Graduates urged to go it alone - graduate jobs

Graduates struggling to make headway in the over-crowded jobs market have been urged to consider the possibility of building their own future and setting up their own business.

Despite employment levels showing tentative signs of revival, graduates are still being encouraged to develop their own ideas and take advantage of programmes such as the National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship's Flying Start scheme which offers a three-day intensive training course and a personal mentoring service for the first 12 months.

Although taking a step into the Dragon's Den may be a far cry from many graduates' original career aspirations, the opportunities for graduates to set up their own enterprise have never been better, according to Flying Start.

One well-known alumnus of the Flying Start school is Gareth Mitchell, who set up his online gift tree company tree2mydoor.com in 2003, three years after graduating from the University of Teesside.

"Though we supply to some retailers, the bulk of what we do comes from online custom, not least because being on the High Street is too costly," he said.

"'The course helped me to focus on the online business and how best to develop it."