KEY POINTS:
A new website provides a one-stop shop for employers seeking university graduates and vice versa.
NZUniCareerHub is an easy site to use for job searching, says Victoria University commerce graduate Emily Davidson, who has landed a role at Telecom through the site.
"It was easy because I didn't have to randomly work through lists to find graduate roles. Other sites can take ages to sift through. It also was more specific about the areas of study employers were looking for."
She kept an eye on NZUniCareerHub through her final year of study, using it to also keep in touch with events and deadlines. "There is a graduate recruitment schedule that lists all the closing dates."
NZUniCareerHub has been set up by the University Careers Advisers of New Zealand (Ucanz) as a substantially upgraded version of jobs4grads, which involved four of New Zealand's eight universities. CareerHub covers seven; AUT, Auckland, Canterbury, Lincoln, Massey, Otago and Victoria.
Waikato University, which was involved in jobs4grads, decided not to participate in the new version.
The University says its decision was based on deciding where to allocate resources to most benefit their students.
"The previous site had a different cost structure and filled a different need. When jobs4grads was set up there wasn't the wealth of other on-line facilities there is now - and certainly companies whose core business is online recruitment offer a wide range of services for graduates and do so at a much cheaper costs than UniCareer hub," says Director of Communications Lisa Finucane.
Other large tertiary institutions offering degrees, such as Manukau Institute of Technology and Unitec, are also not involved.
Otago University Careers Advisory Service manager Mark Cumisky explains this is because the site is a university career advisers' project.
"There is potential to expand but, at the moment, it provides a facility through Ucanz that hasn't been available before."
Cumisky says employers using open job boards can end up with hundreds of unsuitable candidates, such as non-graduates who decide to apply for jobs that specifically request graduates.
"NZUniCareerHub gets around that kind of issue."
Students register, then view jobs on the central site and within their university's local site. The local sites also hold their career centre's resources, including job search advice, self-assessment, career fairs and graduate recruitment presentations, explains AUT Career Centre manager Nancy Dunlop.
The definition of graduates differs among the universities. A graduate is signed up for life at AUT, which offers certificate, diploma and degree qualifications. "Student/graduate records do get de-activated if they haven't been active with us for a significant period of time but we do re-activate if they ask us," says Dunlop.
Otago University talks of current and recent students being eligible.
" 'Recent' is flexible. My baseline is anyone who has left university, and not got their career going, should be able to access the site," says Cumisky.
Employers register on the central site, fill in a basic online template and list their vacancies to a nationwide pool of about 200,000 university students.
Then they choose which universities to advertise it with.
The disciplines are coded so only universities that offer the qualifications will be visible; Massey for veterinary science, all for business.
Universities then choose whether to accept the vacancy or not, says Dunlop.
"We look at each posting and check that it fits our profile."
Universities check the job is suitable for a graduate's first step into the workforce. "Mowing lawns wouldn't be acceptable unless it was one task within a turf management role or something like that."
Employers also advertise other information such as internships, holiday work, research projects and contract positions.
Employers cannot look through student details. "We are not recruitment companies. We don't choose candidates to put forward. What we do is encourage students to register with us on the site so that they are then notified when jobs come up," says Dunlop.
Cumisky describes the type of employers registering as "a smorgasbord", ranging from small organisations who only take a graduate every second year to large organisations that take a number annually.
When contacted by the Herald, the general consensus among employers registered on CareerHub was that it was extremely useful to have a targeted graduate recruitment site, although some found it harder to use than others.
Aside from their own website, South Island chartered accountants Polson-Higgs exclusively use NZUniCareerHub for graduate recruitment.
HR Adviser Shelley Beales says she initially only posted vacancies to South Island universities but now offers them to all the universities on the site. "Why not? There may be excellent candidates up north who are thinking of moving south."
She finds the site straightforward to use and more valuable than newspapers and noticeboards.
"We also use it to advertise events, such as their presentations at universities."
ASB senior recruitment consultant Belinda Fogg says the graduate one-stop shop concept is appealing and she finds it useful being able to target specific universities.
"When I'm looking for rural graduates, I just post to Massey and Lincoln because they're the only ones offering the qualification we're after. I think it is a bit odd that Waikato isnt part of it as we get good candidates from them," says Fogg.
www.nzunicareerhub.ac.nz
