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Tips for successful recruitment
Most businesses would like to benefit from new talent, enthusiasm and ideas. One option is to employ a recent graduate. Elizabeth McDonald, Marketing Executive of GradsEast, i10's university-to-business recruitment service, gives her top tips for recruiting graduates:
1 Decide if you need a generalist or specialist: Do you need a vocationally qualified student? If not, consider recruiting graduates from an array of subject areas. All degrees are training in how to think.
2 Be clear about what you're offering: Devise job and person specs before you begin recruiting. Decide who the graduate will be working for and plan their training opportunities.
3 Provide all necessary information: Specific details of salary and working conditions are as important to graduates as the actual job. An average salary will not put graduates off, but the absence of a figure or mentions of 'competitive salary' often will.
4 Target specific universities: There are over 100 universities in the UK. To avoid wasting time and money, focus your efforts by targeting two or three which have the most suitable students. To discover this, ask the careers service for a testimonial from a similar company that employed one of their graduates, or ask for a copy of a course syllabus if you require a specialist.
5 Consider work experience: Many institutions allow students to gain work experience during their studies. Undergraduates often inject enthusiasm, their salary is low and if successful you may end up recruiting them permanently after they graduate.
6 Don't leave it too late: Begin planning your recruitment campaign early in the academic year. By the time exam results are announced, the best graduates will already have accepted job offers.
7 Cast your net wide: Don't limit your search to young full-time students. More mature, part-time and distance learning graduates are just as worthy of your attention.
8 Take advantage of the help at hand: Many recruitment agencies specialise in graduate recruitment, but charge between 17 and 25% of the first year's salary. GradsEast allows you to advertise job vacancies free of charge on a dedicated website viewed by thousands of students and graduates. Visit http://www.gradseast.org.uk.
1 Decide if you need a generalist or specialist: Do you need a vocationally qualified student? If not, consider recruiting graduates from an array of subject areas. All degrees are training in how to think.
2 Be clear about what you're offering: Devise job and person specs before you begin recruiting. Decide who the graduate will be working for and plan their training opportunities.
3 Provide all necessary information: Specific details of salary and working conditions are as important to graduates as the actual job. An average salary will not put graduates off, but the absence of a figure or mentions of 'competitive salary' often will.
4 Target specific universities: There are over 100 universities in the UK. To avoid wasting time and money, focus your efforts by targeting two or three which have the most suitable students. To discover this, ask the careers service for a testimonial from a similar company that employed one of their graduates, or ask for a copy of a course syllabus if you require a specialist.
5 Consider work experience: Many institutions allow students to gain work experience during their studies. Undergraduates often inject enthusiasm, their salary is low and if successful you may end up recruiting them permanently after they graduate.
6 Don't leave it too late: Begin planning your recruitment campaign early in the academic year. By the time exam results are announced, the best graduates will already have accepted job offers.
7 Cast your net wide: Don't limit your search to young full-time students. More mature, part-time and distance learning graduates are just as worthy of your attention.
8 Take advantage of the help at hand: Many recruitment agencies specialise in graduate recruitment, but charge between 17 and 25% of the first year's salary. GradsEast allows you to advertise job vacancies free of charge on a dedicated website viewed by thousands of students and graduates. Visit http://www.gradseast.org.uk.
