Thousands of graduates leave further education each year, joining the search for employment opportunities. According to HESA (the Higher Education Statistics Agency), 919,940 HE qualifications were awarded in 2021/22. That’s almost 1 million people gaining undergraduate and postgraduate degrees!
Let’s take a look at how you can find and attract these talented individuals to your organisation.
How to attract graduates to your organisation
Partner with colleges and universities
Once recent graduates have left higher education, it may be harder to reach them. If you’re looking to hire graduates, take the time to invest in your outreach activities and start your engagement earlier.
Go directly to the source and connect with colleges/universities to explore ways you can join forces. Examples of activities you may be able to contribute to could include:
- Project work
- Careers events and talks
- Mentoring
- Placement schemes.
You’ll get to showcase yourself as an organisation that cares about students and puts in the effort to support them outside of your own immediate recruitment needs. While the students you engage with won’t have graduated yet, you’re ensuring you get your brand in front of potentially hundreds of students and they’ll know they can look to you for opportunities in future.
You’ll also need to be strategic. Align your goals (and the college’s/university’s goals) with potential engagement activities and target the right spaces. Work with groups, societies and universities who specialise in your industry.
Hire interns and placement students
Using work experience to build your talent pipeline is a key strategy for any organisation. If you provide placements for university students, ensure they have a valuable, good-quality experience, nurture a positive relationship, and point them towards your jobs board that they can use when they’re ready.
There will be some key considerations about how you stay in contact with young people after work experience and early career interactions, which you can read about in our article on policies, procedures and safeguarding for work experience.
Develop a graduate programme with growth opportunities
Graduates are likely to have some experience in the world of work already, whether they’ve completed an industry placement as part of their course or working/volunteering around their studies.
As they’ll be at the start of their career journey and looking to progress, they’ll be looking for graduate roles that have opportunities to develop. Like any young person looking for a job, they’ll be ambitious and looking at how you can support them through your opportunities.
Further reading: What Does Running a Good Graduate Programme Look Like?
Advertise in the right places
There are a range of places that graduates in particular will be looking at, in addition to the most popular databases. Make sure you’re targeting the right spots by advertising in online spaces for graduates, including their own university’s jobs board.
Make sure your vacancies and job specifications are youth friendly. Take time to clearly show what you expect from them, but also what’s in it for them – why should they work for you?
Show off your success stories by sharing case studies of your graduate employees via your website, social media accounts, and even in your job adverts. It’s a great way to demonstrate your company culture and attract the right candidates.
Did you know that you can publish your vacancies on our website? Get your opportunities in front of thousands of young people across the UK by becoming a Member today.
Utilise your staff for case studies
While we’re talking about using case studies, don’t underestimate the power of the Alumni network you already have. Use staff who have undertaken your graduate opportunities and ask them to share their experience at careers events.
Think about diversity and inclusion – if you’re stating you have accessible opportunities or you want to target underrepresented groups, make sure you reflect this in your activities. Graduate job seekers will want to see people like them in your organisation and case studies are a great way to do this.
Showing graduate job seekers that there are people like them in your organisation helps to build trust and case studies are a great way to do this.
