Shropshire businesses are being urged to plan ahead and create more skilled jobs to prevent new graduate skills from being “wasted”.

The call comes after a new report found the majority of university graduates are working in jobs that do not require a degree and concerns that graduate numbers have now out-stripped the creation of high-skilled jobs.

Anita Bickerdike, owner of Shrewsbury-based training and management development company Positive Intention, says businesses across the county should use the latest findings by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development to their advantage.

She said: “In just a few weeks the very first intake of students will start courses at the new University Centre in Shrewsbury.

“This will be a landmark day and a really exciting opportunity for businesses in Shropshire to work with the university to provide jobs in the coming years for our very own graduates.

“What we don’t want is skilled youngsters leaving the county and their talents being wasted because businesses are unable to provide higher skilled job opportunities.

“It’s down to employers to start planning now and creating exciting opportunities so that we can retain talented and skilled individuals here in Shropshire.”

The report commissioned by the CIPD found that overall 58.8 per cent of graduates in the UK are in jobs deemed to be non-graduate roles.
It said the increasing number of graduates have now “outstripped” the creation of high skilled jobs, and as a result, the UK has too many over-qualified graduates entering non-graduate jobs.

It found this trend had particularly affected occupations such as construction and manufacturing.

Anita, who is a member of the CIPD and works with local business also added: “Whilst creating new graduate opportunities should be a key focus for many businesses in the coming years it’s important that employers do not forget about existing employees.

“Providing training opportunities to capitalise on the skills of existing workers should always be at the forefront of employers’ minds.”