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Added for You - Attracting and Keeping the Right Graduates
You’ve worked hard to get to where you are and your technical skills are top-notch. You are fluent in your area of expertise and can converse at length on the latest developments in your field. But do you speak the language of career advancement? Many of my clients come to me with stories of being passed over for a promotion and are amazed that the company has chosen someone with less technical competence. What’s going on?In today’s competitive environment, companies can no longer afford to promote individuals solely on their technical merits. Work projects are increasingly complex and often require collaboration with a wide variety of individuals both in-house and out-of-house. Delays and inefficiencies are often the results of poor communication, costing companies time and money. Therefore, companies are often reluctant to promote employees who are seen as “hard to get along with.” Increasi
Now you are ready to start to get the applications. Letting the graduates know you have vacancies involves making choices and decisions. Traditional routes such as the “Milk Round” have their place – but a bit late for this year! Graduate and Recruitment Fairs have plus points, but the London one was in June! Moving to the technology and think about the internet. Put “graduate recruitment” into Google and just search the UK – there are over ? million results! Many are agencies and others offering positions for graduates. Others are company websites trying to attract the graduates. How does your organisation use your website to attract the graduates you want? Do you explain the offer clearly? Does it transmit the organisational culture you have so that applicants know what to expect? How do you bring people to your site to see the offer? Why will they contact you to learn more? One suggestion is to contact specific universities directly to let them know you have vacancies and invite direct applications or lead them to your website.
Whether advertising, using the internet, agencies or careers’ services be sure to be specific about what it is you are looking for from applicants in terms of experience and atti
It can be as simple as to write down your questions. Keep the same questions for each candidate that comes through the door.The main object as an employer or recruitment consultant is to compare people. Their individual answers and responses to a pre-selected list of questions. This will help select the right person for the job. By changing the questions from person to person will make it more difficult. Okay! Some times in an interview there is an opportunity to work with people and follow a line of job related questioning/information to get the full picture of the prospective employee. However, basically try and keep to a single format.Some obvious questions to ask would be: “What do you know about our company? What do you know about the job or the position? What is your previous experience? How do you deal with conflict or difficult situations? Give examples
I often wonder how many organisations, including professional practices, really do a full opportunity costing of this annual exercise and then evaluate the ROI? Many of you reading this invest a great deal of time and effort into the whole exercise, take on the quota of graduates you have set and starting them. How does your organisation monitor and measure their effectiveness and contribution? When do you expect to see a return? What about those who leave within 3 years? Have you costed that to the bottom line?
A major challenge with a graduate recruitment process is the “market” variable of the law of supply and demand. We all know that the number of people emerging from “universities” with “degrees” is increasing for a variety of reasons. Without getting into any politically incorrect hot water, I would suggest that you know that not all 2.2 degrees are equal!! (or similar principles.) One thing I discovered many years ago when recruiting was that there were certain establishments which I preferred to get people from. The more challenging variable for you is what is happening amongst the graduate recruiters. How many positions will be on offer? Remember, your competition for the quality graduates will come from a wide range of industries – potentially from MI5 or The Treasury to the oil industry, household consumer goods to aerospace. If they want to work in finance, will it be in accounting, consultancy, banking or investments?
When looking to attract the right graduates, start by considering what type of person you want to bring in. Who will fit in with the overall culture? (Without creating a group of corporate clones!) A key question to then ask is, “Why should they choose you?” You are in a highly competitive marketplace, and have to make some choices in order to attract the type of applicants you want.
Take yourself back and, or, think about youngsters you know, and put yourself in the shoes of today’s graduates. What do you think they would want from a potential employer? What do they expect (or hope for) in terms of:
- the job
- the package
- the training
- a career?
There can be a tendency for these to be somewhat unrealistic. This is borne out of some or all of, naivety, careers guidance – or lack of, peer group talk.
Think about what you offer. How well does it match these expectations? How often do you benchmark yourselves against the “market”? Evaluate your overall package against this and consider whether you need to improve any aspects. Aim to avoid getting caught in just paying premium salaries, they do not guarantee quality applicants. Be in the 60 – 80 percentile and you have scope to move or incentivise.
Before starting to send out the messages that you are recruiting, make sure that the other things are in place.
Some things to check:
Applications
Interviewing
The job and start phase
Now you are ready to start to get the applications. Letting the graduates know you have vacancies involves making choices and decisions. Traditional routes such as the “Milk Round” have their place – but a bit late for this year! Graduate and Recruitment Fairs have plus points, but the London one was in June! Moving to the technology and think about the internet. Put “graduate recruitment” into Google and just search the UK – there are over ? million results! Many are agencies and others offering positions for graduates. Others are company websites trying to attract the graduates. How does your organisation use your website to attract the graduates you want? Do you explain the offer clearly? Does it transmit the organisational culture you have so that applicants know what to expect? How do you bring people to your site to see the offer? Why will they contact you to learn more? One suggestion is to contact specific universities directly to let them know you have vacancies and invite direct applications or lead them to your website.
Whether advertising, using the internet, agencies or careers’ services be sure to be specific about what it is you are looking for from applicants in terms of experience and attit
Last month we looked at the first step in how to naturally profit from your expertise: packaging your knowledge into articles and talks. Done right, you’ll exponentially multiply the number of motivated, pre-qualified prospects you reach in a fraction of the time that networking and referrals require.This month, we’ll look at how to get in front of the right audiences to put your attention-getting articles and talks to work in promoting you and your firm.Before we go there, make sure you’ve:• Given your talk or article a compelling title that answers your target audience’s “WIIFM” (What’s In It For Me?). It doesn’t matter how brilliant your content is, if people don’t read past your title or sign up for your talk. Your title is ALL that matters, at first glance.• Got a title that’s clear and easy to understand, targets the audience specifically, includes core benefits directed
When looking to attract the right graduates, start by considering what type of person you want to bring in. Who will fit in with the overall culture? (Without creating a group of corporate clones!) A key question to then ask is, “Why should they choose you?” You are in a highly competitive marketplace, and have to make some choices in order to attract the type of applicants you want.
Take yourself back and, or, think about youngsters you know, and put yourself in the shoes of today’s graduates. What do you think they would want from a potential employer? What do they expect (or hope for) in terms of:
- the job
- the package
- the training
- a career?
There can be a tendency for these to be somewhat unrealistic. This is borne out of some or all of, naivety, careers guidance – or lack of, peer group talk.
Think about what you offer. How well does it match these expectations? How often do you benchmark yourselves against the “market”? Evaluate your overall package against this and consider whether you need to improve any aspects. Aim to avoid getting caught in just paying premium salaries, they do not guarantee quality applicants. Be in the 60 – 80 percentile and you have scope to move or incentivise.
Before starting to send out the messages that you are recruiting, make sure that the other things are in place.
Some things to check:
Applications
Interviewing
The job and start phase
Now you are ready to start to get the applications. Letting the graduates know you have vacancies involves making choices and decisions. Traditional routes such as the “Milk Round” have their place – but a bit late for this year! Graduate and Recruitment Fairs have plus points, but the London one was in June! Moving to the technology and think about the internet. Put “graduate recruitment” into Google and just search the UK – there are over ? million results! Many are agencies and others offering positions for graduates. Others are company websites trying to attract the graduates. How does your organisation use your website to attract the graduates you want? Do you explain the offer clearly? Does it transmit the organisational culture you have so that applicants know what to expect? How do you bring people to your site to see the offer? Why will they contact you to learn more? One suggestion is to contact specific universities directly to let them know you have vacancies and invite direct applications or lead them to your website.
Whether advertising, using the internet, agencies or careers’ services be sure to be specific about what it is you are looking for from applicants in terms of experience and atti
I was reading the local paper and came across a picture of the cleanest garage I ever saw. In addition to a picture of the garage there was a picture of a gentlemen, in his late 60's cleaning the cobwebs with an extension pole. I thought to myself I have never seen a garage so clean in my life. The accompanying article was discussing how this individual and another had painted and put cabinets in their garages, and how you could eat off this garage floor. Now we have all seen those storage cabinets for garages, but how many of us ever get them and if we do, don't we fill them up and then the garage goes back to looking like it did before we got them. Imagine if someone would come to your home, condo or townhouse and clean out, paint and organize that garage for you; and you would tell them how you want it done. I am not talking about those expensive ads we've all seen where they can come in and
- the job
- the package
- the training
- a career?
There can be a tendency for these to be somewhat unrealistic. This is borne out of some or all of, naivety, careers guidance – or lack of, peer group talk.
Think about what you offer. How well does it match these expectations? How often do you benchmark yourselves against the “market”? Evaluate your overall package against this and consider whether you need to improve any aspects. Aim to avoid getting caught in just paying premium salaries, they do not guarantee quality applicants. Be in the 60 – 80 percentile and you have scope to move or incentivise.
Before starting to send out the messages that you are recruiting, make sure that the other things are in place.
Some things to check:
Applications
Interviewing
The job and start phase
Now you are ready to start to get the applications. Letting the graduates know you have vacancies involves making choices and decisions. Traditional routes such as the “Milk Round” have their place – but a bit late for this year! Graduate and Recruitment Fairs have plus points, but the London one was in June! Moving to the technology and think about the internet. Put “graduate recruitment” into Google and just search the UK – there are over ? million results! Many are agencies and others offering positions for graduates. Others are company websites trying to attract the graduates. How does your organisation use your website to attract the graduates you want? Do you explain the offer clearly? Does it transmit the organisational culture you have so that applicants know what to expect? How do you bring people to your site to see the offer? Why will they contact you to learn more? One suggestion is to contact specific universities directly to let them know you have vacancies and invite direct applications or lead them to your website.
Whether advertising, using the internet, agencies or careers’ services be sure to be specific about what it is you are looking for from applicants in terms of experience and atti
Landscape architecture involves the planning, design, management, preservation and rehabilitation of the land and constructions. To put it simply, the people who perform all the above duties are called landscape architects.Nature of WorkThe design of landscapes involves multiple disciplines like mathematics, science, engineering, art, technology, social sciences, politics, history and philosophy. Landscape architects are responsible for various duties like creating public parks, planning corporate offices, planning highways and bridges, creating forests, tourist and historic landscapes, management and reclamation of the degraded landscapes like mines etc. Their job involves all minor and major tasks. They are the brains behind the various types of construction. They are also responsible for supervising the contracts of construction work and preparing applications for capital or revenue fund
Interviewing
The job and start phase
Now you are ready to start to get the applications. Letting the graduates know you have vacancies involves making choices and decisions. Traditional routes such as the “Milk Round” have their place – but a bit late for this year! Graduate and Recruitment Fairs have plus points, but the London one was in June! Moving to the technology and think about the internet. Put “graduate recruitment” into Google and just search the UK – there are over ? million results! Many are agencies and others offering positions for graduates. Others are company websites trying to attract the graduates. How does your organisation use your website to attract the graduates you want? Do you explain the offer clearly? Does it transmit the organisational culture you have so that applicants know what to expect? How do you bring people to your site to see the offer? Why will they contact you to learn more? One suggestion is to contact specific universities directly to let them know you have vacancies and invite direct applications or lead them to your website.
Whether advertising, using the internet, agencies or careers’ services be sure to be specific about what it is you are looking for from applicants in terms of experience and atti
There have been several ads promoting books and reports on thissubject, or included as part of the contents in several mailorder books stating: "SAVE UP TO 17% ON ALL YOUR ADVERTISING" It's legitimate, practical and effective, but like so many otherpromises, there are pros and cons involved. The pros are fairlyobvious. By setting up your own advertising agency and placingyour advertising under your agency name, most magazines willallow you the standard 15% agency commission plus and extra 2%cash discount. If your annual ad budget is $5,000 this amounts toa saving of $850 a year, which is a considerable piece of change. The negative side to this operation involves the initial cost ofestablishing your new agency, which isn't very difficult, but itmight be considered time-consuming. To initiate an agency youwill have to have a na
Now you are ready to start to get the applications. Letting the graduates know you have vacancies involves making choices and decisions. Traditional routes such as the “Milk Round” have their place – but a bit late for this year! Graduate and Recruitment Fairs have plus points, but the London one was in June! Moving to the technology and think about the internet. Put “graduate recruitment” into Google and just search the UK – there are over ? million results! Many are agencies and others offering positions for graduates. Others are company websites trying to attract the graduates. How does your organisation use your website to attract the graduates you want? Do you explain the offer clearly? Does it transmit the organisational culture you have so that applicants know what to expect? How do you bring people to your site to see the offer? Why will they contact you to learn more? One suggestion is to contact specific universities directly to let them know you have vacancies and invite direct applications or lead them to your website.
Whether advertising, using the internet, agencies or careers’ services be sure to be specific about what it is you are looking for from applicants in terms of experience and attitude and use this to filter. Be open about the job and what it will involve – including some of the downsides!
Just because the graduate recruitment activity takes place annually, does not mean that it should be taken for granted. Revisit how you do it, identify what works well and what does not – and change it. Benchmark yourselves against other organisations going for the same target group. Be clear about the type of person you want (and, do they have to be graduates??) and write the specification. Make sure you have been through the checklists to know that you are ready to bring them in and set them on the right path. Place emphasis on the induction and the personal development and mentoring – it will pay dividends. Measure the effectiveness – and monitor the graduate retention.
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