Majority of graduates believe Thursday’s EU Summit on ‘The State of Europe’ will not resolve their difficulties securing employment.

According to a survey recently conducted by research and development team of FindEmployment.com, 93 percent of European graduates are considering emigration to another country in an effort to enhance their job prospects. In countries, where strict austerity measures are being implemented, over 55 percent of respondents believe the introduced measures have negatively impacted on their ability to obtain work. An overwhelming 80 percent of graduates express doubt that EU leaders will come up with any meaningful solutions to the ongoing crisis in youth employment when they meet this week. 46 percent of graduates are now convinced that the best career opportunities lie outside of Europe.

“It’s time for EU leaders to work very hard to create opportunities for this generation of graduates and to change such negative public sentiment” said James Weaver, Director of Find Employment Ltd, “We are all aware of the devastating impact the inability to find employment can have on any person, not to mention the effect that mass emigration of professionals has on a country’s economic recovery efforts and its future development”. Further findings of the survey indicate: Almost three quarters (73 percent) of respondents feel that having a degree is important or crucial in their job search. However over half (58 percent) do not feel confident that they will secure a job related to their qualifications. 61 percent are not in full time employment, with 32 percent still searching for any job, 11 percent volunteering or interning, and 18 percent in temporary positions. In figures published Thursday 4th October by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) on their graduate recruitment for 2012, the firm received a record 35,500 applications for nearly 1,800 places across all student programmes, emphasizing the excessive competition for jobs. Richard Irwin, PwC head of student recruitment noted, ‘In terms of recruitment for 2013, we will be recruiting at very similar levels to 2012’.

According to Atiyah Wazir Meadows, Online Editor of Eurograduate.com, “In the tough job market it is simply not enough to graduate from a top university or business school. Work experience, additional skills, the ability to network, genuine commitment and determination are attributes, which are sought after by the employers.” She adds, “With budgets, finance and health being topics of importance across Europe, many graduates feel that recruitment is not a priority for EU leaders”.