Graduate exodus leaves bankers in short supply

What's happened to Australia's sex appeal? Student survey organisation Universum says 90% of Australian graduates want to go and work overseas.

No wonder there's a skills shortage. And it seems banks are partly to blame - many lure students with the promise of a stint abroad.

"It gives global banks an extra drawcard,'' says Tim Beach at recruiter Robert Walters. "The chance to get a foreign placing is definitely one reason people apply to investment banks."

Combine this with the fact that well-known global banks typically look better on a CV than local banks, and Beach says it's not hard to see why people apply to international firms which are liable to spirit them away.

Predictably, the exodus is affecting recruitment. Annabelle Hunt at financial services recruiter Crimson Consulting says there is a real shortage of talent in the middle level - people with two to three years' experience, because so many bankers of that age and experience are off doing a foreign stint.

Universum says the top five things graduates want are travel, career path, work/life balance, job security, and good pay.

But John Coles of search firm John Coles Consulting says this is just a wish list. In interviews, getting the job becomes priority number one, followed by good pay, then career path.

"Youngsters say they want to travel or have a work/life balance, but when it comes to it, they want a secure job and will work frantically for years at it.

"I have rarely encountered one who insists only on interviews where foreign placements are likely.''

Our own poll on where Australia's graduates want to work suggests Universum's 90% figure may be an exaggeration - nearly 60% of respondents said they planned to stay in Australia.