Boris Johnson met UL students and staff this morning at the official launch of a new careers website designed to help graduates find work in London, despite the recession.

The Mayor said the new online resource was “a very exciting jobs portal that I’m pleased City Hall have been involved in developing”.

Anne-Marie Martin, Director of The Careers Group, University of London who collaborated with the Mayor’s Office on the project, said the website would “help graduates to expand their career thinking, an essential pre-requisite in these difficult economic times”.

‘Helping Graduates into Work‘ offers advice and information on application procedures, preparing CVs, internships and interviews, as well as details on employers and vacancies.

One hundred thousand new graduates are likely to be job hunting this year and the Association of Graduate Recruiters reported this month that one in four graduate vacancies has disappeared.

But the Mayor insisted there were jobs available for those with the initiative and persistence to keep looking.  “The one key message to give is that there are jobs out there, good jobs, fantastic jobs, and the most important thing is not to give up looking,” he said.

Johnson went on to quip that there were “ever more vacancies for the post of Deputy London Mayor”  following Ian Clement’s forced departure from that post in June for misuse of his corporate credit card – the third deputy to have left since Johnson took office.

The Mayor described London’s graduates as the “engine of London’s economy” and said “London will lead [the country] out of this recession”. He added “We cannot afford to see our graduates’ futures blighted by unemployment as they leave study.”

Recent graduate Charlotte Pope-Williams who studied Law and French Law at UCL, told the Mayor that finding work in the legal profession often seemed to depend on “who you know, not what you know.” Johnson responded that the new website should function as an “anti-nepotism device.”

ULU President-Elect Nizam Uddin said “It’s brilliant that the Mayor’s office is taking a pro-active role in helping graduates find work in the current economic climate.”

When asked by London Student if there would be additional help for current students struggling financially in the recession, in the form of an extended student travel discount, the Mayor said that support was better targeted at graduates looking for work, such as those claiming jobseekers allowance.

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