A distaste for flat Southern beer helped to convince Martin Edmondson that it was time the return from London to West Yorkshire, where he grew up.

But it was the opportunity to use his project management skills developed over six years in the recruitment business that brought him back to the county where he grew up.

This son of the manse now runs Graduates Yorkshire, the organisation which aims to match graduates from the region’s ten universities, including Bradford, with employers across the county.

Its mission is to increase the percentage of graduates employed in Yorkshire’s key public and private organisations, which is among the lowest in the UK.

And Martin remains upbeat about prospects for graduate employment. He said a recent report by the Association of Graduate Recruiters – stating that applications to leading employers had reached record levels, with 70 graduates chasing every vacancy – did not give a full picture about vacancies available to this summer’s graduates.

Martin said: “The figures don’t tell the full story and the press have been quick to highlight the negative side of the story.

“While the rise in graduate job applications to leading companies is a concern, more than 80 per cent of graduates find jobs with companies classed as small-to-medium sized enterprises where graduate recruitment trends are more encouraging.

“With record numbers of graduates leaving our universities this summer, we can’t pretend it will be easy this year, but the majority of graduates willing to put in the effort will find a suitable vacancy.”

Martin does not believe that graduates taking jobs beneath their skill levels is the answer, as it does not help them find suitable jobs in the long term and also denies others the chance to find employment.

He advocates paid internships as a sensible way of helping graduates into suitable employment and pointed out that Graduates Yorkshire’s internship programme has so far created more than a hundred new positions for graduates in the last eight months without affecting existing student programmes.

Martin said: “There is support out there and there are many other programmes nationwide, so it is far from a bleak outlook for talented graduates who are leaving our universities.

“Our economy is one in transition, moving towards becoming a knowledge economy.

“For many in business and industry, the use of knowledge to produce economic benefits will be crucial to compete and grow and knowledge-rich resources such as know-how, expertise and intellectual property will be key.

“We see graduates playing a central role in this transition, providing employers with a huge resource just waiting to be tapped and promising a high-value return.”

He describes graduates as the “fuel” in the knowledge economy “car” and the 40,000 graduates leaving Yorkshire universities each year as an “incredible resource” which employers could make greater use of.

Martin, 32, was born in Huddersfield, but for several years lived in Shipley when his father, the Rt Rev Chris Edmondson, now Bishop of Bolton, was vicar at St Peter’s, in Moorhead Lane.

After graduating from Keele University where he read English and music, Martin had a temporary job at Bradford & Bingley before joining the graduate training scheme at Reed Recruitment, which took him to London.

He spent six years with Reed in a variety of roles, including project management and working closely with the founder and chairman Alec Reed.

Martin’s main drive is to sustain and expand Graduates Yorkshire, originally launched with funding from Yorkshire Forward, the regional development agency, but now a self-funding social enterprise Graduates Yorkshire has begun to spread its wings, including winning the contract to run GradsEast and relaunch the graduate recruitment scheme in East Anglia on behalf of the Association of Universities in the East of England.

The deal effectively doubles the area Graduates Yorkshire operates in and includes the universities of Cambridge, East Anglia, Essex, Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire.

Martin said: “This agreement further demonstrates the strength of Graduates Yorkshire to help graduates find employment, deliver benefits to companies and contribute to the region’s economy.

“Graduate retention is at the heart of our organisation and the basis on which Graduates Yorkshire was built.

“We have always known the importance of graduate retention to the regional economy and that importance continues to grow.”

Martin retains his love of music, and when not promoting the role of graduates he plays piano, keyboard and horn for pop and rock band Coaster formed in 2000 by a group of university friends. Coaster play at events and functions across the UK.