Small and medium businesses (SMEs) have been advised that flexible working is key to recruiting the top graduates in the IT sector.

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) has warned that SMEs are equally as capable as larger companies of offering flexible working opportunities and should make efforts to do so.

Victoria Winkler, an advisor for the CIPD, said: "Smaller companies are as able as the larger companies to look at enticing people into the … job.

"Small businesses can look at things like flexible working and the whole work-life balance agenda which is increasingly important to the graduate."

Ms Winkler added that SMEs should also keep their eyes out for people with the ability to make an "immediate contribution" when recruiting as this skill is "critical" in a small workforce.

According to consumer group Which?, interviewees are still somewhat confused about what a potential employer is allowed to ask them during the recruitment process.

The Which? CV and Interview Handbook advises them that once standard questions such as their age or religious views are now illegal under discrimination legislation.

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