Michael Rabone, HR Manager for The Seafood Restaurant group owned by Rick and Jill Stein in Padstow, Cornwall considers the impact of labour market changes on graduate recruitment.
Having been given a fantastic career opportunity with a large company that offered a graduate placement programme, it is a topic that I’ve remained close to as I feel that graduate recruitment is an important part of a balanced approach to resourcing. Prior to recent news regarding university fees, the volume of individuals with a degree, coupled with recent changes to the economy and labour market, appear to have had a significant impact on the volume of graduates looking for work.
Whilst some businesses have cut their graduate recruitment, others appear to have maintained or even increased the number of opportunities provided. I recently met with a recruitment officer from PwC and they are currently recruiting for 1,300 graduates for their latest intake; incredibly, they have encountered some graduate recruitment challenges in the South West and it left me wondering what we can do to help individuals to fulfil their potential and for businesses of all sizes to take advantage of the fantastic opportunity that currently exists.
There are some circumstances locally that have created a bottle-neck for graduate recruitment that may sound familiar; limited ‘large company’ graduate schemes, increasing opportunities to study degree-level qualifications locally and a reluctance to relocate all combine to make for a potentially difficult situation if you happen to be looking for a graduate level job.
This opportunity creates plenty of room for innovation and a fantastic graduate recruitment scheme in Cornwall called ‘Unlocking Cornish Potential’ has so far placed over 750 graduates into micro businesses and SMEs in order to provide a large company style graduate programme when the business infrastructure would be unlikely to be able to support such a scheme in-house.
The collective effort to develop local graduates is incredibly inspiring; a two week ‘stand out from the crowd’ programme offers a fantastic opportunity to develop knowledge and awareness of a vast array of topics that will help graduates to prepare for their next career move, including tips on applying for graduate roles, entrepreneurial skills, business skills and an insight into assessment processes along with the opportunity to network with guest speakers from local businesses that recruit graduates. Twelve month graduate placement programmes, graduate business start-up support and under-graduate placements make up the options available to those seeking graduate level opportunities in the local area.
Cornwall’s Convergence funding (European Social Fund) gives the process a valuable boost, offering graduates a training and development budget in additional to potential wage subsidies that are geared towards assisting business start-ups to attract graduate talent at rate they never thought would be possible.
I’ve been very fortunate to have been given the opportunity to give something back to the graduate recruitment process by getting involved as a guest speaker and mentor for those looking to develop HR careers. We’ve now recruited eight graduates into our company through this particular scheme, with contract extensions offered to each individual that has completed their twelve month graduate programme.
One fantastic benefit of being involved is the potential that you get to see; two individuals that have been appointed to graduate roles within our business were identified via the ‘stand out from the crowd’ programme as it quickly became apparent that they were exactly what we were looking for. We have continued to offer graduate roles with the support of this particular scheme; something that certainly wouldn’t be as easy if we tried to manage the process in-house.
There’s no doubt that the graduate market has changed; I’ve seen a major shift away from new graduates that are fresh out of university towards a number of individuals that have made a decision to re-train, be it for a new challenge or the difficulty of being made redundant. There are now a number of experienced graduates seeking to re-enter the labour market that can demonstrate a track record of skills and experience to back up their academic achievements, something that gives an extra dimension to the graduate market.
The interesting aspect is that many of the graduates I have met are looking for the right opportunity with a company that could support their longer-term career goals and it doesn’t necessarily mean that a specific graduate programme is required to tempt an individual into an opportunity.
The competition out there is substantial, which can only be a good thing for us as employers. The only question that remains is whether we have the means as employers to maximise the potential that this opportunity may bring?
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