ISE’s annual recruitment and development surveys offer insight to current and emerging trends. Claire Tyler, Head of Insights, shares our top 10 stats of the year.
- Graduate vacancies are down 8% but apprentice vacancies are up 8%
ISE’s Student Recruitment survey showed that this trend varies from sector to sector and employer to employer.
Also, whilst 42% of employers reduced graduate hiring and 40% reduced school/college leaver hiring, over a third of employers increased hiring volumes across both recruitment pathways.
- 1.8 graduates to every apprentice hired, down from 2.3 in 2024
Our recruitment survey also showed that apprentices are playing a bigger role over time.
Some larger employers appeared to be rebalancing early talent pipelines, increasing their emphasis on school and college leaver recruitment relative to graduates.
This year, employers who hired across both routes hired 1.8 graduates to every apprentice hired, down from 2.3 in 2024. This ratio is forecast to reduce further to 1.6:1 next year.
However, graduates still significantly outnumbered school and college leavers, and they remain a core element of early talent strategies.
- Average salaries are £33,000 for graduates and £24,000 for apprentices
Our annual surveys report a mixed picture on salary trends. While salaries rose across all recruitment pathways in nominal terms (up 2% for graduates, 3% for school/college leavers), inflation eroded gains.
In real terms, graduate salaries were down 1%, while school/college leavers remained flat.
However, graduates continued to see good salary progression. During the first three years after being hired, graduates increased their salaries by 37% and school and college leavers by 39% on average.
- 140 average applications per graduate vacancy
Competition for graduate jobs remained at a historic high. Two decades ago in 2002/3, employers received an average of 38 applications per graduate vacancy. By 2022/3, that figure had more than doubled to 86 per vacancy and for the last two years has been at 140 per vacancy - the highest recorded in the three decades since the ISE began collecting the data in 1991.
Competition for roles in retail, FMCG and tourism were the highest at 290 applications for every graduate role.
In the search for a job, some graduates are also applying to school/college leaver roles in greater volumes – 40% of employers reported an increase.
- Half of employers concerned that graduates’ (48%) and school and college leavers’ (52%) use of AI is misrepresenting their abilities
AI developments increasingly raise questions not only about the authenticity of applicants’ performance but also about the reliability of selection methods and outcomes.
When employers take on new hires whose skills are not fully aligned with their performance during the recruitment process, it can create challenges such as making it more difficult to deliver training, slowing down onboarding and disrupting the development process.
- 79% of employers are redesigning or reviewing recruitment to deal with candidate use of AI
Our recruitment survey highlights AI trends including that a third of employers were redesigning their selection processes due to AI, while a further 46% were currently reviewing their processes in response.
Half (49%) of employers had no problem with candidates using AI during the recruitment process, with its use largely restricted to drafting covering letters and CVs or completing online application questions. Only a small proportion of employers (10%) had banned the use of AI or introduced technical measures to prevent its use.
However, the authenticity of applications from ‘AI enabled’ candidates emerged as a key concern.
The proportion of employers who frequently encountered cheating more than doubled this year, rising from 7% last year to 15%. The most commonly reported form of misconduct was candidates using AI during interviews without disclosure or permission (61%).
- Use of AI by recruiters is limited but expected to grow
Employers increasingly recognise AI’s potential to help manage the growing volume of applications and reduce costs, however AI isn’t yet widely adopted by employers to recruit students.
Our survey found that in the next five years, more than half of employers (62%) expected to use AI in their recruitment processes, and 70% anticipated increasing their use of automation. However, for now at least, the use of AI exclusively at any stage of recruitment is very rare.
Whilst over half of employers used automated systems to fully manage some aspects of testing, use of AI exclusively at any stage of recruitment was limited. Employers were most likely to use AI exclusively in gamified assessments, but even here the adoption rate was only 15%.
- 92% of employers are committed to EDI
Two thirds of employers (66%) reported no change in their commitment to EDI. A further 13% are maintaining their commitment but reviewing certain practices (e.g. levels of reporting), while another 13% are increasing their commitment.
Meanwhile, 7% are actively reassessing their stance on EDI, and just 1% reduced their commitments.
These results indicate that developments in the US have had limited impact on UK student recruiters’ overall commitment to EDI, despite some wider reports that UK businesses would follow the shift, especially those with US operations.
- 77% of employers agreed that former interns are more work ready
ISE’s Student Development survey found that graduates who completed an internship or placement arrived with better skills and attitudes than other graduates.
Therefore, lack of work experience is likely to impact the performance of students as they embark on their careers. However, securing these opportunities is becoming increasingly challenging.
Competition for internships and placements has risen amongst undergraduates who are keen to enhance their CVs and secure permanent roles well in advance of graduation.
This year employers received 101 applications per internship vacancy (up 16% compared to last year) and 123 applications per undergraduate placement (up 27% compared to last year).
- Around half of graduate employers found graduates did not meet expectations in self-awareness and resilience
Employers’ main areas of concern this year centred on essential attitudes /behaviours and workplace communication.
This year, 54% of employers reported that graduates did not meet expectations in self-awareness (up from 43% in 2024 and 35% in 2023), while 46% reported concerns about resilience (up from 37% in 2024 and 30% in 2023).
For school and college leavers, employers were concerned with their hires’ resilience (48%), work-appropriate written communication (46%), and self-awareness (43%) skills.