Fishing out the talent

It appears employers have learnt their lesson after getting their fingers burnt during the last economic slowdown in 2001 and are not making any drastic cuts to graduate intakes this year. Julian May reports

The credit crunch, which has seen many firms in the financial sector batten down the hatches and reach for the smelling salts, does not appear to be affecting the UK graduate recruitment market. On the contrary, the latest survey from the Higher Education Statistics Agency has just reported the lowest graduate unemployment rate for five years and the summer survey from the Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR) reported an 11.7% growth in graduate vacancies this year.

Carl Gilleard, chief executive of the AGR, told Recruiter only 17% of employers were anticipating hiring fewer graduates.

"Vacancies are up on last year — and that was a very good year for graduate recruitment. We have had a decade of almost continuous growth. Recruiters and employers are taking a much more integrated approach to marketing their brands to candidates."

Dan Hawes, co-founder of the Brighton-based Graduate Recruitment Bureau, told Recruiter: "Clients are concerned about succession planning and are using graduate recruitment as a valuable resource to enable them to do this.

"We have just had a record month so we are cautiously optimistic," he says, adding that experience of the last downturn has stood his 40 staff in good stead.

All graduate recruiters reported a shortage of civil engineers, as well as a fall in graduate hiring in the financial sector. Skills shortages have created huge demand for engineering, IT, maths and science, business studies and humanities graduates.

Gordon Bennell, joint owner of Graduate Fasttrack, which sources candidates for financial, media, IT and corporate B2B sales and rec-to-rec sectors, tells a similar story, with weekly deals up a third on last year.

"The financial graduate vacancies have dried up apart from in some niche areas, but on the whole we have not experienced any slowdown," he told Recruiter.

Many large employers, which cut back hard on their graduate intake during the last downturn in 2001, creating gaps in resources when the economy picked up again, have learnt their lesson, according to James Pritchard, managing director of the JPA Group of Companies.

He told Recruiter: "They won't do this again, so this time they are still hiring top flight graduates into roles."


More picky

However, recruiters are finding clients are being less flexible in the types of graduates they're prepared to take on. Bennell told Recruiter that clients are being more picky than last year.

Hawes agreed, adding: "What we are finding is that employers are raising their requirements. Maybe before they would be prepared to take a chance with a candidate and train them up but now there is less flexibility."

Greg Ashmore, associate director at sales recruiter Drummond Recruitment, says clients now want to take on graduates who can open new sales accounts.

"Clients want a bit more than the average 2:1 degree from a red brick university. They want savvy candidates who can think on their feet," he told Recruiter.

Ashmore says it is not so much about the academic qualification. "Ninety per cent of the reason why graduates get the job is personality and fit with the company."

Graduate expectations are changing and candidates are not just looking for financial rewards or the prestige of working for a blue-chip company.

Pritchard says graduates now look for employers who will train them and give them a career path. They want to work for dynamic, successful companies that can give them opportunities.

The AGR found that more than half of employers were concerned about the lack of hard skills like literacy and leadership, and soft skills like communication among graduates.

Paul Farrer, chairman of sales and media recruiter pfj, which incorporates the Graduate Recruitment Company, says the firm has seen a 10% rise in media graduate vacancies. He told Recruiter many graduates are still naïve about graduate jobs and have elevated expectations of their roles and salaries. But he thinks employers also have unrealistic expectations about what their graduates can do and about graduates' loyalty to the company.

Farrer says it is important to distinguish between two clear parts to graduate recruitment: the blue-chip milkround, which accounts for the top 15% of graduates, and the 350,000 graduates who do not join corporate graduate programmes.

"Graduates are looking at what they can get out of company in two or three years," says Hawes. "Communication is key for an employer; explain clearly what you expect from a candidate, but don't expect them to stay for ever. Graduates these days have no inhibitions about going to an MD and telling him exactly what they think about the company."

With the AGR also reporting that employers are less likely to trust academic qualifications, such as the gold mark 2:1 as the standard of quality, recruiters and employers are increasingly competing for more rounded individuals.

Farrer says one of the problems was getting graduates to adjust. "Graduates leave university laden with debt. They have experience of part-time work but need to adjust to the more challenging skills, communication and relationships that are expected in a permanent job."

The AGR's recent annual conference focused on the importance of marketing to Generation Y, maintaining relationships, being honest and transparent about job roles and companies, and using technology to find new channels of communication with candidates.

Gilleard told Recruiter it is crucial that agencies and employers are transparent and honest with Generation Y about the job spec and exactly what candidates can expect from the role. "They see right through glossed up PR," he says.


Fishing for talent

So how are recruiters finding the most talented graduates in a dwindling talent pool?

Brighton-based Graduate Recruitment Bureau is still targeting the careers fairs and making its presence felt on campus. "Online channels are proving very popular. Generation Y is constantly adapting, so we have our own profiles on social networking sites to get people to attract their friends there. There are news, reviews and surveys. We want to be seen as a service of information and support, so we have a fully interactive online service. But meeting people face-to-face is still very important, which is why we maintain a big presence on campus," says Hawes.

Bennell, who also runs student support firm Student Aid and gap year directory Findagap.com, says the key to graduate recruitment is engaging with students from day one and creating a relationship before the milkround and careers fairs.

"Student Aid delivers welcome packs with magazine and promotional material for Graduate Fasttrack on a university student's first day. Lots of graduate recruitment agencies rely on job boards. We want to get access to them before they hit the job boards. The key is building a decent brand in graduate recruitment."

Graduate Fasttrack uses matching software and psychometric testing in helping graduates and clients get the right fit. They also use assessment days and group exercises. "Qualifications are still highly valued by employers but so is life experience and business experience," says Bennell.

Drummond Recruitment, which attracts many candidates through recommendations and referrals, focuses most of its ad spend online and is in talks with Facebook and Myspace to advertise with them.

Communicating with graduates has become a very fragmented process because so many graduates are taking gap years or temporary work after graduating. Maintaining ongoing relationships is becoming more and more important, adds Hawes.

Farrer also warns recruiters not to aggressively pursue graduates through social networking but to attract them passively through technology.

Graduate recruiters are fending off the ravages of the downturn and using ever more inventive ways to attract the best talent for their clients. But it is important to bear in mind that clients won't compromise on quality and that candidates want to be kept informed.

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