaries and prestigious employers has begun to wear thin on current graduates looking for work. In a feature in this weekend's Sunday Times, it was discovered that graduates are starting to reject the big corporate finance institutions and head to start-ups and SMEs (Small to medium-sized enterprises). The reasons for this have been highlighted as greater responsibility in the workplace and the negative press the banking and finance industries have suffered over the past 7 years.
It was discovered that over 25% of graduates in 2014 had joined companies with 50 or fewer employees. This is growing from 20% back in 2010. He desire for responsibility has let banking and finance institutions in the lurch slightly, even though they continue to be flooded with applications each year. Managing Director at Grosvenor Boston, Jason McCready, told the Sunday Times, 'Financial organisations have been slow to react to such desired cultures and, although many are keen to promote agile working and a work-life balance, this could prove too little too late.'
Founder of Barrington Hibbert Associates, Michael Barrington-Hibbert, has also noticed a trend of graduates leaving these banks and financial firms for start-ups after a short while. Barrington-Hibbert said 'Start-ups are rewarding people who are prepared to step out of investment banking. Some of them have not made as much money as they expected to by this stage of their careers [because of the financial crisis]. The salary difference may not be as large as many people think, and a stake in a successful company could be worth a lot.'
Logan Naidu, Chief executive of the recruitment consultancy Dartmouth Partners, believes that it is the negative press that the industry has experienced that has prompted graduates to look elsewhere. Naidu said 'Over the past three or four years we have seen a lot of negativity around the industry, which has become slightly less attractive to graduates. There has also been a cultural change in that the banker is no longer the coolest person in the room - that's now the person who says, "I work for a start-up"'
By James Howell
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