If you are in your final year at university or have graduated recently and are still looking for your first job, then there is one career option that you may not have considered. The IT industry reports record vacancy levels and yet has a chronic shortage of quality graduates.

According to The UK Graduate Careers Survey 2007, a study of more than 17,000 graduates who left university earlier this year, just 4 per cent of the class of 2007 considered working in IT after completing their degree. That means that the sector ranks 16th in the top 20 career destinations for 2007 and confirms that the numbers applying for IT jobs have fallen by about a quarter in the past three years.

One of the reasons for this is a sharp drop in students taking IT degrees. Figures compiled by the British Computer Society suggest that the number of school-leavers starting an IT course at a UK university dropped from more than 35,000 in 2002 to fewer than 20,000 last year.

Another factor is the lure of other career destinations. Vacancies in the accounting and professional services firms have grown by more than 70 per cent since 2003 and as a result the Big Four firms have had an extremely high profile at many of the UK’s leading universities. The investment banks and other City employers have also had something of a recruitment boom over the past four years and continue to pay some of the most generous graduate packages.

IT employers may struggle to match some of these salaries or to generate quite the same level of publicity on campus, but there is certainly no shortage of opportunities. The key challenge for recruiters, though, is to explain what a career in IT actually involves. For many students, the perception is still of working as a computer programmer for one of the big-name hardware or software producers such as Google, BT or Fujitsu.

Yet a new study from High Fliers Research, The Graduate Market in 2008, indicates that two thirds of the UK’s best-known graduate employers regularly recruit graduates to work in IT. These include banks, retailers, manufacturing companies, consulting firms and public sector organisations, all of which have substantial IT operations even though their core business is in other areas. The report also suggests that the traditional IT and telecommunication companies together account for only a very small proportion of the total graduate vacancies available: about 4 per cent for 2008. The message? If you’re keen to work in IT, the vast majority of openings are actually at nonIT organisations.

Another misconception is that you need an IT or computing degree to work in IT. This is certainly true for technical positions in software or systems development, but for many IT management jobs, a relevant qualification is not necessary. All the major employers provide training for graduates and simply require applicants to have a good degree and an interest in IT.

The shortage of applicants means that starting salaries in IT are extremely competitive. Packages for IT and telecommunications companies are expected to average £25,000 next year but salaries of up to £35,000 are available for IT jobs at consulting firms and investment banks. Initial pay of between £27,000 and £30,000 is also possible on IT schemes at top engineering and industrial employers.

Students from the class of 2007 voted IBM, Microsoft and Accenture as the most sought-after graduate employers in IT in The Times Graduate Recruitment Awards 2007.

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