Competition for the best and brightest graduates is increasingly strong in a tight labour market. Karalyn Brown examines how Deloitte, BlueScope Steel and Visy stay one step ahead of their competition in attracting the most talented graduates
Competition for the best and brightest graduates is increasingly strong in a tight labour market. Karalyn Brown examines how Deloitte, BlueScope Steel and Visy stay one step ahead of their competition in attracting the most talented graduates
It’s a tough market for both graduate recruiters and graduates themselves at present. The 2005 Australasian Graduate Recruitment Benchmarking study, commissioned by the Australian Association of Graduate Employers, revealed an expected 17 per cent increase in overall graduate intake in 2005, compared to 2004.
The study also revealed employers are spending more time planning and budgeting for recruitment drives and devoting more time over longer periods to promotional activities.
Alec Bashinsky, national director of people and performance for Deloitte, Visy’s general manager of human resources, George Haggar and BlueScope Steel’s recruitment and organisational development advisor, Diana Naumoska, have recently set up or revamped their graduate recruitment programs. They are responding in different ways to challenges that graduate recruitment presents.
What they offer
As a professional services provider, Deloitte’s list of services covers commerce, economics, business and law. Twelve months ago Bashinsky set up D.Academy, a three year curriculum to support graduate growth and development. He describes D.Academy as “a three year blended learning approach”. Beyond technical training, graduates participate in business skills development, networking, breakfasts, a mentoring and peer support program and e-learning.
Packaging and recycling specialist Visy, established its current graduate program two years ago. It recruits electrical and mechanical engineers and rotates them through roles in its pulp and paper mills, providing graduates with role and location diversity. Visy also employs graduates in support functions such as marketing, finance, logistics and HR.
BlueScope Steel recruits graduate engineers from a variety of backgrounds. Like Visy, it hires graduates into functional support roles such as accounting, IT, finance, HR, logistics and supply. BlueScope Steel’s graduates are recruited into operational roles and undertake formal training designed to provide them with fundamental leadership competencies. They are offered additional support through mentoring and peer partner programs.
How do they promote themselves?
All three organisations agree that communicating benefits offered to graduates is important.
For Visy, it’s about support, history and growth. “We try to sell the level of ownership and support that comes from joining Visy –that graduates are not thrown in at the deep end,” says Haggar. Visy invests in new plants and facilities, which helps in providing graduates with a variety of projects.
Naumoska believes BlueScope Steel’s success as a stand-alone company following its de-merger from BHP Billiton is a selling point for graduates. She highlights the company’s growing global presence, with operations throughout Australia, New Zealand, Asia and North America.
Bashinsky sees the D.Academy program as significantly different from the offerings of competing consulting firms. “It’s a major differentiator in recruiting graduates – it demonstrates what’s there for them.”
All three organisations use a variety of means to attract graduates. Visy focuses more on promotion in specific universities as one tactic, but Haggar acknowledges the difficulty of navigating the university system as an outsider. “We engaged a professional in the educational sector to advise the business on the calibre of candidates and the nature of the education the university provides – particularly engineering,” Haggar says. “Our advisor lets us know what particular streams of study are of interest.”
Visy also advertises its benefits online and in print, particularly in career lift-outs in Sydney and Melbourne.
BlueScope Steel visits careers fairs and builds links with universities. “We have strong relationships with the University of Wollongong, the University of NSW and Monash University.” It advertises in graduate publications and personalises the experiences of its graduates using profiles on its websites.
Casting the net early and wide
Deloitte recruits undergraduates for its summer vacancies. For Bashinsky, the benefits are twofold. “We expose them to client work, blended learning … it gives them the opportunity to research a decision regarding their profession and an idea of where they would like to specialise,” he says. “It gives us the opportunity to identify talented students.”
Along with advertising on posters around the universities, in student publications and with the CPA and CA programs, Deloitte visits many universities quarterly. It invites undergraduates to functions and communicates with them regularly. Bashinsky underlines the importance of keeping in contact with students – something that can’t be achieved with a single end of year presentation.
Visy offers third year engineering students a ‘sandwich program’ where they work on various projects. “It’s a great source of opportunities for students to come in and feel our culture, and a good way to source talent,” says Haggar.
Recruitment and the candidate shortage
All three organisations are feeling the candidate shortage. Bashinsky and Naumoska note the generation Y change in undergraduate expectations and behaviour.
Haggar believes graduates are becoming more savvy. “We need to be open and clear about what we offer graduates,” he says. “Graduates search for companies, just as companies search for graduates.”
One associated challenge is keeping graduates engaged in the recruitment process, particularly when that process is stringent and lengthy.
Graduate candidates apply online for positions within Visy. Last year it used an outsourced recruitment centre to process a shortlist and will do the same this year. Haggar says its important to provide the recruitment centre with a detailed brief to shortlist effectively.
Visy interviews select applicants who have through the recruitment centre. “This phase needs to be tight,” says Haggar. “Graduates are looking to see the recruitment process streamlined and [want] honest feedback. They are quick and eager to transition. It’s a critical time for them and their careers.”
Similarly, Naumoska believes timing is critical. BlueScope’s applicants apply online, undergo ability testing, behavioural interviews and participate in a site visit. Naumoska stresses the importance of meeting recruitment deadlines particularly when “everyone is out there at the same time”.
Deloitte employs an online pre-screening process, and selected candidates then undertake assessments, a group activity and finish with a behavioural interview. Bashinsky says it can be a tough call to keep them engaged. “Let [candidates] know where they are at as part of the process,”he advises. “Do lots of talking about the firm.”
Effectiveness and ROI
Visy, Deloitte and BlueScope Steel see their graduate programs as part of their whole recruitment process.
Visy’s current graduate program is too new to effectively measure its return on investment. But Haggar regards the program as an essential contribution to the company’s future skill base. “[Measurement of] retention is not an emphasis of the program,” says Haggar. “With the skills shortage our focus is on getting future talent into the business.”
To assess the program’s effectiveness Haggar gathers graduates together regularly. “Every three or four months we have a development tracking mechanism to share experiences” allowing a “health check beyond performance management”, he says.
Graduate recruitment has been a long-term practice for Deloitte. Bashinsky says the firm’s previous program of visiting the Gold Coast for three days of networking was “not delivering. We had average feedback from what was happening previously.” This assisted him in building the business case for D.Academy.
“It’s early days of running it but feedback has been positive,” says Bashinsky. “For example, for a business writing skills course, we look at overall response from participants and partners. Feedback is that it is relevant to the business.”
Bashinsky notes the effectiveness of summer vacation hire with 60 per cent of future graduates recruited from the program.
Naumoska believes it’s too early for BlueScope Steel to fully measure the impact of their current program. Similar to Haggar, she regards graduate recruitment and development as critical in securing the company’s future leadership and talent pipelines. She regularly receives feedback that graduates are satisfied.
The graduate challenges
The three companies have similar insights to share. Naumoska recommends that organisations understand their unique qualities so they are able to communicate these effectively. Similarly, Visy and Deloitte have cascaded their values throughout the organisation and use them for recruiting. For Visy one challenge is to ensure the uniqueness of the organisation is portrayed accurately and positively. One way to do this is to retain some control. “Advertising and initial university visits are done by Visy,” says Haggar. “It’s hands on at the start, outsource the middle and hands on at the end.”
Bashinsky also emphasises control over the communication. He stresses the need to have the right people in front of undergraduates at career days. “No point in having a partner with poor communication skills saying this is the way I did it … I started by photocopying.”
