Employment elusive for IT graduates

New IT graduates have a lot to gain if they are accepted into the graduate recruitment programme of an IT employer or a corporate organisation with an IT team. Along with job security, a generous starting salary and ongoing career development, successful applicants can finally add the elusive phrase 'previous experience' to their CVs and enjoy individualised training and mentoring from an employer keen to retain them. After the rigours and uncertainty of tertiary life, the security and pampering must be bliss.

But employers also have a lot to gain, says Mark Rees, HR director for IT services firm EDS New Zealand. Rees says the graduate recruitment market is beneficial to tap into and EDS has been impressed with the calibre of graduates it has employed since launching a graduate recruitment programme last year.

"We rate [new graduates] very highly; they're keen to learn and fit in, they bring no baggage and they're not set in their ways" says Rees.

However, the IT graduate recruitment programmes of most New Zealand employers are too small, say graduates, recruitment specialists and tertiary teachers. Aside from EDS, which plans to offer around 70 new graduates an IT position in 2006, most internationally-based IT employers offer less than 25 annual positions in New Zealand, despite receiving hundreds of applications.

Other-sector employers including Fonterra, Solid Energy and government departments also have limited IT graduate recruitment positions available, while smaller IT employers find graduate programmes either too expensive or pointless to maintain because the best applicants are lost to bigger IT firms with stronger employment brands and flashier job benefits. Local IT integrator Synergy is one example of a smaller IT employer that seems to have temporarily given up. "Synergy is not running its graduate programme this year due to a change in the current business environment" says its website.

It's worth examining then, how EDS which employs 2400 IT staff in New Zealand, can offer more than three times the graduate recruitment positions of Telecom and Datacom, which employ 2250 and 1800 IT staff respectively. What is EDS' secret - and can the size and structure of its graduate recruitment programme provide a model for other employers to follow?

Rees says while national IT skills shortages drove EDS to embark on its current ambitious graduate programme, it did look before it leapt.

"It was always intended as a trial in the applications area that we would broaden it out in 2006 if it was successful. It has proved very successful and we now have leaders [in the business] asking for more grads than we can deliver," says Rees.

Starting next year, EDS has broken its programme into two choices - a rotational course that places recruits in every area of the business over the course of a year, or a dedicated course that puts them into a specific role where they are given access to technology, mentors and tools that will help them build a specialised IT career. Whichever course recruits choose remuneration reviews are provided at regular intervals and employment is permanent.

Rees thinks other IT employers are put off extending their graduate programmes by the perception that graduate recruitment takes too long and costs too much to get results, but he says EDS has found these to be non-issues. EDS hopes graduates on the programme will stay at least two years and the success of the programme will be partly measured by increased retention - an important goal, says Rees.

"We understand that young people want to travel and while we're happy to help them into jobs with our subsidiaries overseas if possible, when they come back we hope they will consider working for us," he says.

EDS' competitors may grumble that its graduate recruitment programme is still young and sustainability is unproven. However with most IT firms dependant on people resources for performance, employers who extend their graduate recruitment programmes in the short term are likely to enjoy the competitive benefits of recruiting more of the best candidates.

To be accepted

* Get the highest tertiary grades possible - competition is fierce.

* Never under-estimate the importance of individuality and interpersonal skills - innovative thinkers with talent and top-notch communication skills are sought.

* Be prepared for an extensive screening process - graduate recruitment programmes are expensive and employers are careful.

* Most application periods close early in the year preceding the intake, but some organisations have several intakes.