The 2017 survey of 218 members of The FIRM provided evidence that employers are turning to apprenticeship programmes at the expense of graduate schemes, with the percentage using the latter dropping to 26% from 36% in 2016, making them the second most popular initiative.

In contrast, the proportion of that use an apprenticeship programme rose sharply to 29% compared to 20% in 2016. Emma Mirrington, managing director of The FIRM, told Recruiter that the increase in could be put down to “the Apprenticeship Levy coming in”. The levy, under which employers with a wage bill of more than £3m a year pay 0.5% of their payroll into a special fund that is then used by employers for training was introduced in April this year. The survey also revealed a sharp rise in the number of corporate recruiters that use work experience programmes, with the percentage doubling to 10% from 5% in 2016.

• For more results and analysis on this year’s survey and report from The FIRM, see the current issue of Recruiter magazine, which hits desks this week.