TARGETjobs breakfast news, London, UK, 23 September 2009

Citation

Harrison, N. (2010), "TARGETjobs breakfast news, London, UK, 23 September 2009", Strategic HR Review, Vol. 9 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/shr.2010.37209bab.011

TARGETjobs breakfast news, London, UK, 23 September 2009

Article Type: Resources From: Strategic HR Review, Volume 9, Issue 2

Neil HarrisonNeil Harrison is head of research and planning at TMP Worldwide.

Graduate recruiters from a range of sectors packed into Sartoria in central London for the latest TARGETjobs breakfast news event, sponsored by TMP Worldwide and in association with the UK’s Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR). On the agenda was a review of the current economic climate, its impact on the graduate recruitment market and how students are responding to it.

Dramatic developments in graduate recruitment

Kicking off the event was the AGR’s chairman Carl Gilleard who gave an overview of the graduate recruitment marketplace. He outlined dramatic developments in the graduate recruitment market since June, which included a 25 percent fall in the number of graduate jobs in 2009, the largest drop since the recession of 1991. Demonstrating the impact of this was the significant statistic that there are now 49 applicants for every graduate role.

Gilleard went on to question BT’s supposed announcement about withdrawing its graduate program and whether this would result in other companies following suit. However, he stated that although some organizations were planning to reduce their graduate intake, many confirmed they would still be hiring. In fact, Sainsburys has reported a 30 percent increase in its graduate recruitment and PwC highlighted its commitment to the graduate market by recruiting the same number in 2009 as it did in 2008.

Next up was Bryan Finn from Business Economics Ltd, providing the latest macro economic outlook, which was reasonably positive although there were flickers of doubt as to the strength and sustainability of the UK’s recovery. While some figures showed signs of improvement, the real issue is still consumer confidence, which has yet to fully return.

Students favour social networking

Neil Harrison, head of research and planning at TMP Worldwide, then reported on the findings from TMP’s latest student research. The research explored students’ views on employers using social networking for recruitment. He revealed that 79 percent of students think social networking sites such as Facebook are key to employers engaging with them and 42 percent think it is the ideal medium to convey an employer brand. However, Harrison dealt a warning to employers as it was very clear from students’ responses that there is a difference between employers engaging with potential candidates via these sites and “selling” jobs to them.

The research highlighted that social media sites are the perfect way for students to find out about an organization’s culture, values and what it is like to really work there through conversations with current employees. Conversely, Harrison warned that students’ biggest fear is that an employer presence on social networks will diminish their sense of expression.

Businesses cannot underestimate the power of social media and the key to using it effectively is to capitalize on its power to brand build and engage with undergraduates, rather than “sell” jobs. Harrison closed the research findings stating that social networking sets expectations for undergraduates, and as an employer these expectations must be fulfilled during selection, induction and employment.

A cautious outlook

Ending the session was Carl Gilleard, who once again took to the stage to give a snapshot of the latest graduate recruiter confidence levels, taken from feedback from around 100 AGR members. While the general atmosphere was a little more positive than at the previous breakfast news event earlier in 2009, it was felt that there is still a long way to go before recruiters feel optimistic about the future of their business again.