BT hangs up on graduate recruitment

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The challenge of finding a job for the UK's graduate population has just got harder as telecommunications giant BT has taken the decision to pull the plug on its graduate recruitment scheme. They also have no current plans for re-entry into this market. Last year BT received 4,800 applications for just 130 jobs, an increase from 3,800 two years previously. It is not only graduates that are in BT's firing line: the company has already stated that it intends to reduce its headcount by 30,000 in two years, and staff have been encouraged to take an extended year-long holiday in exchange for a significant cut in salary.

• Is this decision of BT short-sighted?
• What do you believe will be the long-term effect of such a decision?
• Research Task: By how much does a university degree increase an individual's life-long earning capability?
• Research Task: Which UK organisations continue to recruit significant numbers of graduates?
• Which particular groups of university graduates are likely to be affected by this decision, and what other opportunities remain open to them?
• Recent statistics indicate that 835,000 people aged between 18 and 24 in England are not in work. What do you believe are the long-term prospects for this group?

Update: BT is not abandoning its graduate scheme and will take on 130 university leavers this year, the firm’s director of people and policy has said.