How contemporary graduate employers are winning the talent war

In our last article we talked about the importance of having a clearly defined overarching graduate recruitment strategy. And part of that strategy is the attraction and sourcing piece – in other words how your employer brand can become a magnet for the best graduate talent in the market.

To be as informative as possible, we will be specifically shining the spotlight on the actual attraction component in this post and spinning off sourcing as its own critical process. After all, attracting and sourcing graduate talent are two distinct functions often requiring two very different approaches.

We are in unprecedented times when it comes to graduate recruitment, which is why it’s more important than ever for organisations in both the public and private sectors to shift away from the traditional ‘recruitment’ model of days gone by to more of a proactive acquisition approach particularly when it comes to graduate programs.

What exactly does this mean? More importantly, what does this mean for the role of the graduate recruitment team?

Often it comes down to adding value – to the organisation as a whole, as well as to candidate engagement and the overall graduate experience.

Bersin by Deloitte defines talent acquisition as “a strategic approach to identifying and attracting talent to efficiently and effectively meet dynamic business needs.” Recruitment is defined as “the tactical component of attracting and identifying job candidates.”

The difference comes down to connecting talent to business needs versus just addressing a momentary need.

Looking at your existing graduate program, are you simply recruiting (for a current need/gap) or are you strategically acquiring graduate talent (to future proof your workforce)?

Whilst there is certainly no right or wrong response here, these two approaches are certainly not synonymous.

Taking a helicopter view, you might want to consider the following:

• Traditional graduate recruitment process: Advertise --> Review bulk applications --> Reject/Select candidates --> Repeat
• Graduate talent acquisition process: Using Employer Brand and Employee Value Proposition to build graduate talent communities --> Creating referral programs and university relationships to nurture live talent pools --> Engage graduate community year-round through multi-channel communication strategy

Taking more of a deep dive, while the traditional graduate recruitment process is often reactive, short-term, tactical, perhaps even a quick fix focused on simply filling vacancies, a more proactive graduate acquisition process is typically more long-term and becomes an ongoing strategy to find future (people and/or technical) leaders for the organisation, as opposed to a set number of places in an entry-level program.

Having a solid employer brand is essential when it comes to attracting and acquiring graduate talent.

If you are part of the team responsible for your graduate program, you might want to ask yourself (and more importantly your graduate community):

• Does our employer brand and EVP truly appeal to the current graduate audience?
• Could it unintentionally force certain graduate talent to self-select out of the process?
• When did we last pressure test the graduate experience? How do we make our candidates feel?
• Has our branding, voice, offering and engagement adapted to the more recent changes in graduate job-seeking behavior? (For example, do we use Instagram to promote our EVP, day-in-the-life video blogs of the current cohort, sponsorship of experiential learning projects at Universities).

When it comes to attracting the best graduate talent in the market, the most successful acquisition strategies will focus on engagement by creating a positive graduate experience.

This starts long before applications open. Your graduate audience should be counting the days till applications open, not stumbling by pure coincidence on a job board.
With the war for top quality graduate talent raging pretty fiercely right now, it’s critical for those running graduate programs to leave a positive first (and lasting) impression on their candidates – that is, of course, if they want their top candidates to remain loyal and to not run straight into the arms of their competitors.

We mentioned previously that there is an increase in the number of offers being turned down or reneged, along with a rise in ghosting where graduates simply choose not to even show up on day one.

How much of an emphasis are you currently placing on creating a positive candidate experience for your potential graduate hires year round? Remember, this reflects directly on both your employer brand and employee value proposition.
Thinking of your current process, ask yourself:

• How long have been engaging our candidate community prior to applications opening?
• Do we proactively engage with our community before/during/after our campaigns?
• Is our attraction strategy designed with inclusivity in mind?
• Are we utilizing all (relevant) communication channels?
• Is our brand appealing and relevant in the current climate?
• Is our ‘voice’ heard in a noisy, competitive market?
• Are the best candidates potentially self-ejecting along the way?
• Do we offer candidates the chance to engage with our inspiring senior staff/technical experts?

You will never be accused of over-communicating with a graduate candidate – particularly when it comes to building awareness, maintaining engagement and developing brand loyalty.

Actively promoting your graduate program is undoubtedly one key element of your overall strategy. However, proactively sourcing potential talent is also a critical element but requiring a very different approach, which we will focus on shortly.

In the meantime, if you’re unsure on any of the above, or if you’re keen to understand how your graduate talent program stacks up to the market via our GP Diagnostic, or want to explore solutions, lets connect.