THE good news for business graduates is that after a few fairly slow years, the jobs market is booming again. "The market for newly qualified business graduates is buoyant", says Martin Murphy of the Professional Placement Group.
Despite having an output of 300 business graduates UL reports one of the best years jobswise they have ever had for business graduates. UCD's B.Comm. and other university degrees also report good placement rates. At the DIT, Eileen Fitzpatrick reports also one of the best years ever for business graduates.
Geoffrey Perrin, personnel director at KPMG, reports that "the market for newly qualified accountants is very good."
. Where the jobs are: Business graduates are in demand right across the board. Financial institutions are among the most active recruiters, including British based banks. "The interest from London banks has been very healthy," says Nicholas Leonard at UCC's careers office. There is general consensus that the Dublin International Financial Services Centre has really seriously started "to bear fruit in terms of jobs" as UL's Mary Sweeney puts it. At Trinity, Sean Gannon also notes a high take up rate by banks and international financial services of their business graduates.
But there are lots of other areas, too. Business graduates are going into telemarketing, customer services and software localisation. Once again the computer systems/software issue arises and both general business and accountancy graduates are more marketable if they have a knowledge of commercial computer systems.
Sean Gannon finds the general services area the most productive for business graduate jobs, citing consultancy, tourism including hotel and catering, banking and professional services.
Martin Murphy of Professional Placement Group notices multinational companies in electronic's, pharmaceuticals and health care hiring business graduates and he mentions jobs such as materials handling and purchasing, planning, and business analysis.
Management consultancy firms are hiring people with business/software skills, from actuarial studies, people with finance and marketing skills as well as accountants, according to Geoffrey Perrin.
At DCU, careers officer Muireann Ni Dhuigreain mentions consultancy, European risk management, projects consultancy and production.
Businesses and institutions are also increasingly hiring people with legal or business/ law qualifications.
. Accountancy: The general impression is that accountancy is absolutely booming again. "I would describe the accountancy jobs market as very, very active - at the moment," says Brian Fowler of the recruitment agency Accounting Solutions. "We have noticed a tremendous pick up."
The demand for accountants is also very brisk in London, according to Michael Shalloe of the recruitment company, Professional Placement.
He notes, as do others, that the demand is higher for accountants who will work in industry than in traditional auditing; so management accounting skills are in high demand.
Unfortunately, CAO/CAS college applicants still do not appear to have caught up with the news of the jobs buoyancy in accountancy, says Tony White of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA). "If you went solely by demand for college places and accountancy course points, you'd think it was a jobs disaster, whereas the opposite is the case.
What appears to have happened is that demand dropped off for accountancy courses when the bottom fell out of the jobs market a few years ago and applicants have still not caught up with the new situation.
Mairin Ganley, at the ACCA, points out that several RTC courses in accountancy did not even fill all their places last year; which, given the great richness of jobs, seems a great pity.
. Marketing: There appears to be quite a reasonable demand for people with marketing qualifications, but for some people it might be as well to keep their options open by taking a general business/commerce course and specialising in marketing later.
However, the top specialised courses are doing well. The DIT's marketing degree had a 70 per cent job placement rate last year. (Incidentally, the DIT's marketing certificate and, diploma courses have a 76 per cent and 73 per cent transfer rate to diploma/degree level, which is very high also.)
DCU's international marketing/languages people had a 74 per cent job placement rate last year, doing very well indeed.
. Business/Languages: Undoubtedly a language skill is an asset with a business qualification. UL, which reports an amazing 82 per cent job placement rate for business graduates, says that people with languages are doing best. Points tend to be very high for specifically language based business courses, but check the college brochures. It is often possible to take a language as a minor option or module with the general business courses.
. Computer skills: Whether you are going into accountancy, banking, industry or any aspect of business, a knowledge of computer systems as applied in business is very important. Courses which involve modules - in information technology, management systems, computer systems, business or office information systems, etc., can put the graduate at a big ad vantage jobswise. (The names vary, but basically they all mean the same thing - using computers to organise, track and plan various aspects of the business.)
. Choosing a course: There is a huge range of courses but apart from accountancy the points have tended to be high. At certificate/diploma level, for example, points tend to be dramatically higher than for science/engineering courses at the same level.
At degree level, UCD's B.Comm. has always enjoyed a considerable reputation, though Trinity's BESS has its fans, too. What may be less obvious to applicants is the extremely good job placement rate of the UL and DCU degrees, which by having a work placement element are closely related to world of work.
Don't forget the DIT's business degree in the new college in Aungier Street either. It is very strong on accountancy and last year placed an impressive 82 per cent of graduates in jobs - that's higher than DCU's 68 per cent.
Outside of Dublin, in addition to the B.Comm. in UCC and UCG, don't forget Waterford RTC's two business degrees, one with French. Maynooth is also offering a finance degree with a strong accountancy component. Note that this is one of the many business degrees which has the option of specialising in a modern language (French or German) even though the course title does not specifically say so.
. Cert/Diplomas: These can offer reasonable job opportunities in themselves, but also provide a good alternative route to a degree. In the DIT, for example, the transfer rate from cert/ diploma to degree level is in the region of 70 per cent.
Many RTCs have a one year follow on degree in business studies. Waterford, for example, has a follow on degree in business and financial services, Sligo RTC has one in accounting/ marketing, Athlone accounting/ finance, and Carlow in service marketing.
Tallaght RTC has three follow on degree options. One is in management, one in accounting and one in marketing/languages. Cork RTC has also options in marketing, accounting and general business.
There are also follow on business degrees in Dundalk, Galway and Tralee RTCs. Tralee has an interesting advanced cert in business studies which provides for automatic transfer to the UL degree in year three.
. Accountancy courses: UCD has a very prestigious postgraduate accountancy course for business graduates which is seen by many as the high road into accountancy for very bright students. DCU's accounting and finance degree also has a high reputation. There is a pretty strong accountancy content in the DIT's business studies degree.
Athlone RTC has one of the most specialised accountancy centres in the State, while Waterford and Cork RTCs also have good reputations. The NCIR in Dublin is also fairly specialised in accountancy.
Across the spectrum there is a pretty wide selection of accountancy courses. Many did not fill all their places last year but they all offer good prospects to this year's applicants.