Report on Graduate Employment Market & Trends in UK Retail Industry

This report provides an analysis of the graduate employment market and emerging trends within the UK retail industry. It begins by presenting statistical data on graduate employment rates and average salaries, highlighting a slight decrease in employment rates compared to previous years. The report then delves into the critical soft skills required for graduates to succeed in this sector, emphasizing the importance of communication, teamwork, creativity, and stress management. It concludes with recommendations for the CEO of Tesco, focusing on strategies to attract high-caliber graduates through competitive packages, professional development plans, and effective use of social media for recruitment. The report uses various online resources to support its findings and recommendations.

The graduate employment
market and emerging
trends

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
graduate employment market statistic ........................................................................................3
Analysis of graduate soft skills required.....................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................4
Recommendation for Ken Murphy (CEO of Tesco) on recruitment..........................................4
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
The retail industry in the UK include around 300,000 businesses. In addition to this the
mentioned industry employees around 3 million of jobs which is of 8% of overall jobs of UK. In
regard to this the job opportunity in the mentioned industry is relatively high. The respected
industry offers the jobs and placement to graduates also. In addition to this, the mentioned report
will evaluate the statistical information of graduate employment on he context of the retail
industry (THE UK RETAIL INDUSTRY, 2022). Moreover, an analysis of skills that required in
performing the effective functions will also evaluate. At last some recommendation will be offer
to CEO of Tesco in regard to the recruitment strategy.
MAIN BODY
graduate employment market statistic
According to the fact and figure from government of UK official site the graduate
employment rate is around 86.4% which is slightly down from by 1.1 percent point in compare
to 2019 (87.5%). in addition to this around 66% of graduates were indulged in high skilled
employment. The average salary that graduates get from the industry is around 35000 euro in
2020 (Graduate labour market statistics, 2021).
Analysis of graduate soft skills required
Soft skills plays vital role as on the hard skills. As the above statistics clearly showed that
the vast number of graduates have the hard skill that assist them in order to perform the effective
functions in the operational market. Moreover, the market requirement is rapidly changing, in
which organisations in retail industry are focusing on soft skills in an employee as well. Some of
the soft skills which highly required in the mentioned industry are Communication skills,
aptitude for customer facing roles, performance under pressure, teamwork skills etc. these skills
are highly in the demand. Recruiter mainly preferring the individuals who have indulged with
these soft skills. Below are the brief discussion of some of them skills.
 Communication skills- According to Rosie, (2021) communication skills are one of the
most reliable assets in the retail industry as mainly working in the retail industry are
customer centric. Therefore, companies looking for the ideal candidate that have the
strong communication skills, as they are the face of the company. Moreover, they need to
communicate with buyer, greet with the customer and form t he effective relationship

bond to make them loyal customer. Hence, it is necessary to have such skill in the 21st
century.
 Teamwork skills- A positive work experiences is being when with the indulge with
effective teamwork performance. In addition to this the mentioned industry have the lot
of multitasking work such as managing the stock, managing the customer relation,
advertising the brand products and many more. All these practises when performed in a
sink assist the organisation to attain their developed task. Therefore, an individual need to
have such teamwork skill to perform the organisation task together in order to attain t he
derived goals timely.
 Creativity- In the UK economy there are large number of retail business that offer their
services in the particular field. Hence, in order to get the comparative advantage
organisation are relying on creative approaches in their business operations. Therefore,
organisations mainly hiring those candidates that have the ability to develop creative
practises in order to perform any derived task. Therefore, recruiter prioritise those
candidates which have such mentioned soft skills in their personality.
 Resistance to stress and conflicts- To performing in the mentioned industry is not an
easy task. As the retail industry indulged with multitasking as well as the conflicts in the
job role is common. In regard to this, the demand for employees that have the skills to
deal with stress and conflicts are the first priority. Therefore, such skill assist the
individual to better handle the complex situation as well as support the organisation
functions by better result (8 Essential Skills for Retail Employees & How to Assess Them,
2021).
CONCLUSION
From the analysis of above report it is analysed that the vast number graduates are highly
skilled and employed by the retail industry with a attractive salary. Moreover the mentioned
report also discussed the soft skilled such as creativity, communication skill etc. which is highly
in demand in the retail industry.
Recommendation for Ken Murphy (CEO of Tesco) on recruitment
Tesco which is a renowned name in the retail industry have the vast number employee in
their operational functions of around 336,392. moreover the mentioned company also deployed

the graduate scheme by 25% to intake the graduates. In addition to cater the high calibre of
graduates towards the organisation function below are the some recommendation that can be
adopt by the organisation.
 Offer competitive packages- By offering the attractive salary packages the mentioned
organisation can easily attract th highly skilled graduates to their business functions. It
assist the organisation in order to get the more potential customer in their job roles, as
well as offer the option to select the ideal candidate from large number of Cvs according
to their suitability.
 Professional development plan- All the new graduates who looking for the job give the
first preferences to those companies that can offer them growth opportunity and training
programs to sharpen their existing skills. Hence, by the development of effective
processional development plan the respected organisation can attract the right pool of
talent. Therefore, they could deploy effective training sessions, professional growth
opportunities such as appraisal.
 Focus on social media- By the use of social media marketing tool the mentioned
business can appeal the large number of graduates candidate for their organisation
functions. In addition to this in the modern era people mainly search for tier jobs on
social media channels. Hence, by performing such activity, the mentioned business can
target the prospective audiences for their functions. (6 Proven Recruiting Strategies to
Attract New Graduates, 2022).

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
online
THE UK RETAIL INDUSTRY, 2022. [Online] available through:<https://brc.org.uk/climate-
roadmap/section-1-context/12-the-uk-retail-industry/#:~:text=The%20retail%20industry
%20in%20the,were%20worth%20%C2%A3439%20billion.>
Graduate labour market statistics, 2021. [Online] available through: <https://explore-education-
statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/graduate-labour-markets>
8 Essential Skills for Retail Employees & How to Assess Them, 2021.[Online] available
through:<https://harver.com/blog/skills-needed-retail-employees/>
6 Proven Recruiting Strategies to Attract New Graduates, 2022.[Online] available
through:<https://www.hackerrank.com/blog/proven-recruiting-strategies-to-attract-new-
graduates/>