Businesses are missing out on a huge pool of graduate talent, according to the Association of Graduate Recruiters.

It found the existence of a pool of hidden graduates, graduates who did not start a permanent career job leaving university, who can easily slip under the radar of traditional graduate recruitment strategies.

Graduates in the hidden graduate pool are slightly less likely to consider leadership to be one of their strongest skills, but they rate themselves higher than graduate trainees for ‘adapting and coping’, possibly reflecting their varied work experience. In other skills there is very little discrepancy between the two groups.

Tuition fees also appear to be impacting on the choices these graduates make when job hunting; 43% of those surveyed saw their first job as just a stop-gap, indicating that a significant number are choosing jobs that will help pay off student debts, rather than pursuing a more structured career path.

Carl Gilleard, Chief Executive of the AGR says, “This research indicates that many recruiters need to broaden their methods in order not to miss out on this significant and skilled group of graduates. Particularly worrying is the fact that the majority of the students and graduates surveyed are misinformed about when they can apply to start a graduate training scheme.”