Competition rises for graduate banking jobs, but so does pay
It is becoming harder for graduates to get highly paid banking jobs in the City of London, but those who succeed are earning more, a survey of pay over the last three years shows.
More than 80% of investment banks responding to the survey are offering starting salaries of more than 26,000 (€41,500) this year, the report by the careers publisher GTI says.
The figures are drawn from a variety of banks including HSBC, DrKW and Deutsche Bank. However some of the best-paying banks, such as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, declined to give figures.
Salaries in insurance, accounting and financial management tend to be significantly lower than in investment banking, the survey says.
Share options and 'golden hello' incentives for the best graduates are offered by 16% of financial services firms this year. Three years ago, none offered them.
Annual bonuses are given by 68% of employers in the sector.
A company pension scheme remains the most common benefit, offered by 93% of employers in the sector in 2002..
But graduate recruitment programmes have become more rigorous, the report says.
Companies are interviewing fewer people and increasingly use online applications as a filtering process. Since 2000, when 27% of employers favoured online applications, the figure has risen to 72%.
Once graduates have passed this hurdle, recruiters are also resorting to more scientific methods to identify suitable candidates, with 44% now opting for psychometric tests.
Employers are increasingly demanding that graduates demonstrate essential skills during their job interviews, says the report. Some 51% of employers now use case studies in interviews, a steady rise each year since 2000.
Chris Phillips of GTI says: "Companies are putting stringent selection procedures into place so that they are not flooded with inappropriate applications and only the best graduates are offered jobs."
The survey covered nearly 500 companies in all sectors.
