The-Ultimate-Guide-to-Graduate-Recruitment

FORGETTING IT’S ABOUT
ENGAGEMENT
Bringing graduates into the
business is a two way process, in
fact, you could even say it’s a three
way process because the scheme
not only has to be right for the
graduates, but the wider company
has to accept and embrace the
talent development programme
too; it’s not all about the discretion
of the HR or talent teams and this
can make it very challenging to get
new schemes off the ground.
There are two key elements here
that are key to remember.
The first is that the wider business
is a key stakeholder in the process.
Not only could they be your biggest
advocate for the scheme, passing
the news on to family and friends,
but they could also be critical to its
success when graduates join the
business formally. Creating an
internal communication plan is
important.
The second thing to remember is
that the graduates have to ‘choose’
you too. The entire process is not
just about satisfying your needs as
employers, but it’s about selling
your company, brand and
prospects over competitor
employers.
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The more you can ‘engage’ the
graduates, the more likely it is you
will get more of the right candidates
to that ‘yes’ stage.
PROVIDING NO ‘FORUM’
Building an effective graduate
scheme gets easier over time. It’s
all about building relationships
with the graduates and building
credibility in the graduate recruitment
market.
One way to do this is by providing
subtle ways to connect with future
talent, not necessarily for immediate
placements. For example, you
could set up a Twitter handle or
Facebook group whereby graduates
can engage with you in the
early days, ready to apply on graduation
or following their first year in
industry.
It’s important too, to capture graduates
who might not have been
successful in their first attempt –
they could grow into the role and
more than that, they are in the
‘market’ as it were and they could
well mention the scheme to your
next star!