PR students are in fear of unemployment reports Nicola Conron, Head of Recruitment at Fishburn Hedges

We opened up our 2011 trainee scheme for applications last month. It's always an exciting time when we think about the talent of tomorrow walking through our doors. It's also a scary time when you see just how high-achieving some of the graduates are already. Watch out, Mr Hedges. I went to two uni careers fairs in October to spread the word about our scheme. What really turned my head was that three fresher students - in just their fourth week of uni - turned up to a fair designed for finalists, already desperate to know what they can do now to guarantee them a job in three years’ time. These are clearly tough and worrying times for Generation Y. There were five questions that cropped up time and again: • What can I do now to make sure I get a job? • Can you give me work experience at Christmas? • Can I do global work? • Will you frown on my CV if I take a gap year? • Have you got any free stuff to give me? Apart from the last question, it paints a picture of students in fear of unemployment. The fairs were busier than ever before and we talked ourselves hoarse offering advice and talking about careers at FH. There's no doubt that a tough market has upped the competition in terms of volume. It was standing room only at every seminar at the Oxford Uni Marcomms Fair. We received a third more applications than usual last year – in line with industry statistics – and I expect even more next year. But that competition has also turned a bunch of students, who could otherwise have left their job search until their post-final hangovers, into near Apprentice contestants who would give Paloma a run for her money. One girl handed me her business card. Isn't it meant to be the other way round? Another gave me a laminated A5 summary of her CV. Another has since sent me an email asking for my thoughts on an article on social media. I'm scared of replying in case my response isn’t good enough for her. So many of them had already been on our recruitment microsite which had launched just 24 hours before. These are the people who will make themselves remembered and stand out from the crowd. The applicant field appears to have changed in terms of hunger, desire to show ability and sheer bloody-mindedness. The students we’ve seen this week have firmly chosen their career path, are determined to boost their CV as much as possible, and will Linked-In-stalk until they’re given the break they need. For employers, it may mean we have to read double the number of CVs. But it also means there will be even more gems in there, as people work harder to impress and make the short-list. I'm chuffed that we have doubled the number of trainees we're hiring, as it gives even more of them a chance. I’m pleased that our business model means every trainee has a permanent job from the start, rather than having to re-apply for a job at the end of the scheme like some other agencies. I'm excited about the range and quality of applications we'll get. But I'm also clearing the whole of January just to get through a mountain of CVs. Some possibly laminated. This article was previously posted here and was written by Nicola Conron, Associate Director and Head of Recruitment at Fishburn Hedges. If your are looking to recruit in the UK PR market, then maybe you should use PRmoment Jobs. It's a great way to target 11,000 UK based PROs.