Graduates are the future, they are the most recently trained, young minds coming in your organisations, hungry for success and development. So how do you secure them within your business? How does your recruitment process attract them? What is in demand in terms of graduate careers in 2018 and do you have it?
Brexit has brought with it uncertainty for most sectors, why should recruitment be any different?
There has been a lot of concern that there will be much fewer Graduate jobs offered as we near Brexit, this has already been shown with a drop of 4.9% in the number of graduates hired by organisations named in the Times Top 100 Graduate Employers.
The future for graduate hires is not all bleak, but for now, at least, the general outlook is that employers across the board are being cautious with hiring overall and especially with graduate hires; 2017 saw private sector organisations recruiting 10% less graduates.
So, what about your organisation? Are you among the many? And if you have slowed down the graduate hires for now, are you ready the near future when you will be looking to compete for the very best graduates to join your team?
Yes, graduates will be competing for places on your graduate scheme but you need to be competing with other employers for the best candidates, persuading the best talent to compete to join your team.
Take a look at what is it that graduates are looking for from potential new employers. Should you be updating and tweaking your hiring processes now to ensure you can secure the graduates you desire when the time comes?
Pepsi recently had graduates battling to win a spot on their graduate scheme. This shows marketing savvy, opening up the floor to far more candidates than they may have experienced previously, but it also gives graduates a real opportunity to showcase their skill set and creativity.
Now, not every organisation can run something on this scale but you can look at where your graduates come from; how you are attracting them and could this be a little more creative? Could you be could you be working more closely with Universities to build relationships with them and therefore their students?
What does your grad job offer? Graduate jobs are about more than just the job for graduates, they will look at your organisation as a whole, what kind of work-life balance you can offer and their working patterns, the company culture, this is the whole package you are appealing with, so use it to it’s best. Ensure that your inviting company culture is portrayed from the first point of contact.
See our blog on candidate experience here.
You may also want to look at the opportunities you can offer within your organisation, this can mean a variety of things; the opportunity of promotion or progression, opportunity to travel or opportunity for continued development and training. This last one is of increasing importance, graduates don’t want to stop learning once they’ve secured their position, if staff and recruits are aware of the training and development opportunities throughout their life at your company, you’re looking at a higher retention rate.
It has been found that offering face to face interviews and strong engagement from an early stage in the interview process can limit the level of drop outs and withdrawals. The answer, hold your chosen competitors hands right the way through, good, clear and positive communication from step one, and don’t wait too long to get them into an face to face interview situation.
Can your applicants find plentiful information about not only the grad job but the company as a whole, this is one of their first big life choices outside of university life, 48% of students wouldn’t consider an employer ‘ideal’ if they do not know enough about them, make it simple.
Graduate careers are an important part of your recruitment, the grad jobs you offer bring in the future minds of your company, so it’s definitely worth taking the time to check if your graduate recruitment scheme is in order.
