Want a free iPad? Apply for a job at Autonomy

Tablet gift used to attract top tech graduates...

As competition for tech graduates hots up, UK software giant Autonomy is hoping to win over the cream of the crop by giving interviewees a free Apple iPad.

Jobseekers who make it through to interview for technical roles - which can be anything from software developers to pre-sales roles - at its Cambridge HQ are given a top-of-the-range Apple iPad 3G, worth more than £500.

The software maker has been running the scheme for "a couple of months" and said the gift was aimed at making Autonomy stand out amid fierce competition for technical skills.

"It's a FTSE100 and very successful company so it naturally draws candidates, but having said that it's competitive, and attracting the best talent in the industry is a challenge for every single company," a spokesman said.

Candidates who make it through to interview for technical roles at Autonomy's Cambridge HQ get a free Apple iPad
Photo: James Martin/CNET

"It's a nice thing to do to incentivise interviewees, and yes we get lots of people wanting to interview but it's never quite enough, you are always looking for the best candidates."

Recent surveys suggest that demand for technical skills is outstripping supply in the UK.

A survey by industry skills body e-skills UK found that an additional 110,000 IT and telecoms workers will be required in the UK in 2011. However, a separate survey by High Fliers Research found that just three per cent of the 16,000-plus graduates it surveyed in 2010 wanted to work in IT, down from 12 per cent of graduates in 2000.

Autonomy will continue the scheme to offer iPads to interviewees, devised by company founder and CEO Mike Lynch, for the short term.

The Autonomy spokesman stressed that the company is "very selective about which applicants are invited to interview", adding that only one in five interviewees ends up getting offered a job at Autonomy.