GUEST COMMENT: There are still opportunities for graduates in Scotland

HBOS and Royal Bank of Scotland are two banks high-profile casualties of the turmoil engulfing the UK financial sector and, rather ominously, they were conspicuous by their absence at a recent careers fair held in Glasgow. But does this mean it's universally gloomy for graduates looking to enter financial services in Scotland this year?

Initial statistics would suggest this is indeed the case. The Association of Graduate Recruiters February survey predicted a drop of 28% in banking vacancies this year and one leading Scottish university reports that the number of finance-related jobs posted up by recruiters on its own job board has fallen by exactly this figure - 28% - compared to this time last year.

Although it is difficult to get exact figures from recruiters in Scotland about how many graduates they are planning to hire, it would be fair to describe the current climate for graduates north of the border as challenging.

However, when we delve in a little further there are reasons to believe that all is not doom and gloom.

The same university that recorded a fall in finance jobs on its jobs platform also says that the major retail banks are still approaching students to apply for places to its 2009 graduate schemes.

Strangely, rather than being inundated with applications – as one would expect – HR departments are reporting back to university careers services that they are disappointed by a fall in the number of students applying for their graduate schemes, presumably because they have become disillusioned by the negative press.

However, the struture of the financial services in Scotland is markedly different to that of the rest of the UK. Scotland boasts a much higher proportion of jobs in the insurance and pensions industry, with three of the UK’s leading pension and life assurance institutions headquartered here.

Keen to spot an opportunity, the CII (Chartered Insurance institute) regard the banking turmoil as opening the way for talented graduates to an alternative career in insurance. To encourage graduates to consider the insurance industry, the CII has engaged with graduates through a number of projects, including its Talent Initiative and promotional activity at universities.

Scotland also has a higher proportion of middle and back office jobs, such as asset servicing and investment operations than the City. The headline grabbing cuts in investment banking and brokerages has largely passed Scotland by. On the contrary, a number of fund managers report that they have never been so busy while the risk management sector has benefited from recent events to record a recent growth in hiring.

There has been expansion elsewhere, with BNP Paribas announcing 80 new jobs in Glasgow in January and Tesco Personal Finance creating 200 new jobs by as a result of its new Edinburgh headquarters.

So among all the negative headlines the message is clear - there are certainly opportunities for graduates in the finance sector in Scotland, though students have got to heed the advice of their careers services more than ever before by carrying out thorough research on the organisations they are applying to and preparing well for the recruitment and selection process.

Students should also think more creatively about how to achieve their ultimate career aims – perhaps starting off with an SME rather than a big corporation. The amount and variety of extra curricular and work experience is something that recruiters place great store by in candidates as well as energy, commitment, evidence of employability skills and commercial acumen.

Aidan Hetherington is careers and corporate relations officer at the University of Edinburgh Business School