DiversityQ.com is asking anyone who graduated between 2017 and 2020 to take part in its graduate recruitment survey to help achieve a level playing field in entry-level roles in UK businesses.

For graduates, it’s natural to assume that the next step toward financial security will be securing that dream job; and that once they’re in, it’s only a matter of hard work and perseverance before the senior positions come along and they can wave goodbye to that student debt.

However, 2020 has made securing that enviable career and getting a foot on the corporate ladder harder than ever. The family background, the university they went to, gender, race, and any of their differences can also play a part in their success in the workplace or lack of success.

What we are doing

To help understand the problem at hand, DiversityQ is asking graduates to take a few minutes to complete our survey.

It will help build a picture of what is going on, which companies and sectors are getting it right and where more needs to be done to enable us to tackle workplace bias.

Graduating into a recession is hardly an easy challenge, especially as the odds are already against graduates as more people every year are getting degrees.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the majority (61%) of employers have said that they have cancelled graduate placements, and almost half (46%) of all graduates have said that they missed out on job opportunities due to the pandemic. Worryingly, 48% of companies also say there will continue to be fewer opportunities for future graduates. As employers are turning their backs on graduates, we want to turn their attention back on the future of their workplaces.

Navigating the graduate job market as someone who does not have the advantage of being from a top University or a high socio-economic background can make it even more difficult. Even tools for helping graduates find employment can be exclusionary. For example, Handshake is only available for students at the University of Cambridge, the University of York and the University of Liverpool.

The results of the survey will help paint a picture of who is being impacted by the lack of focus on graduate recruitment by employers.  It will show whether certain communities are being side-lined and excluded from opportunities so that employers can be encouraged to change.

Graduates taking our survey will help achieve the goal of ensuring a more diverse and inclusive job market and future workplaces for all.

If you are a graduate or have a family member who is, share the survey with them. Help DiversityQ propel inclusion and diversity further forward in our social consciousness to tackle the problems in graduate employment – in which businesses can be the true architects of change. 

Click here to take the survey.