What do graduates do in small businesses?

What do graduates do in small businesses? Daria Luchinskaya has a short article in the Spring 2012 issue of Graduate Market Trends looking at first-degree graduates in employment using the Futuretrack 2005 pilot study.

These initial findings from the Futuretrack 2005 (FT05) Stage 4 survey should be interpreted with caution, as the pilot dataset does not have enough observations on which to perform robust statistical analysis. However, this indicative analysis very broadly implies that, despite the variation within SMEs, those FT05 graduates employed in SMEs were more likely to report being satisfied with their job than those in larger businesses, particularly with the opportunity to use their own initiative, the relationship with their superiors and with the type of job they actually do. FT05 graduates working in SMEs were also less likely to say that they never used particular skills as part of their job. This raises some interesting questions about what causes these differences and how they vary between SME sizes and across sectors. It will be interesting to see whether that very considerably larger main Futuretrack2006 survey, currently being prepared for analysis, reveals similar findings.

If you are a FT05 or FT06 participant working in an SME or a small business owner, Daria - who is doing a PhD on this topic - will welcome your comments and feedback on this article or on your experience of graduate employment. You can get in touch at d.luchinskaya@warwick.ac.uk or leave a comment on her blog.

DID YOU WIN ONE OF THE £1,000 AWARDS, OR THE RUNNERS-UP PRIZES OF £100? CHECK OUT YOUR EMAIL ACCOUNT TO SEE!

More detailed information to follow....WATCH THIS SPACE!

Many thanks to everyone who has completed the survey and passed on our message. We’ve had a great response, are now checking out the eligibility of respondents so that we have a final usable dataset from which we can randomly select the prize draw winners. These will be announced this week.