How to get the most out of graduate recruits

Citation

(2004), "How to get the most out of graduate recruits", Education + Training, Vol. 46 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/et.2004.00446bab.002

How to get the most out of graduate recruits

How to get the most out of graduate recruits

The graduate-entry scheme is alive and well, according to a study by the Institute for Employment Studies (IES) on the strategies used by organizations for graduate recruitment and development. IES Associate Fellow Helen Connor, commented: "In many cases, large employers have not only one scheme but several, pitched at different parts of the business or functions. These multiple schemes may be presented as different strands of a corporate-entry 'umbrella' aimed at new graduates. In addition, the same employers will often be recruiting larger numbers of graduates straight into jobs of many kinds, outside of these schemes, in various parts of their businesses. These graduate recruits can have quite different early job and training experiences from those recruited into schemes".

The report points out that this is the age of self-managed careers, consumer-oriented students, delayered and decentralized organizations – and the Internet. The mixed approach to recruiting graduates is complex to manage. So, too, is the achievement of successful graduate development. Graduate strategies, from planning demand through recruitment to development, form a value chain that is only as strong as its weakest link. Organizations need to understand why they are recruiting graduates, who "owns" the graduate recruits and how they should be developed. The employer brand that can be presented so effectively through corporate Web sites and online recruitment can be let down by weak and fragmented development. If that happens, hard-won talent will walk. This also raises the issue of whether an organization's graduate talent pool as a whole is being used to best effect.

Linda Barber, IES Research Fellow, said: "The’absence of joined-up practices can also mean companies with excellent graduate-development schemes sell themselves short at the recruitment stage. The challenge of delivery is partly about getting the right balance between good local management of graduates and retaining some corporate-wide structures for their skill and career development." Wendy Hirsh, IES Associate Fellow and co-author of the report, Your Graduates and You: Effective Strategies for Graduate Recruitment and Development, said: "One bright spot seems to be the earlier access graduates are getting to management-skills training, as this has developed considerably over recent years. The biggest challenge for employers in the future is making best use of all the graduates who come directly into jobs in the various parts of their businesses, along with the often much smaller number who enter through their more publicized, structured schemes".

The report identifies five graduate-entry approaches:

1. 1.

   High-potential corporate-management schemes – very selective, for small numbers of entrants, with a highly-structured programme combining periods of work placement, on-the-job training and personal development.

2. 2.

   Elite functional or business-unit streams within wider entry – graduates are recruited initially into a professional or business scheme where the most able entrants are identified for fast-track career advancement.

3. 3.

   Professional or functional schemes such as IT, marketing, retail management – less academically selective, often recruiting with specific attributes, lasting six months to two years, and combining work placements and training or development.

4. 4.

   Direct job entry – often sold to students as graduate entry but not a "scheme" as such, graduates start in real jobs, managed by the line or shared with local HR, given less structured development, often individually tailored.

5. 5.

   Ad-hoc recruitment – graduates enter advertised vacancies, often along with non-graduates, given a variable amount of development, usually informal, and managed by the line.

Your Graduates and You: Effective Strategies for Graduate Recruitment and Development, by H.Connor, W. Hirsh and L. Barber, IES Report 400, October 2003, ISBN 1851843272, £19.95.