Marie Gonnelly of the Dublin Institute of Technology Careers Service was at the recent Graduate Recruiters Conference and gives us an idea of what the newest graduates to the marketplace want.....

The third annual gradireland Graduate Recruiters' Conference took place at the Burlington Hotel on Wednesday 29th April 2009 and featured a line up of industry experts addressing delegates on key issues facing the graduate recruitment sector. The conference also celebrated the 40 year anniversary of Graduate Careers Ireland, the representative association of third level career services in Ireland North and South.

The conference and awards was a key networking event for over 270 recruiters and career advisers and provided employers with up to the minute insights into the latest graduate market conditions.
Key areas of interest included:
§    Graduate recruitment – an investment for your business
§    Good practice in on-boarding, mentoring and induction
§    Getting graduates involved in the business – fast!
§    Working with Careers Services
§    Retaining your best talent
§    Attracting and retaining the best graduates – a candid view of what graduates want from their employers
§    The changing landscape of graduate recruitment
§    PR for HR
§    Marketing and promotion in the digital age
§    Setting up a graduate programme and promoting it to students


Recruiting Graduates – a quick guide to what the graduate you are targeting is thinking….

The gradaireland student survey is Ireland’s largest survey of final year students. This year’s survey, carried out by the trendence research institute, was based on over 6,000 votes from students in 23 hhigher education institutions over a 3 month period. Highlights include:

Salary expectations
The expected starting salary of business graduates €28,388 and for engineering graduates was €32,760.   In the North Business graduates had an expectation of £21,363 and Engineering of £ 25,296.
Expected working hours
Finalists expected to work between 42-44 hours per week.
Mobility – willingness to relocate
58% of Irish business students & 63 % of Irish Engineering students indicated a willingness to relocate worldwide

When questioned 14% of students felt they should pay for their tertiary education, 14.8% had no concerns over their future careers and 70% felt that their third level education pprovided them with the skills necessary for the labour market.”

Graduate recruitment – an investment for your business

Given the current climate of particular interest at the conference was the seminar:  Graduate recruitment – an investment for your business.   Timing is key and while graduates from just a year ago left college and entered a reasonably buoyant market the number of graduate vacancies has dropped significantly this year.   Amidst widespread recruitment freezes -graduate recruiters need to justify in real terms how their graduate schemes actually contribute value to the business.

Questioning the value of graduate recruitment:
The seminar highlighted key questions recruiters are asked in relation to graduate recruitment.

§    If a firm is making redundancies how do they justify recruiting graduates?
§    If a firm is cutting training and development initiatives for existing staff, how do they justify running a graduate development scheme?
§    How are graduates utilised within the firm?
§    How do graduates progress within the firm?
§    How long until there is a visible return the investment in graduate recruitment?
§    Could the firm replace graduate recruits with school leavers or experienced hires?
§    What would the impact be if a firm pulled out of the graduate market?

The value a graduate adds to a business can include:

The seminar proposed a number of ways in which graduates add value to a business including:
§    Graduates are generally seen as flexible, fresh, adaptable - a blank canvas with a willingness to absorb knowledge.
§    Graduates have technical skills as a result of their course or their degree programme  (i.e. engineering, accountancy)
§    Graduates who have undertaken work placements during their degree have real world experience together with the ability to learn and respond quickly to change.
§    Graduates provide a pipeline of skills and competencies at appropriate levels throughout the business.
§    Graduates can help to provide the right skill mix at each level positively affecting the morale of staff (as more people do jobs that are suitable for their level of seniority).
§    Improving the brand proposition. Graduate marketing enhances the brand on campus to a broad spectrum of people who may subsequently become clients, customers, or experienced hires
§    Throughout their degree students develop core transferable skills (including written and oral communication, problem-solving, presentation, organisation and data analysis)


The effect of withdrawing a graduate programme:

Investing in graduate recruitment in a recession may seem counter-intuitive however employers who take a “holiday” from graduate recruitment can create long-term problems for their business

§    The most important product of any company is its workforce and therefore withdrawing from graduate recruitment can negatively affecting the business for the future.  
§    When a firm starts recruiting again they face significant costs in re-establishing their brand on campus.
§    Temporary graduate recruitment freezes can cause operational risks. When recruitment and induction cycles roll from one year to the next, graduate recruitment teams establish processes, procedures and retain knowledge. When this process is stopped, graduate recruiters often leave taking their contacts, know how and procedures with them.
§    Stopping a graduate scheme will result in gaps in talent pipeline which will be expensive to fill later.
§    Talent gaps can have negative impact on the morale of other staff who may feel that they are being “held back” to do the jobs that graduates would be more suited to.
§    Maintaining a continued presence on campus and amongst the student body adds to an employer’s credibility.
§    First and second year students consider their career options post graduation early on in College so this creates a hidden problem for graduate recruitment in future.
§    Sudden withdrawal wastes investment already made in recruitment as many of the costs are up front. Continuing the scheme, even at a reduced level, helps ensure some level of recuperation of this investment.
§    Investment in placement schemes in particular is longer term, as the true value of these students will be realised two years after they start the placement when they return to join as graduates. If you are no longer recruiting when these students complete their courses your competition may be getting the benefits of the investment you originally made in these students.

The Message for Graduates
The message coming through loud and clear for this year’s recruiters for graduates is research, research and more research – know your potential employer and know your sector. For those who do not secure that dream job first time round, the key is to think about what compromise might you have to make in the interim before securing your dream job.