PUBLIC service jobs have become more popular with university graduates, as employers appear to have successfully exploded the myth about poor pay and career prospects to lure the best candidates.

For the first time, the National Health Service has come fifth in The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers list, published today. It is one of four public sector employers in the top ten, including the Civil Service, the BBC and Army.

PricewaterhouseCoopers rose two places to reach the No 1 spot and while students are clearly developing a conscience about their futures, investment banks offering starting salaries of £30,000 have also seen their fortunes rise.

However, while vacancies rose by 15 per cent this year at British companies, only 35 per cent of students in the final term at university were preparing their CVs and two thirds were convinced there were not enough jobs to go round.

Penny Humphris, the director of the NHS Leadership Centre, said that she was delighted that so many of the 15,915 final-year students polled had chosen the NHS as one of the top companies offering good career opportunities.

“There are two main reasons we’re hearing from students,” she said. “They are more interested in working with people than going into the City, and the practical job placements combined with real academic study, mean the prospects in such a vast company are very good.”

The NHS ranked 27th on the list of 100 two years ago. With 1.3 million employees in the UK, it is the largest employer in Europe. This year the health service received more than 5,500 applications for graduate places on its schemes in general management, finance and human resources.

Carl Gilleard, the chief executive of the Association of Graduate Recruiters, said that the survey’s findings reflect a confidence in the economy and an awareness that the public sector is catching up. “They have obviously learnt best practice from the private sector and have got better at marketing their strengths. But they are also providing excellent training and competing on better terms,” he said.

With a 2:1 degree in politics from the University of Durham, Andrew Bland was determined to work in the public sector. He was accepted on the NHS general management training scheme and within days was working as a hospital porter, going out with ambulances and shadowing chief executives. “I’m a believer in the public service ethos and when it comes to the NHS there is so much variety, you’re not stuck in a routine and there’s good career progression,” he told The Times.

Four years on, he has become deputy director of the Harrow Primary Care Trust, earning around £50,000 per year. After a two-year course, he was twice promoted and has worked in Winchester and Toronto, Canada. He earned a diploma from the University of Birmingham in health management, paid for by the National Health Service.

“The main attraction of the scheme for me was that right from the start I had a real job to do with real people. And although I was carefully monitored, I was getting responsibility to manage the budget and staff in a cardiology unit from day one,” he said.

Graduates in general are demanding fast-tracked careers and self-development opportunities as well as good salaries, all of which are now provided by the public sector.

Figures published yesterday show that the starting salaries of last year’s graduates varied widely according to which university they attended.

The league table of the highest and lowest starting pay was topped by graduates from Imperial College, who earned an average £24,247. Those studying at other London institutions also netted lucrative salaries, with Queen Mary, LSE, King’s College and UCL in the top five. They were followed by Cambridge, Oxford, South Bank, Dundee and Bristol.

The list is published by High Fliers publications at £14.99

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