01/02/08

Pay drops for City's graduate entrants

As reported by David Turner, Education Correspondent

Investment banks and fund managers have bucked the national trend by cutting their starting salaries for newly hired graduates - making law a better bet for salary-hungry students.

The average starting salary of City bankers and fund managers slipped £500 to £35,500 last year as the Square Mile struggled with turbulent financial markets.

Salaries for entrants this year will remain static, according to the Association of Graduate Recruiters' winter survey, while in law they will rise by almost 3 per cent, pushing the average up to about £36,000.

City law firms, which hire a high proportion of Britain 's law graduates, are heavily dependent on the fortunes of Square Mile clients. But their income - and hence their remuneration - tends to be less volatile.

But in spite of the economic gloom, investment banks and fund managers expect a 28 per cent increase in graduate vacancies this year.

Across the economy, graduates' starting salaries are expected to increase by only 2.1 per cent in spite of a predicted 16 per cent rise in the vacancies.

The combination of high vacancy numbers and low pay increases suggests that although employers still prefer to hire graduates, the graduates earning premium is beginning to stall. The premium is the extra amount people can expect to earn if they go to university.

Source: Financial Times Newspaper

31/01/08

Advertising failing to attract top graduate talent

As reported by onrec.com

Graduate recruitment expert, Simon Reichwald argues that advertising is failing to attract the best graduate talent. Relationship building is the only way forward!

Fifteen years ago media such as The Times, The Guardian and Prospects Today were the main advertising tools available to graduate recruiters. This changed with the introduction of online recruitment sites which soon, with the growing size and spread of the graduate market, became the fastest way (and most cost effective) to communicate with as many graduate job seekers as possible.

Although online recruitment advertising is still popular with many graduates, it is an increasingly less cost effective way of recruiting, and Simon Reichwald, Managing Director of Bright Futures and Graduate Success says it is no longer the best method for finding the very top applicants: "Most of the best graduates know who they want to apply to before they start applying. They know this not because they have searched for all companies offering, for example consultancy or marketing roles, but because they are aware of the 'best' companies out there. This awareness has been achieved as the 'best' companies have created a powerful profile well in advance of the time students start actively job hunting."

We are seeing much more focused activity online
i.e. organisations using fewer job boards. Even the big generalist careers fairs aren't as popular as they used to be, companies are doing more activity with fewer universities such as focused career fairs, employer presentations, relationships with Academics and Faculties and internships, Simon Reichwald explains why this is important: "The key to real success with this on campus activity is to see it as more than just 'nice to do' branding. Organisations must leverage the full value from these activities to get firmly and consistently onto the radar of the best undergraduate talent."

Advertising needs to be examined to see whether it is delivering recruitment success in the same way it did ten years ago. It's likely that businesses will discover that the effectiveness of advertising is dying and it's time to get back to old-fashioned relationship building with students to ensure they attract the top talent before they graduate

Source: onrec.com

14/01/08

Social Contracts for the 21st Century: Working with Graduates to create the winning Emotional Connection

Today, more than ever, a hunger for talent is driving organisations to deliver on recruitment. This quest involves attracting, developing and retaining the right people. In recent years there has been a subtle shift in the relationship between employee and employer, from a traditional contract based on reward in exchange for labour to a new alignment that more accurately meets the needs and aspirations of both. This new reality resounds strongly with the values and aspirations of new graduates entering employment.

Recognising this shift in values opens a path for HR professionals to have more strategic impact within organisations, promoting creativity and innovation with integrity.

In 1998, Richard Barrett, Management Consultant and former Values Co-ordinator at the World Bank, mapped the values of more than 500 companies in 35 countries. In his book, 'Liberating the Corporate Soul: Building a Visionary Organization' he showed that values driven companies are without a doubt, the most successful companies on the planet- in other words, people want to work in those organizations.

Employees want the company ethos to reflect their own values, witness the growing demand from new graduates for evidence of Corporate Social Responsibility. This observation is supported by Duncan O' Leary, a researcher on skills and work at the think-tank Demos, and co-author of Recruitment 2020: How Recruitment is Changing and Why it Matters. He argues that if employers want to attract the best employees they need to ensure that clear ethical policies and practice is an established feature of the organisation. He states that their research shows a clear correlation between those employers that are most attractive to well qualified employees and those that are regarded as the most ethical. New technology, in particular Web 2.0, has opened up richer communication channels, the ubiquity of Face Book/ and My Space for the IPod generation has been well documented. Employer control over branding, identity and reputation can be easily challenged through workplace blogs.

No longer is it assumed that employee allegiance can be purchased through the pay check. In future priority must be given to developing a new psychological/emotional social contract to ensure genuine employee engagement.

So what does this mean for HR professionals?

The reality is that many organisations, particularly larger organisations, will have to change to survive.

A recent Demos Gfk NOP survey of HR directors of FTSE 200 companies clearly supports this statement. When asked what the most important skills and qualities will be for graduates in ten years' time the HR directors collectively ranked 'creativity and innovation' at the top- above literacy, numeracy, IT competency, communication skills and problem solving. As Gordon Brown has said, by 2020 health, education and the creative industries will be our greatest exports.

In his book, 'The Rise of the Creative Class', Richard Florida offers an explanation for this. He poses the question,' What powers economic growth? It's not technology - technology is a raw material. What makes human beings unique is one thing - creativity. Creativity powers economic growth'. To use our creativity is to find solutions that are not immediately visible'. However, innovation and creativity cannot be designed as routine productive processes in the same way as goods are manufactured. Creativity can only be facilitated, not managed. Knowledge economy businesses have to encourage flexible working practices, better work/life balance and more free exchange of ideas. Organisations need to recognise the blurring boundaries of the personal and the work life for many younger employees. The knowledge economy requires a much more subtle application of skills and deeper intuitive understanding of challenges in employment. Organizations need people who are emotionally intelligent, confident and empathic, as well as being intellectually gifted. In addition, a capacity for social intelligence, that is the ability to motivate, present compelling arguments and bind project teams together will be required. New graduates are demanding more opportunities to make a difference at work and to operate with greater autonomy. Many organisations fail to provide opportunities for new employees to develop deeper meaning, personal expression, passion and excitement. As a result British workers change jobs more often than any others in Europe .

What does this mean for employers?

Many large organisations will need to adapt to this challenge by tolerating more informality and self expression in the workplace. Small and medium sized organisations are more likely to allow for these differences than large organisations. Even Bill Gates has stated that the future for knowledge based economies lies with small firms. Companies in the 21 st century need to acknowledge these threats and develop new strategies to attract graduates and retain existing employees. In future organisations need to be flexible enough to manage uncertainty and strong enough to inspire passion. Hold on, it may be a bumpy ride!

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