Targeting the best men and women for the jobs
Companies are having to refine their recruitment techniques in an increasingly competitive market, writes Roland Gribben
Graduate recruitment may assume a new dimension if suggestions for adopting The Apprentice format are taken up. A group of university students and graduates believe employers would gain a better insight into the qualities of potential recruits if they used the team working techniques employed in the controversial BBC TV programme.
Employers are divided on its merits. Sir Digby Jones, former CBI director general, feels it shows business in a bad light. But companies are already heavily engaged in refining recruitment techniques and packages to increase their appeal in a more competitive market.
IBM UK, the one-time computer giant and now a broadly-based IT and communications group, is just one of them, mixing a change in business image with recruitment campaigns that maintain its appeal to students. The company's achievements last night earned it the title of graduate employer of the year in the National Graduate Recruitment Awards organised by Target, the career specialist publisher.
Students, voting online, gave IBM top billing for a recruitment package that starts before graduates are invited to apply for jobs and includes tailored training and development programmes closely tied to graduate schemes, along with a detailed performance monitoring process.
Training plans are reviewed every three months. The team managing graduates is encouraged to develop close relationships with the line managers supervising the recruits.
The IBM approach was mirrored by the winners of other categories in the comprehensive awards. Pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline was best in class in the engineering and science list Goldman Sachs carried off the banking and investment award. Marks & Spencer was judged best retailing recruiter.
To read this the rest of this article, please click here. This will open a new browser. This article was brought to you by http://www.telegraph.co.uk/
