Greece Outside In: Survey lays bare European graduates' hopes and fears

Graduates in Europe now expect to submit as many as 60 applications before landing their first job, and the average wait between graduation and employment is approaching six months

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More than half of European graduates are worried about their careers, a rate that rises to more than 80% in Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain according to Europe's largest graduate survey.

The survey, conducted by the trendence institute in Berlin, builds up a picture of an educated European youth firing off scores of applications in vain, waiting months for their first job, and increasingly prepared to take on unpaid internships to get a foot on the ladder — or else emigrate.

It may come as no surprise that in Greece — where the youth unemployment rate reached 62.5% earlier this year — more than 90% of business graduates are worried about their future career. Employment prospects appear so bleak that almost half of Greeks and Spaniards say they are ready to emigrate to find work.

The number of applications students expect to send before they get their first job has also risen – up from 28.5 applications in 2012 to 38 for graduates of business schools. The figures are again exceptionally high in Spain and Greece where graduates can expect to send more than 60 applications before they land their first job.

On average, graduates in Europe expect to spend 5.5 months looking for a job, up from 4.4 in 2012. In Greece and Spain the length of time expected reaches almost 10 months. The figures are again exceptionally high in Spain and Greece where graduates can expect to send more than 60 applications before they land their first job.

But some of the data is counterintuitive. The UK is still the most popular country for students to emigrate to in search of their first professional role. Germany, which has arguably one of the most stable economic outlooks in Europe and youth unemployment of just 7.5%, follows close behind.

The survey of almost 320,000 people also teased out some revealing preferences for employers. Google remains number one, but German companies fare well, with the Volkswagen Group, Siemens and Bosch all gaining in popularity in this year's survey. Porsche is up amongst engineering and IT graduates whereas BMW's popularity has risen amongst business students.

The results also illustrate a shift back towards the public sector amongst business graduates hungry for job security. The European Commission, the UN and even the European Central Bank rate highly, whereas not a single commercial bank appears within the business graduate's top 20 of employers they'd like to work for.

All across Europe, the survey has found a trend towards students becoming disenchanted with long working days and high levels of responsibility. A high salary, status prestige and corporate social responsibility were equally regarded as the least important factor when choosing an employer.

A high salary, despite tough economic climes, has lost its importance when choosing an employer, with job security being favoured over a high wage. Good career prospects and personal development are considered the most important factors by business students, suggesting a move towards challenging roles rather than highly paid positions.

More than half of Belgian, Spanish and Turkish business graduates admitted that they would work for nothing to get a good internship. The percentage of students agreeing with the sentiment in Belgium, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Romania and Poland, is also higher than the European average.