Graduates are slightly more likely to go job hunting in the autumn, but the profile of jobseekers varies little between then and the summer months, finds jobsite graduate-jobs.com.

It saw 15,688 registrations in the autumn months of September-November last year, compared with 16,986 in May, June and July of 2012.

Of those applying in the autumn, 56.6% held a 2:1 or higher, compared to 54.3% in the summer months. Those applying in autumn also held marginally more UCAS points on average at 78.2, compared to 74.8 for summer job hunters, which indicate attainment on leaving secondary education.

Meanwhile, 26.7% of autumn applicants were from a top 25 university, up from 19.8% in the summer.

Graduate-jobs.com operations director Gerry Wyatt says that in face of frequent preferences for autumn recruitment campaigns, “we believe that these data should make graduate recruiters consider advertising in the quieter summer months”.

• Separately, an analysis of Higher Education Statistics Authority (HESA) data performed by recruiter the Graduate Recruitment Bureau (GRB) shows that on average 100 graduates a day secured work through recruitment agencies in 2011, a 31% rise on 2010