As youth unemployment nears one million is it time for government intervention?

The latest unemployment figures make unpleasant reading – a rise of 74,000 between June and August. Included in the figures are almost one million young people, aged 16-24, currently out of work.

Graduates are not exempt from the dole queue. To complete your degree and then find it impossible to kick-start your career is frustrating to start with and then the frustration turns into depression as time marches on.

It’s not the graduates’ fault. Whenever the economy dips, jobs become more scarce and competitive and those trying to break into the world of work are at a disadvantage. They lack the experience and contacts of people already in work and the longer the economy struggles to recover, the less people in work are prepared or able to move on.

The country faced similar challenges in the 80’s and 90’s. Fortunately when we did eventually come out of recession, the jobs market  grew and sucked in many of those who had not been able to get on to the career ladder. Of course, there were long-term casualties. Some people who lost the confidence to apply for jobs; others adapted to alternative life styles. I’m not comfortable with the phrase ‘lost generation’ but I do recognise the dangers that fewer jobs and growing unemployment levels can bring to individuals and communities.

The shame is that real talent is going to waste. None of us, least of all employers, should assume that those who graduates in 2011 and have yet to find work are lazy, lacking in talent or both! Gaps on CVs and application forms might quite easily be explained if only recruiters were prepared to listen.

In the run up to the 2010 general election, AGR launched an election manifesto. In it we called for the government to introduce tax breaks to incentivise businesses, especially SMEs, to recruit graduates. At the time the media focused on other elements of the manifesto such as our take on tuition fees. In the past few days however it is a call that others have taken up. Let us hope that the powers that be take notice.

On an entirely different tack, I have just finished reading the draft of a report based on research into ‘Global Graduates for Global Leaders’ which AGR is funding along with CIHE and CFE (the research partner). It makes for fascinating reading and I am sure that when the report is signed off and circulated to all AGR members they will agree.

Which reminds me – together with other graduate recruiter associations across the globe, AGR is planning a conference for those employers who operate global recruitment and development programmes. The event will take place in London on 3^rd and 4^th May 2012. The venue is about to be confirmed and a small international advisory group is being set up to set the agenda for the two days. It’s the second such event (the first was inDallas last May and attracted more than 100 delegates). Details of the event will be launched shortly so watch this space. If you have ideas of topics you would like to see covered then let me know. Equally, if you feel your business might have something to contribute to the event, I’d be delighted to hear from you. (carl@agr.org.uk ).

It’s exam results time!

Here’s a warning – it’s the silly season again! That time of year when the media are desperately searching for stories to make the news. Fortunately for them, August brings a spate of examination results beginning today with the Scottish Highers. Later in the month we will see the release of GCSE and A level results. It is almost certain that exam passes will hit an all-time high.

Today’s headlines focused on students receiving their exam results a day early if they requested them to be delivered by text! An embarrassing blunder which brought an apology from the Scottish Qualifications Authority which was at pains to say no-one was advantaged or disadvantaged by the mistake. At least the error shifted the focus from the usual headline when exam results improve – claims that exams are not what they used to be.

This has been a consistent theme for the past decade or so and while there may well be evidence to back up the claims, it is hardly the students’ fault. Yet they must feel miffed that their efforts are routinely devalued by a sceptical media. Imagine handing an Olympic gold medal to an athlete at the same time as pointing out that if it wasn’t for improved training techniques they would probably not have run as fast as an athlete twenty years ago! You might find the medal attached to a tender part of your anatomy.

Why do we have to have this annual rubbishing of students’ academic achievements? Are the exam boards and politicians to blame for drawing attention to it? Is society so cynical that we have to believe that things can’t be as good as they seem? Whatever, the reason, its time to draw breath and let the dust settle on student celebrations before we charge in with accusations of ‘dumbing down’.

As a parent I am in a strong position to compare the scholastic efforts of my children to my own and I can categorically say that they worked harder than I ever did; studied more subjects; had more homework; took more exams from SATS to GCSEs, from AS levels to A levels and then had to compete for places at university with no certainty that even with excellent grades they could get on to the course they desired.

Pressure on today’s students is higher than at any time in the past. Let’s just pull back from our intense regard for standards for the remainder of this month and take the exam results for what they are – a measure of what each individual student has achieved – and celebrate. You never know, we might even feel better for it.

 

WOULD YOU RECOGNISE YOUR CEO?

A few weeks ago I attended the 18^th Breakfast News event organised by TARGETJobs sponsored by Work and in association with AGR.

I have yet to miss one of these breakfasts, so I am well placed to say that this was one of the best yet. Not because of the food, although it was very good, but because the agenda was as fresh as the orange juice that Gary Rhodes served up.

My presentation focused on “How important are graduates to business leaders?” Over the past three weeks we surveyed AGR members with a series of questions aimed at exploring this somewhat neglected aspect of the graduate recruitment function.

Against a backcloth of 5 years of expansion in graduate vacancies, despite the uncertain and challenging economic environment,  two thirds of AGR members reported that their business leaders have either a great deal, or a fair level, of involvement with graduate recruitment. That involvement was at its highest with regards to determining targets and budgets and participating in the selection process and development programmes. There was also a healthy interest in the return on investment.

In a majority of businesses graduate recruitment was seen as a route to leadership and a significant minority saw it as a prime outcome of the development process. It was estimated that 3 in 4 leaders are themselves graduates.

Perhaps the most useful statistics related to the length of time it takes a graduate to reach positions of responsibility. Bearing in mind Gen Y’s predilection for progressing quickly at work, the responses were fascinating and provide a valuable benchmark against which to measure you own organisation’s performance. For example, the first level of responsibility is working autonomously (16 months on average) followed by managing projects. The report also includes timescales for managing people and managing budgets. Compared to my early years at work when ‘sitting next to Nelly’ and observing how to do the job could last for 6 months or more, these timescales are impressive but I doubt that high-flying graduates will see it that way.

The survey also covered the value of graduates to organisations. Some interesting data emerged here though not all of it positive. It seems that too many businesses still don’t have processes in place to measure the ROI. An element of ROI has to be retention rates and again, half of the respondents did not know how long graduates stay with them. That’s not quite the same as saying that no-one in the business knows but those recruiters who could provide an accurate answer are clearly in a stronger position to measure the true value of graduates.

To be effective at work in this day and age you need to be able to develop working relationships with colleagues at all levels including top management. The last section of the survey explored how well the graduate recruiter related to their CEO. While the vast majority would be happy to ask their CEO to take part in recruitment/development activities, only a third would buy them a drink and one in twenty would not recognise their top boss if they bumped into them!

AGR members will be able to access the full survey report for free shortly on the AGR website.

 Carl Gilleard, Chief Executive (who would be delighted to accept a free drink from a member of staff!)

Question Time at the House of Commons

Getting into the Houses of Parliament these days is akin to boarding a transatlantic flight – security is tight and queuing is the norm. I had to line up with a group of young, extremely excited and noisy school children. Not the best preparation for giving evidence to the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee.

Hardly surprising, the school children were not headed for Committee Room 16. They were greeted by their constituency MP to be taken on a tour of the magnificentPalaceofWestminster.

Select committees are an important feature of parliamentary life. This was my second summons, the first being a few years ago before a similar committee but with an entirely different make-up. A clear sign that we have had an election and change of government.

My fellow panellists were Oliver Tant, Head of Audit, KPMG and Matthew Jaffa, Deputy Head of Policy, Federation of Small Businesses and the Committee’s enquiry was into The Future of Higher Education.

The session lasted 75 minutes and the MPs fired a whole series of questions at us ranging from what are employability skills and how can graduates obtain them to whether degree classifications are a benchmark to use in recruiting graduates?

Ironically, it was the first and shortest question that provided the most food for thought. What are universities for?

I recently came across a quote from USeducator Harlan Cleveland which I felt summed up the dilemma of HE.  “The outsiders want students trained for their first job and the academic insiders want the students educated for 50 years of self fulfilment. The trouble is that students want both.” I’m with the students on that one!

The friction between short and long term goals, between training and education, between vocational and general divides us, claimsCleveland. I think his analysis fits theUKhigher education scene every bit as much as in theUnited States.

On the question of employability and skills for graduates, I came across another fabulous quote, this time in a recent issue of the THES. It is attributed to Professor Cathy Davidson of DukesUniversityin the USA. She wrote, “We continue to prepare students as if their career path were linear, definite, specialised and predictable. We are making them experts in obsolescence. We are doing a good job of training them for the 20^th century.” How good is that?

Of course, some skills of the 20^th century are still very much in demand but as someone who reckons that today’s graduates will have several careers (not jobs) in their working lives, I believe we should be giving more attention to providing talented young people with an education that encourages them to develop skills that will enable them to ride the waves of change that are becoming more frequent and more powerful.

Our time in front of the Committee went quickly but as we were starting to think about lunch there came another seemingly straightforward yet loaded question, “What would you like to see in the White Paper?” We have moved a distance from the recommendations of the Browne Review, published just a few short months ago. The White Paper is imminent and it will be fascinating to see just how much of Browne has survived. We should not have to wait for long – June is the latest prediction.

Back to work after a holiday!

Have you noticed how quickly a suntan disappears once you get back to work? After returning from a blissful week’s relaxation on the dramatically landscaped island of Santorini, I swear I could see the skin returning to its usual pale pallor as I grappled with a backlog of emails almost as long as the queue to get through passport control at Birmingham airport.

As ever there was no time to gradually immerse myself into work mode. A day in and I found myself speaking at a HEPI conference on the highly topical theme of “The Student Experience: Rising costs – Raising Expectations”.  I was asked to contribute to a session focusing on how students gain a great deal from their HEI. This, as I suggested to the audience, will be one of the  key challenges facing universities under the new finance arrangements with students paying significantly more for their studies.  I was quick to point out that AGR supported the notion of students contributing more to the cost of their learning in the belief that it would inevitably raise their expectations (and their parents) which in turn would drive up standards and improve quality in teaching and learning.

I am not sure to what extent I convinced my audience of university managers but listening to other contributors, especially legal experts, one thing is for certain – HE is going to change out of all recognition over the next few years although I doubt that anyone yet knows exactly how it will change. Even looking forward just 12 months to when the new fees are introduced, there seems to be great uncertainty about the impact on participation rates.

Which neatly brings me to this week’s main challenge. Today I am attending the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee at the House of Commons to give oral evidence to the Committee’s enquiry into The Future of Higher Education. The link to the BIS Select Committee’s homepage is http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/business-innovation-and-skills/inquiries/the-future-of-higher-education/.

The uncertainty I referred to above makes the task of answering parliamentary questions that much more difficult. However, as important stakeholders in higher education there is a duty on employers to present clear expressions of the way forward for the sector. It is pleasing that the Committee values AGR’s contribution to the debate and I will share the experience with you in my next blog.

Another indicator of how challenging shaping the future of higher education is can be gleaned from the delay in the long awaited publication of the Government’s White Paper which is now expected to be published in the summer.

When I am not attending high profile events, together with the rest of the AGR team I am grappling with the important detail of putting on this year’s annual conference which is now only 7 weeks away! I know you would expect me to say this but I genuinely believe that our conference planning committee has put together an excellent programme this year. Take a look online at www.cceventslive.com/agrdel2011. Almost 300 people have already registered. Do you really want to miss out on the graduate recruiters/developers event of the year?

Reflections on Graduate Development in an Age of Austerity

As the dust settles on another successful AGR graduate development conference I thought it useful to reflect on the event.

Firstly, I am so pleased that the association decided to hold a separate development event because each year we attract a sea of new faces as well as a number of more familiar ones. There is clearly an appetite for networking among those of our members responsible for developing graduate talent within the businesses.

Our opening keynote speaker, Jim Burrell, Vice President at Enterprise Rent-a-Car (a perfect case study in how a graduate can reach the top of an organisation) made a powerful statement when he said that the investment they made in training and development was a massive differentiator for the business and gave them a massive advantage over their competitors.

Jim’s remarks tie in with a recent PricewaterhouseCoopers global survey of some 1200 CEOs which found that talent management was now top of their business agendas, overtaking risk management and investment. A large majority of chief officers plan to change their management strategies over the next year. A number of challenges were identified including improving skills, greater use of non-financial incentives and the recruitment and development of younger staff.

A major challenge and opportunity for graduate developers in the current climate is to convince senior managers that training and development is indeed a key differentiator in building the competitive edge. To be convincing requires three requirements – being bold, being persuasive and providing evidence. As someone who has in the past had to convince head teachers to change their practice, I found that pointing to examples of good practice at other schools generally did the trick. Hopefully, our delegates were able to collect ammunition in best practice to leverage change back at the ranch.

There was more evidence of businesses struggling to find ways of measuring the return on investment in graduate development. This has been a long standing issue. We have tried various approaches to assist our members which proved to be too sophisticated or too expensive. Looking through the feedback forms on last Friday’s event it seems we have still to find a satisfactory solution so we are plan to return to the challenge by forming a small working group of members to explore the feasibility of developing a simple ROI toolkit that members can adapt for use in their own organisations. Whatever the team come up with, it will require businesses to collect accurate key information sets and I suspect that that will in itself be quite a challenge for some of us.

A late change to our programme turned out to be master stroke. Peter Hawkins of Windmills fame, spent 30 all action minutes to help us review what we want from our lives and how we can achieve it. Pete reminds us that life is finite and we only get one shot at it. The theme of ‘No Regrets on Sunday’ says it all. The session can easily be applied to graduate development programmes but the main reason for including it on our agenda was to help graduate developers think about their own development – now there’s a novelty!

The final learning point for me was around the retention of graduate talent. With signs that the jobs market is improving, businesses will be holding their breath that they can keep the graduates they have invested so much time, effort and money in. The truth is that if you don’t invest in your graduates you will surely lose them and if you do, you might! Jim Burrell made a telling point when he emphasised that developing graduate talent during austere times was crucial to ensure businesses retained their talent when the economy improves.

I end by congratulating the three winners of the AGR Graduate Development Awards for their outstanding submissions: They are:

Graduate Induction: Grant Thornton

Strategic Alignment: Baker & McKenzie

Graduate Development Preparation in Higher Education: University of Nottingham

The judging panel took the brave decision not to make awards in a couple of categories – Career Management and Supplier Contribution – as they felt there were too few entries of the required standard to select winners. The AGR Awards are a recognition, above all else, of excellence, and the judges were correct not to make awards for the sake of it. Hopefully, in 2012 there will be more interest in making submissions for these two important categories. I also hope that we will be able to showcase the winners at future master classes.

Carl Gilleard, Chief Executive

31 March 2011

 

Jim Burrell - Enterprise Rent-A-Car

 

Simon Reichwald presenting award to Baker & McKenzie

Pete Hawkins