Graduates offer starting pay of up to $200K as job market remains tight

Desperate employers are offering starting salaries of up to $300k for some university graduates as Australia’s job market remains tight.

Skilled labor shortages remain a hangover from the Covid period, where closed national borders exclude immigrants with skills and experience.

This has resulted in the most sought-after graduates in areas such as investment banking and financial trading being able to command starting salaries in the $200,000 to $300,000 range, according to a graduate employment expert.

To illustrate the fight for the best college brains, last week global financial company IMC Trading listed 20 jobs for entry-level graduates with a eye-popping starting salary of $200,000.

As if the money wasn’t enough, the ads also boasted that job seekers could help themselves to a ‘fully stocked kitchen for breakfast, lunch and dinner’ and free weekly fitness classes, as well as ‘ subsidized health and wellness programs.

The positions, which were open to all Australian and New Zealand residents, begin this month with a seven-week internship.

“We will work closely with you, monitoring your skills, performance and preferences and help you find the business career that’s right for you,” the job posting said.

Some investment banks and other financial traders are willing to start graduates with starting salaries of $200K and above.

GradConnection CEO Dan Purchas says employers like financial market traders who buy and sell instruments like stocks, bonds and futures are doing everything they can to get the top “1 percent” of talent.

“When I heard that proprietary trading firms are offering up to $300,000, that took my breath away,” Mr. Purchas said.

However, it’s not just bankers and merchants who are cashing in on their degrees, with graduate salaries rising 8.8 per cent in the past year, even exceeding Australia’s roaring inflation rate of the 7.8 percent.

A financial trader has offered entry-level graduates starting salaries of $200K, as well as free fitness classes (file image pictured)

By contrast, overall wages grew a meager 3.1 percent last year.

The average starting salary for a graduate has risen from $68,000 to $74,500 in the space of one year.

Due to the shortage of workers, the large traditional recruiters of graduates, such as banks, professional services firms, public service and law firms, have increased their income and other sectors are also seeking college graduates.

This has led to 91.5 percent of 2022 graduates landing full-time jobs compared to just 73.6 percent in 2019.

However, there are some signs that the boom times may be coming to an end.

Robert Half’s recruiter, Nicole Gorton, told AFR that although the bubble is not ready to burst, it is “definitely deflating”.

Australian companies have begun offering benefits such as skydiving sessions and a lifetime supply of chocolate to employees in hopes of retaining dwindling workers (Fantastic Framing employee skydiving pictured)

Meanwhile, employers are still fighting for the relatively few applicants on offer, even in jobs that don’t require degrees.

A novel approach for company owner Avi Efrat of Fantastic Framing was to offer employees skydiving sessions, laps of the race track in sports cars, fancy dinners and luxurious weekend getaways.

Efrat said he has seen the number of applicants dwindle in recent months, and with three stores opening this year, he is desperate for workers.

The head of Product and Sales at My Business, the nation’s largest business organization, Phil Parisis, said hiring and keeping quality staff is the biggest problem facing small and medium-sized business owners in 2023.

My Business Head of Product and Sales Phil Parisis (above) said the lack of skilled workers in Australia will be the biggest challenge for small businesses in 2023

“For many small businesses that have managed to survive Covid, this ongoing staff shortage is the final straw,” he said.

“Whether it’s being forced to reduce hours, having to put growth plans on hold or not being able to keep up with customer demand, job skills shortages are having a major impact on workplaces across the country.

‘A recent survey of our members found that 77 per cent of our members have found the quality of job applicants to be average or below for the position advertised. They are struggling to find the right people.