RESOURCING AND TALENT PLANNING - Hays

2012
Table 13: Changes to intake (% of those with a graduate recruitment programme)
All
Manufacturing
and production
Private
services
Increased our intake in the last 12 months 31 44 32 10
Reduced our intake in the last 12 months 20 15 22 20
Our intake has remained the same 48 41 47 70
Base: 163
Not-for-profit sector excluded due to inadequate sample size
Public
sector
Figure 1 suggests that the use of graduate
programmes has increased in larger organisations
(more than 1,000 employees) compared with
previous years. Their use has also increased in the
manufacturing and production sector over the last
few years (Table 12). This sector was also most likely
to report they had increased their intake in the last
12 months (Table 13) and least likely to report they
had reduced their intake.
Last year we reported that half of public sector
organisations with a graduate programme had
reduced their intake. This year the reductions
have tailed off, with most reporting their intake
has remained the same, although public sector
organisations were least likely to report they have
increased their intake. 7 Changes to intake were not
related to the size of the organisation.
The vast majority of respondents from organisations
without a recruitment programme for graduates
reported that their organisations had never had such
a programme or not had one for some time (98%),
with no significant differences across sectors or size
of organisation.
The impact of tuition fees
Two-fifths of organisations (40%) are concerned
that the increase in university tuition fees will make
it harder to get the skills they need. Organisations
with graduate recruitment schemes are most likely
to be concerned (48% compared with 36% of
organisations without such schemes). 8
Initiatives to develop skills
Many organisations operate their own initiatives
to develop skills (Table 14). Apprenticeships are
offered by two-fifths of organisations overall, with
a further 14% planning to introduce them in the
next 12 months. They are particularly favoured in
the manufacturing and production sector and the
public sector. 9
Most organisations with apprenticeship schemes
report they are at least somewhat effective in
developing the skills their organisations need, with
two-fifths overall (40%) reporting they are very
effective (53% in manufacturing and production)
and only 7% reporting they are not very effective.
There is more room for improvement in the public
sector, however, where only one in four (27%) report
their schemes are very effective and one in ten
(10%) report they are not very effective. Nearly half
(46%) of organisations across all sectors report that
if their organisation offered more apprenticeship
programmes it would help them get the skills they
need (48% of those with recruitment difficulties due
to skills shortages). This rises to 54% of those with
more than 250 employees (35% of those with fewer
than 250 employees). 10
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