WORK PLACEMENT: GATEWAY TO GRADUATE RECRUITMENT

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WORK PLACEMENT GATEWAY TO GRADUATE RECRUITMENT
Carl GilleardChief ExecutiveAGR
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WHAT IS AGR?
Mission To set the agenda for change in graduate
recruitment

• Not for profit membership organisation
• 720 member organisations
• Recruit 25,000 plus graduates a year
• Services include
• - research
• - training and conferences
• - information and advice
• - networking
• - representation
• - www.agr.org.uk

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THE CHANGING WORLD OF WORK

• Technology
• Globalisation
• The power of the customer
• Flatter structures
• Multi- skilling of the workforce
• Re-skilling
• Change is the only constant
• Uncertainty and volatility

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THE CHANGING CAREER

• Only 65 of graduates go straight into work
• Many go into jobs rather than careers after
  university
• End of a job for life
• Many will have several careers in their working
  life
• Changing life styles

A career path is like crazy paving and you have
to lay it yourself!
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THE NEW LANGUAGE OF CAREERS

• FROM
• Clarity
• Ladders
• Employer
• Job
• Career
• Progression
• Rising income and Security
• Training

• TO
• Fog
• Bridges
• Customer
• Adding value
• Portfolio
• Personal Growth
• Maintaining employability
• Lifelong learning

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CHANGING RECRUITMENT PRACTICE

• Seeking needles in haystacks
• Using on-line technology
• - high volume low access to
• - low volume high success
• On-line applications
• Self-deselection tools
• Competency based selection models
• Employment trials

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WHAT EMPLOYERS LOOK FOR IN GRADUATES

• Talent
• Intellect
• Rising expectations
• Qualifications plus skills plus experience
• Oven ready graduates
• Shortfall

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SKILLS AND ATTRIBUTES CHECKLIST
THE TOP TEN IN 2006
Difficult to find skills
Important Skills

• 1.Motivation and enthusiasm
• 2.Team working
• 3.Oral
• 4.Communication
• 5.Flexibility
• 6.Customer focus
• 7.Problem solving
• 8.Managing own learning
• 9.Commercial awareness
• 10.Planning and organisation

• 1.Commercial awareness
• 2.Leadership
• 3.Risk taking/enterprise
• 4.Project management
• 5.Managing own learning
• 6.Second language
• 7.Problem solving
• 8.Customer focus
• 9.Report writing
• 10.Cultural sensitivity

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THE VALUE OF WORK PLACEMENTS TO EMPLOYERS
All kinds of work experience count

• Value to the employer (as a provider)
• Better informed candidates
• More self aware and self confident
• Enhanced skills
• Extra pair of hands
• Insight into what students can do (in general)
• Contribute to student development
• Building brand
• Value to employer (as a recruiter)
• A recruitment marketing tool
• A recruitment selection tool (NCWE 2003)
• Employment trial two way
• Better understanding of the world of work
• And employer expectations

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VALUE OF WORK EXPERIENCE TO THE STUDENT/GRADUATE

• Income
• Employment trial
• Strengthened CV
• References
• Maturity
• Relevance to the degree being followed
• Personal and intellectual development
• Skills development interpersonal, project
  management, planning, etc.
• More self-aware and self-confident
• Better sense of how their studies fit-in to the
  world of work
• Owning their own learning

Little and Harvey (2006) learning through work
placements and beyond
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MAKING THE MOST OF WORK PLACEMENTS

• Employers
• Plan ahead
• Structure the placement include a project
• Mentors and buddies
• Supervision
• Trouble shooting arrangements
• Feedback throughout and at the end of placement
• Students
• Record, reflect and reuse the experience

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ADVICE FOR STUDENTS

• Summer Placements (internships)
• Plan ahead and start early
• Use the services that are there to help careers
  service
• Explore every kind of opportunity shadowing,
  casual work, volunteering
• Use every experience good or bad, to reflect on
  what you have learnt
• Reflect on where you would ideally like to work
• Capture the experience
• Learn how to articulate what you gained from the
  experience
• Part-time Working
• Use the services that are their job to help job
  shops etc.
• Use your own network of contacts
• Be pro-active (knock on doors)
• Target sectors that you are interested in
• Dont ignore SMEs
• Volunteer yourself just to get in the door
• Dont be blinkered

If only Id known Hawkins and Gilleard
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CHALLENGES

• Not enough quality placements
• Securing student engagement
• 79 feel they could not afford to gain this
  experience by working for free
• Manpower Survey 2006
• 76 believe relevant work experience is necessary
  to secure the career they want

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CREATING MORE OPPORTUNITIES

• Employers putting their money where their mouth
  is!
• Tax incentives
• Engaging with SMEs
• Building up employer contacts
• Sharing networks within universities
• Using alumni
• Students helping themselves
• Developing a framework/template for employers and
  students to use
• Look at ways of using part-time work

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STUDENT ENGAGEMENT

• Start early
• Build into curriculum
• Accreditation
• Use employers and alumni to get the message
  across
• Work with student associations

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Questions and comments