FIRMS starved of good quality graduates may be missing out on top quality candidates from ethnic minorities because they are sending out the wrong recruitment message.

According to research set to be published more than half of major recruiters report being unable to fill vacancies with good graduates.

Because of their younger demographic profile, the proportion of graduates from ethnic minorities is set to increase significantly, providing a rich pool of potential recruits particularly in areas such as East Lancashire.

But many employers typically complain that "we'd like to employ more minorities, but they just don't apply" said research by Oxford-based occupational psychologists Pearn Kandola.

They found that many companies have the wrong recruitment and corporate image to attract ethnic minority graduates.

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