University Job Market Analysis: Retail Industry and Brexit Impact

This report delves into the intricacies of the current graduate job market, particularly within the United Kingdom, with a specific focus on the retail industry. It examines the competitive landscape, highlighting the challenges faced by students, especially overseas candidates, in securing employment. The analysis covers key issues such as the impact of Brexit on job vacancies, the importance of practical experience and skill sets, and the significance of cultural backgrounds in the selection process. The report also explores the trends in the retail sector, emphasizing the need for strong communication skills, technological proficiency, and an understanding of the fast-paced industry changes. Furthermore, it discusses the career opportunities available and provides insights into job roles, salary expectations, and the importance of continuous professional development. The report also includes a reflection on interview experiences, identifying strengths and weaknesses in making a good impression.

Running head: PROFESSIONAL RESEARCH AND COMMUNICATION
Professional Research and Communication
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Introduction
The purpose of the following essay is to focus upon the various issues that are involved in
the current graduate job market. The market environment has grown up to be so much
competitive in the modern era and the price of all the important things has been increasing a lot.
In order to maintain the family and meet all the requirements of the individuals, they have to do
jobs and earn good money as well. The importance of getting the jobs at a proper time is very
important since it takes a lot of time to manage the lives of the human beings. However, the
current job market is growing to be extremely competitive and the need for getting the proper
jobs (Highfliers.co.uk 2018). It has been a major problem for the overseas students in terms of
the current UK labor market. This is why the students need to focus on their academic
performance in a proper manner and know about the most important issues that have to be kept
in mind at the time of the interviews. The retail industry will be evaluated here in this paper in
terms of getting the jobs. The organizations need the best people in their organizations and the
ways to compatible with the needs of the organizations will be discussed over here (Haigh. and
Hoffman 2012).
Issues and trends in the graduate job market
It has been seen that many students are in favor of trying for the jobs after the completion
of their graduation in general (Trought 2017). They prefer joining jobs instead of going for
higher education because of the career prospects they can build their career from a very early
age. This will be very interesting ro see how they will confront with the challenges and issues
that they have to face whenever they appear for the job interviews (Highfliers.co.uk 2018) The
big names in the current retail industry in UK have been on a spree for employment after they
have revived a bit from the problems of the issues in the graduate job market. The employment

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rates have gone higher in the past few times since the organizations want to recruit more people
for the sake of their expansion of the business (Trought 2017).
After the Brexit, the unemployment had dropped down to a huge margin. The job market
in UK had been badly affected and the overseas students felt the evil impact of this. This is why
it is very much welcome that the job market is growing in the recent times. The rate of the
unemployment rate had been very high in the past few years (Trought 2017). The overseas
students were not able to get the jibs since the organizations always preferred the local people to
increase the GDP growth of the country. The cultural and ethnic issues had also come to play as
well. The people coming from different countries and minority ethnic backgrounds were
suffering from this issue as well (Highfliers.co.uk 2018) The number of the part time workers
had increased in this context as well. The retail industry companies were not properly able to
give the jobs to these graduate students. In this competitive labor market very few companies
would want to take the chance of employing the young people just finishing their graduation. It
is because their experience in the job field has not been so much (Trought 2017).
The primary problem for landing up with the good jobs for the graduate students is their
lack of the formal training in the jobs. The only simple fprmal graduation training for the
students does not support them to get the best jobs in the market. This is why it is very important
to have a practical knowledge about the industry they will want to enter (Mavromaras et al.
2013). In UK, the selection procedure is so very competitive and the candidates are expected to
know about many things rather than just their knowledge from their graduation studies. This is
why the companies try to test their knowledge in the practical world of jobs. If they are quick
enough to understand the requirements from them and ready to adapt to the changes in their

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mindsets, they are hired. Some companies have issues with the cultural backgrounds of the
overseas students.
This becomes a very problematic issue for them to select the graduate students and give
them the placements (Mavromaras et al. 2013). The current economic condition in the United
Kingdom is gradually increasing so it can be looked as one of the best positive things for the new
university graduates. It is the graduate students who will be design the future of the country and
play a major role in increase the GDP of the country by giving more productivity. The graduate
job market has been increasing since 2015 and this has been a good sign for providing the jobs to
the new young people (Cai 2013). The recession issues have been so much in consideration since
the organizations have not been able to provide jobs to most number of people for different
financial issues. The employment outlook for the new university graduates has been widened in
the last few years. Hopefully this will go through the good times as well. The job markets in the
United Kingdom will likely to increase in the coming years as well (Highfliers.co.uk 2018)
It has been predicted by certain authorities that the job market for the graduates will open
up in the new ways. This will be very much helpful for the organizations as well. If they invest in
the youth they will get long term benefits as well (Cai 2013). The matter of fact is the graduate
job market in the country is generally open to the graduate students of all the fields. This is
indeed a great opportunity as well. In the retail industry, it is also much more open to the
graduate students of every discipline (Tomlinson 2012). The jobs in the retail industry is much
open to the graduate students from the fields like the media studies, fine arts, physics or other
science subjects. This is why the organizations in the retail industry are searching for the new
graduates for their energy and enthusiasm. However, this does not mean that all the graduates

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will get to find their jobs very easily as the selection scales for getting the jobs are considered to
be higher than ever (Tomlinson 2012).
If the graduates are experts in the skills that are specifically in demand will be very much
helpful for them to get their dream jobs. The new graduate students should always be open to the
issues that are very challenging in the current situations (Teijeiro, Rungo and Freire 2013). If a
graduate student is an expert in the skilled economy, he or she might have a good opening in the
financial and accounting services as well. The students should be aware about the skill shortages
in the industry they will be applying for. They should always try to meet up the skill shortages to
meet the demands of their job interviewers (Teijeiro, Rungo and Freire 2013) The impact of
Brexit would definitely creativity in the job market. If the Brexit really takes place it will directly
hamper the job market and the vacancies will lower down for the fresh graduates. The economy
will weaken as well (Holmes and Mayhew 2012). The fact of immigration will play a role in this
role as well since the overseas students also come in to get the jobs they have aspired for. The
overseas students will are very much worried and concerned about their future so they will likely
be looking to increase their expertise as well.
Issues and trends in the retail industry jobs
The retail industry has been considered to be one of the biggest job providers in the
United Kingdom. This is why the fresh graduate students will look to start their job careers in
this industry (James et al. 2013). The retail industry has a good opportunity for the career growth
and this will be very important for the graduate students. One of the most important things for
surviving successfully is the good communication process. People who are not able to

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communicate with the customers swiftly will face many challenges indeed. This is the skill that
is generally not taught in the colleges and universities (James et al. 2013).
The employees in the retail industry must have a good affinity with the technology as
well. This is why the proper knowledge of the communication and technology should be very
important in succeeding in this industry (Abreu, Faggian and McCann 2014). The graduate
students are mostly very aware about the use of the technology. This is why they can handle
these issues if they are extrovert enough. The career opportunities are huge in this sector as well.
The retail industry is very much fast paced and the changes are coming around in this industry as
well (Abreu, Faggian and McCann 2014). The graduate students must be able to know about
these things The big organizations like Tesco and Asda are very much present in this country
with their high margin profit figures. The retail industry sector has been considered as the largest
job provider in the country. The companies are planning to open new outlets in various parts of
the country so they will need many more employees to run their operations in a successful
manner (MacKenzie 2015).
The retail sector will need to employ many people in their day to day activities for the
customer care service and the marketing campaign of those products. The need to make the
proper strategic decisions will be important for the organizations as well. The graduate students
must be able to develop a proper idea about these things (MacKenzie 2015) There are many
online and offline employers who always like to employ the junior graduate employees to look
after their operations. This becomes quite effective for them since their youthful nature and
enthusiasm will lead to the success of the business operations (Portes and Walton 2013). Various
retail supermarkets are also engaged in the employing of the fresh graduate employees as well.
The big retail icons like Asda, Sainsbury and Tesco want to recruit the graduate employees as

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they are unmarried and probably they will have lots of time to give to the organization as well
(Portes and Walton 2013).
Thus the organizations tend to attract the graduate employees by giving them a fair
amount of career growth opportunities (Verhaest and Van der Velden 2012). The working
environment in the retail supermarkets is quite interesting and challenging. The new and fresh
graduates will find it very energetic as they like to face the new challenges posed before them at
their age. They can work in this industry for part time and continue their studies as well. They
can attend their work through the online medium and attend their further studies as well (Vedder,
Denhart and Robe 2013).
Knowledge about the job
The fresh graduate students must possess the proper knowledge about the job roles that
they will have to perform. It is the duty of the graduate students to have a brief idea about the job
role that they will have to perform (Shierholz, Davis and Kimball 2014). There are many retail
companies that pay good money to the employees. As graduates are considered to be the fresher
candidates; their salary is not very high but they can use it for their pocket money as well. They
will grow with the experience and confidence as they progress further with their jobs in the retail
industry (Highfliers.co.uk 2018)
The graduates must keep an eye on the vacancies in the top companies. The employers
will be able to seek the best graduate employees according to their qualifications and career
expectations (Shierholz, Davis and Kimball 2014). The starting salaries will have to be very
attractive for them as well. The vacancies for the graduate employees have increased around
3.6% in the year 2018. After the reduction of the graduate employees in the year 2017, the

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recruitment of the graduate employees has been gaining the rise lately. In the year 2017, the
annual growth of the graduate jobs just came to a halt indeed (Highfliers.co.uk 2018) The
employers did not receive the enough number of the applications for the posts that are meant for
the highly specialized jobs (Maselli 2012). It has been found in the research work that the harder-
to fill vacancies have worked as the main impediments for the recruitment of the graduate
employees.
The various organizations have been offering on campus jobs to the graduate students for
a number of years now (Abel, Deitz and Su 2014). The employers belonging to the engineering
and industrial sectors featured the increase in the recruitment of the graduate students indeed.
The accounting and professional services firms have been exceptional in recruiting these
graduate professionals. The recruitment of the private sector employees in the private sector has
not been that much whereas it has increased a lot in the public sector and UK Armed Forces
(Highfliers.co.uk 2018) Thus the graduate recruitment has sped up a lot in these industries.
Conclusion
The conclusion to this paper can be drawn by saying that the graduate recruitment is a
huge prospect for the future development of the country in many ways. Both the public sector
and private sector look to provide the jobs to the youth so they can develop their future and attain
a career growth as well. The graduate recruitment has suffered a setback because of the Brexit in
the last few years. The graduate students should also be aware of the needs and responsibilities
of the organizations in the future. The recruitment of the graduate students will be helpful for the
public and private sector organizations to work faster and smooth manner. The organizations
should provide good salaries to the graduate candidates to attract them towards their jobs.

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