Just one in ten small and medium-sized businesses will recruit graduates during the recession.

A poll of 502 SMEs revealed 88 percent of SMEs were not planning on recruiting graduates, while 89 percent have not recruited a graduate in the past year.

The news comes as a blow to graduate jobseekers, and indicates this year’s finalists must ensure their CVs are attention-grabbing with relevant experience wherever necessary to be in with a chance of landing a job with the firms who are recruiting.

The majority of businesses in the Centre for Enterprise poll said they selected employees according to skills and experience rather than their degree classification or subject. Nearly two in five of the firms said they did not set out to recruit graduates, but had done so in the past because they were stronger candidates than non-graduates.

However, 48 percent of firms said they would consider recruiting graduates if the government offered a subsidy to help them do so.

James Kewin, Joint Managing Director of CFE called on the government to help graduates. He said: "It is essential that government interventions aimed at stimulating the demand for Generation Crunch graduates are grounded in the day-to-day reality of running a business, particularly an SME. While the left hand of government is attempting to stimulate the adoption of high value added business strategies and graduate recruitment, the right hand can often be adding to the burden of regulation and oversight that SMEs have to contend with.

"In this context, success in encouraging businesses to recruit the brightest and the best of Generation Crunch may be determined as much by government doing less, as it will by asking SMEs to do more."