Student Aps Up at Deloitte Scotland

In Scotland, Deloitte has seen a 34 percent uptick in applicants from students set to graduate in 2009, according to a feature in The Scotsman.

The Edinburgh paper reports that while other firms are laying off staff, Deloitte plans to hire the same number of students next year that it hired this year.

The Scotsman’s Jane Bradley writes:

Deloitte said that applications in Scotland have been increasing for the past few years, but that concern about student debt and the availability of graduate positions had encouraged more to apply early for 2009.

Over the UK as a whole, applications rose by 40 per cent. Jim Boyle, talent partner for Deloitte in Scotland, said: "I've found that some graduates who might ordinarily take a post-university gap year have been applying to Deloitte during their final year rather than wait until they return…"

Sarah Shillingford, graduate recruitment partner at Deloitte, added: "The current economic climate has not affected our graduate recruitment plans. At this stage, we are anticipating around 1,000 graduate vacancies, broadly the same number of graduates as previous years. A number of graduate recruiters have cut back on recruitment figures and, as a result, more students are competing for our positions than ever before."

The company added that graduates were keen to secure a stable job amid rising student debt.

That’s a very interesting remark given that the average student debt in Scotland is about $17,000. But, back to the story:

Shillingford added: "Students graduating in 2009 face a tougher job market than those who graduated in previous years. The value attributed to job security by students is higher than I have seen before, both in terms of the employers they are attracted to and the timing of their applications."

Here at home, a Deloitte spokesperson declined to say whether the company has seen a simliar increase in applications from students, but our best guess is that if it's happening there, it's happening here, too.