Declan Moloney, 01 July 2009
Whip your CVs into shape: the number of graduate vacancies this summer is down on last year by 13.5 percent.

A survey by High Fliers polling the UK’s top 100 employers revealed there would be a large reduction in positions. The expected recruitment of nearly 16,500 students in 2008 would be down to nearly 14,500 this year. The reduction in vacancies has seen applications rise by a third.

Yet the public sector has seen rises in vacancies and the Army’s recruitment is up by 11 percent. The biggest sector recruiting though this year will be in accounting; taking on nearly 3,500 graduates.

High Fliers managing director Martin Birchall said: "With a record number of students graduating from UK universities this summer, these substantial cuts in graduate recruitment at Britain's best-known and most sought-after employers couldn't have come at a worse time.

"The 'Class of 2009' are facing one of the toughest job markets of the last two decades and there is now the very real prospect that tens of thousands of new graduates will be left unemployed after leaving university this year."