Parliament recently passed legislation that may affect the way in which graduate recruiting firms connect university graduates with jobs. Effective on October 1, 2007, recruiting firms will be prohibited from facilitating recruitment programs that only accept first-time professionals, typically university graduates, for employment. These graduate recruiting, training, and placement programs will need to be age neutral and available to employees of all experience levels.

With the new anti-age discrimination laws, Parliament has forced companies to recognize the age bias that they have inherent in many of their programs. Hiring managers and executives have been quick to realize that they are catering to a young group of professionals. A majority of companies recognize that they have age bias as part of their hiring practices. Many times, this bias is based on a hiring company's desire to choose young professionals fresh out of university over more experienced and higher paid professionals already established in their industry. Nearly as many companies recognize that they use images of professionals under the age of 25 in their advertisements and commercials. In the United Kingdom over the last few years, three quarters of recruits of graduate recruitment firms were under the age of 25.

While the new anti-age discrimination legislation has opened the eyes of recruiters to issues of age bias, there is no need for panic.Many analysts, graduate recruiters, and others in the industry understand that the age of recruits is a poor indicator of long term job performance. As such, members of Parliament were careful not to make the legislation too overreaching as to harm the graduate recruiting industry. Indeed, graduates and young professionals under the age of 25 are desired in fields like advertising, information technology, and certain areas of sales because of their knowledge of the newest trends. For graduate recruiters planning their recruiting campaigns for Summer and Fall 2007, they will need to heed the law while recognizing the different needs of their hiring companies.

This new legislation may in fact benefit everyone involved. Between 1999 and 2003, older adults attending university increased by 20 percent in the United Kingdom. While many companies may want to keep costs down by bringing in young professionals, the benefits of bringing both young and older graduates up through training programs are plentiful. While age divides may be problematic to start, graduates of university share a comradery due to a shared experience. The new anti-age discrimination laws should help bring in talented older professionals while maintaining connections to the traditional university age crowd.