Employers want more graduates

Companies are no longer sitting back and waiting for graduates to call them

University graduates are hot property. With a tight labour market, an aging workforce and an increasing need for technological skills, employers are coming up with ingenious and inviting graduate recruitment programmes to get in early and hand pick the best people for their companies.

Recently Auckland University hosted 43 employer stalls at what it says is the most successful careers fair it has had. The students turned up, too, with 3200 people through the gates compared to 2500 the year before.

"I think what we are finding is that employers are looking for a combination approach; they know that they have to be more creative in how they try and get access to students. They know just going to one careers fair a year is not going to do it," says David Trought, director, Auckland University Careers Centre.

Trought says that employers are also becoming more involved in the university by having staff that conduct lectures or by offering financial support to faculties that they are interested in."

However, Trought warns that despite the labour market being tight, graduates cannot afford to be complacent.

"If somebody's application and interview technique aren't up to it, they're just not going to get a job and businesses will carry those vacancies. People have still got to cut the mustard. That's still pretty difficult and it's not getting any easier."

Trought says that businesses not only have to be smarter to attract employees, but also to retain them.

"I think the contract between employers and employees has been pretty much renegotiated these days and they've got to keep opportunities coming for their employees to develop."

Telstraclear has been running a graduate recruitment programme for three years, this year recruiting 14 graduates working in a range of different areas within the company. The package for graduates is inviting and includes support for further education and an extensive training programme, a new start rebate of $1000 for 'wardrobe upgrades' or relocating, and a $100-a-month rebate on TelstraClear products and services. Also included is medical insurance, life and salary continuance insurance and funding for sports.

Megan Tomkies, senior human resources consultant, says that the programme ensures Telstraclear gets the best people.

"We aren't filling a quota, but looking at the quality of the candidates, the sorts of roles that we can put them in to so that they can be empowered to do a great job and add value within the first year. I actually think that Telstraclear has a responsibility to the people on the graduate programme to provide a really good environment to transition them from academic to working life."

Tomkies says this year's programme has been hugely successful. "What we are seeing in the graduates already and the feedback coming back from the managers here is that the graduates are really starting to develop themselves as professionals and that comes from having a real job with real responsibilities and real accountabilities from the outset as opposed to a rotational programme where they may spend three months in different positions."

Some companies do not wait to hire graduates, preferring rather to nab them while they are still at university. Transpower is one of them. It's recruitment programme targets electrical and mechanical engineers at Auckland and Canterbury Universities from as early as their second year of study. Budding engineers selected by the company have their fees paid for in return for summer holiday work with Transpower (which the students are obliged to carry out) and are assured a full time job with the company upon graduation. There is no obligation for the graduating students to remain with Transpower once they have finished their degree.

Transpower started its graduate recruitment programme in 2001 with the help of consultant Peter Browne.

"It was realised that the average age of the engineers in the company was increasing. In terms of succession planning it has been quite successful in driving down that age profile. The programme has helped offset a looming shortage of engineers that specialise in power systems.

"The Universities of Auckland and Canterbury were getting a bit concerned with the lack of people taking power systems. There was almost the implied threat there that if in fact there was no interest in it then the universities would actually close those courses down." Despite being free to do as they choose once they leave university, Transpower has enjoyed significant loyalty from the graduating engineers.

"We've lost the odd one but there's been reasons for that. We haven't had anyone fall by the wayside [after they'd left university]. They've always looked forward to a job in Transpower. It's interesting that, over the years, since it's been running, while some recruits have left us, they have stayed in the industry.

"Transpower looks for a mix of personality, leadership skills and outside interests in the undergraduates they select for the programme.

"We want a balanced person to come into this company, so it's not just what you might call nerds who have buckled down to get good grades - we are really interested what they do outside."