International graduate demand goes up in Australia

2013-2-26

 According to a the study carried out by Graduate Careers Australia (GCA) which analyses the responses of more than 500 graduate employers, the proportion of companies who recruited international graduates grew from 19% in 2010 to 30.8% in 2011 (more than 60%) – nearing the 2008 peak of 35.3%.

The Graduate Outlook Survey (GOS) is conducted annually by Graduate Careers Australia and examines graduate recruitment practices and trends from the perspective of graduate employers in the Australasian region.

The areas which showed more growth in international recruitment were the Communication and Technology sectors – up from 32% to 47% this year. These sectors are followed by Accountancy, Finance, Mining and Engineering. However, just over two in five employers indicated that they have had difficulties sourcing or recruiting candidates in any particular discipline areas in their 2011 graduate recruitment campaign, even in the most popular areas for recruitment.

Among the most recurrent difficulties, ‘Recruitment of the ‘right’ graduates in a competitive market’ was identified as the top graduate recruitment issue as well as ‘Retention of graduate employees,’ considering the high number of international graduates being employed.

Nearly half of the employers that recruited international graduates had more than 500 employees. Large employers are twice more likely to hire more international graduates than employers with fewer than 500 employees. However, they also tend to hire more students coming from undergraduate courses.

On the other hand, smaller employers (less than 500 employees) were more likely to recruit mature age and postgraduate degree graduates into their graduate recruitment programs than larger employers.
According to the survey, Australian companies are increasingly relying on social media for their recruitment campaigns along with university career services and their own websites. Smaller companies also rely on ‘word of mouth’ and friends and family recommendations for their positions.