Like the winter weather, the employment landscape seems to be getting steadily bleaker. For students who face the prospect of job-hunting in Britain’s worst recession since the early Nineties, it is likely to mean tough choices.

A year ago, many would have left university to go into highly paid City careers, but the downturn has radically altered their choice of employment, according to a survey of 1,000 final-year undergraduates by TMP Worldwide, a recruitment communications agency and the Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR) .

Working in the public sector has become much more appealing to graduates – the Civil Service has risen from eighth to fourth-most popular destination and teaching from seventh to sixth. Investment banking has fallen in popularity from second place to ninth (see graphic, right). Accountancy remains the most stable career choice and the finalists’ top choice, regardless of the credit crunch.

“At the moment, graduates are going for what they see as safer career options. It will be interesting to see whether the Civil Service and teaching professions have a problem retaining graduates in two or three years’ time,” Neil Harrison, the head of research and planning at TMP Worldwide, said.

The drop in graduates’ confidence has been rapid. When the AGR undertook the same survey in April, 55 per cent said that they were “very confident” of finding a job. Now only 10 per cent are very confident. Almost half say that they are not confident.

Undergraduates who might once have turned up at the university career service brandishing their degree certificate are being forced to be more proactive, Mr Harrison said. “People are getting their applications in earlier and spreading the net wider.” About 4 per cent admitted to embellishing their CVs in order to get a job, he said.

Two thirds said that they would accept a lower salary and be “much more flexible” on where they worked, while 47 per cent would put up with a poor work-life balance while they rode out the recession.

Yet most will not compromise on training, the survey found. Carl Gilleard, chief executive of the AGR, said: “It doesn’t matter what the state of the market is – graduates always want to work for jobs they will grow in. This generation puts enormous value on career development.”

Mr Gilleard predicted that 30 per cent of graduate recruiters would recruit fewer graduates this year. Starting salaries were unlikely to fall but fewer jobs could mean settling for less, he said. Some graduates plan to ride out the financial storm by going travelling or returning to study. However, Mr Gilleard said: “We are not sure that 2010 will be a better year. Employers won’t penalise you for taking time out if you can point to the skills and experiences that have made you a better prospect.”

Alexandra Harrison, 23, graduated with a 2.1 in English from Southampton University and is studying for a masters. She is applying for graduate schemes in marketing and retail management: “I probably wouldn’t have chosen to do a masters if I’d known what the market would be like. Hopefully, it will give me a bit of extra employability. There are jobs out there, but the competition will be harder.”

Laura Fletcher, 21, is in her final year of a child psychology degree at Oxford Brookes University. “I was originally planning to go straight into work in September, but I’ve decided to take time out to earn money and do a PA [personal assistant] course, which I hope will improve my prospects,” she said.

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