As recruiters, we are often faced with a range of challenges and obstacles.
The power to adapt to changing times is something that we need to be well versed in. It’s a lot like that phenomenal karaoke tune from Rocky – ‘Eye of the Tiger’- we need to hang tough, stay hungry and be champions of our game, rising up to the challenge of our rivals.
The Association of Graduate Recruiters recently released results from a poll that shows some graduate employers struggling to fill vacancies.
Chief Executive of the AGR, Stephen Isherwood said “I’d urge all graduates to really research sectors and roles that they’re applying for, tailoring each approach to show why they want that particular job and what relevant skills they can offer an employer.”
We need to remember that the last known survivor stalks his prey in the night and most graduate recruiters are probably already encouraging candidates to carry out research and take on a fresh approach.
Like Rocky, we need to decide what to leave in the past when it comes to graduate recruitment. Photo credit: flickr
Rather, this is the time to ask the question- will graduates ever change? In short, probably not. We need to employ new methods so that we, like Rocky, can rise up, straight to the top, and get the glory.
Here at PPS, we always look for new ways to ensure our graduate vacancies are filled with the perfect candidate. We achieved 100% attendance rate at assessment centre and a 96% offer acceptance rate thereafter, for one of our recent graduate campaigns. Of course this was partly because of our engaging recruitment process but also through the use of elements of ‘new recruitment’.
Graduates are often applying during their exams and may not have the time to complete a lengthy application form, so why not carry out video interviews instead? This is an excellent way of getting to know your candidates without taking up too much of their time. There’s also a ton of software out there that records video interviews, saving us the time of conducting interviews in real-time, whilst allowing us to really dissect candidate responses through playback and transcripts.
We also need to start considering asking behavioural and strengths based questions instead of repeating the same old competencies graduates will have manufactured answers for in the past. I think we all attest to hearing about that one tricky team member every graduate appears to have encountered during group work at university. As such, we are currently looking to change our application stage so that it really tests our graduates, rather than become a stale part of the overall recruitment campaign that adds little to no value in finding today’s top talent.
At PPS, we’ve come to the conclusion that graduates probably won’t change, so why don’t we?
We need to be one step ahead, and never forget- it’s the eye of the tiger, it’s the thrill of the fight.
Written by Hannah Ratcliff, Business Development Executive at PPS
