Graduate
recruitment campaigns
Hire the best new talent. The right way
Picking future talent isn’t easy
If you have run graduate recruitment campaigns you will know the challenges they present. Hiring people with limited, or no, work experience is different to other recruitment. Yet, the competition to attract the best potential is fierce. High Fliers, the graduate recruitment research company reports that demand for new graduates increased last year to above pre-pandemic levels.
The expectations of new graduates entering the workplace have transformed since we designed our first graduate recruitment campaign for a mobile phone operator over 20 years ago. For starters, the median salary for someone joining a graduate training scheme in the UK is now over £30,000. And big firms in consulting, law, and other industries can offer over £50,000. Very few smaller organisations can compete financially.
So, unless you have deep pockets, or you are a household name business, or a recognised leader in your industry, you need a clear strategy to attract, hire, and retain the best new talent. Additionally, you need a very clear, and compelling, structured training program. Our discussions with graduates currently in training schemes suggest four frequent problems:
How to build tomorrow’s leaders
To compete in the complex graduate recruitment market today you need a clear plan. This applies equally if you have an apprenticeship programme.
You need a well-defined structured training plan for any trainees joining the business. This has to be sponsored by the very highest level of the organisation (CEO). A structured pathway covers building on technical and essential interpersonal skills. It will include support from experienced in-house mentors, who are trained to do this work. This mentorship will accelerate learning and help new graduates integrate more easily.
Trainees should receive exposure through rotation programmes. Gaining experience in all aspects of the business enhances the trainees knowledge and fosters inter-department understanding.
A clear career path needs to be demonstrated at the outset. You must be sure about the opportunities
We have been working with graduate employers in industries including financial services, energy, technology, marketing and advertising, and design, for over 20 years. They have recruited graduates in disciplines such as finance, sales, project management, supply chain, engineering, design and account management. Some will hire many new graduates each year. Others only a handful. Our job is to ensure they all have the opportunity to hire the new talent they need, and that is right for their business.
Not all graduates are created equal
While there are many graduate jobs available, there are also more people graduating than before. The number of students enrolled in higher education in the UK has increased each year since 2014. But not all of them will be great hires, or what your business needs.
We provide a flexible, or turnkey, service to attract, assess, and hire, the graduate and apprentice trainees that will enhance your talent pipeline for years to come. The bfpeople team can take care of advertising and microsite design, response handling, shortlisting, design and delivery of assessment centres, to making offers and onboarding.
At all times we will work with your internal teams to support where needed. We can manage the whole process or just parts. We collaborate to define the roles and the training programmes. We will train your line managers to assess and interview candidates and design processes to identify potential among those with a limited work history.
Providing a positive candidate experience is essential. Whatever the result for them personally, candidates are influential promoters, or critics, of your organisation. So, we ensure the following so that everyone is happy:
It’s a genuine partnership that gets results. Talk to us about your graduate recruitment plans via the contact page or complete this form..
