Graduates 'face tough job market'

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Graduates looking for work this summer will face tough competition for top jobs, but could earn a record starting salary if they succeed, a report says.

The UK's top 100 firms expect to offer average starting salaries of £25,500 - £1,700 more than last year.

Some of the larger investment banks will offer up to £35,000.

High Fliers Research, which carried out the study, says many of the leading firms are expecting 50 graduates to apply for each vacancy.

The larger banks predict they will attract 200-300 applications for every graduate job, said Martin Birchall of High Fliers Research.

"With 265,000 graduates expected to leave university in 2007, competition for places on the most prestigious graduate schemes is likely to be tougher than ever and many top employers expect to receive at least 50 applications for each of their vacancies," he said.

"Record numbers of graduate vacancies at these popular organisations should help more of this year's university finalists land a well-paid job after graduation," he said.

"But the recent expansion of employers' graduate programmes has not kept pace with the huge rise in the number of students going to university over the past decade."

The largest graduate employers this year are expected to be accountancy and professional services, investment banks and the armed forces, according to the study.

Mr Birchall warned that leading employers were still concentrating their recruitment drives on an elite group of top universities.