What are graduates looking for in a role?

Graduate recruitment is one of the most important parts of any business. From foodie start-ups to major financial institutions, everyone needs a pipeline of fresh talent.

It is easier, cheaper, and much more rewarding to promote from inside than out, and having an established team that you know and trust allows for more productivity and a better workplace environment in general: no one wants to work somewhere where half of your team has one foot out the door.

It is proving ever more challenging to retain staff in graduate roles. The stigma surrounding job-hopping with aim of finding your true calling is growing less each year, and there is no doubt that this group has a much higher turnover rate than others. It is important for employers to know what attracts a grad to certain jobs or graduate roles, what keeps them in a role, and also why they might start looking for other opportunities.

Graduate Roles – Will They Stay On-board?

Over 50% of UK graduates leave university unsure of their future career. Almost 40% are still job-hunting after 6 months, and 25% are still unemployed after a year. Nearly 50% of grads end up working in roles that don’t require a degree. What do these facts tell us? For one, that lots of grads don’t know what to look for, or where to look for it, often because not all grads know what they want to do.

Also, that many grads favour jobs like bar work or temping rather than committing to a career they’re not even sure they want to pursue; indeed, student jobs can provide so much more than just some extra cash. In addition, once grads do finally begin a career-style position, they don’t have to hate their job to leave. They will be tempted by something only marginally better, or something that fits better into what they are looking for in the long term.

There are three main reasons why graduates would stay in graduate roles or leave for a better one:

1. Opportunities for advancement

Grads apply for roles where they can see a long-term future and the real prospect of development. You wouldn’t hire someone who couldn’t see themselves progressing internally in the future, so why wouldn’t you provide them with that opportunity?

This is why working at a start-up appeals to some for the rapid growth, while others find not all grads want to be entrepreneurs. Many companies advertise any new roles internally to add another string to this particular bow, allowing people to potentially change the focus of their career whilst remaining in the same company.

2. Organisational culture

Every organisation thinks that it has a great culture. Catch phrases like ‘work hard play hard’ and ‘relaxed and sociable’ are thrown around like candy on job adverts, but if you nail your colours to this particular mast you have to make sure that you deliver, especially since sociable grads are good for business.

The modern interview process is a two-way street, and grads will be checking everything out when they come in for a meeting. If they begin a new role and the environment is not at all what was advertised, things can go south very quickly.

3. Relationship with direct manager

This is one of the most important factors in people staying or leaving. If an employee has a manager they enjoy working for, and, more importantly, working with, they are much more likely to stay. Some might argue you should treat grads mean to keep them keen, but data collected by Graduate Career Australia showed that almost 9 out of 10 grads felt that their relationship with their manager was pivotal to their position.

If people of a certain team are dropping like flies, but others are going steady, odds are the specific culture of that team that is an issue.

How to Combat Staff Turnover with Effective Communication

As an employer, how do you combat these issues? The most important thing that any company should do is maintain and manage open lines of communication for its workforce. It doesn’t matter whether you are a 3-person start-up or a multinational conglomerate, if you want to retain your staff, you need to show them that you care about what they have to say.

Whether it’s an HR department, a weekly roundtable, or the knowledge that they can ask for 5 minutes with their manager, something needs to be in place. But take note: it’s all very well listening, but you’d better be prepared to put your money where your mouth is and act—and remember, even in tough times, businesses should consider if they should hire grads during a downturn to build for the future.

However, despite all this, there is a hard truth to face. No matter the effort you put in, grads are still likely to leave their graduate roles. The numbers will be lower and it won’t be every 3 months, but every now and then someone will move on, or a new hire won’t take quite as well as you’d hoped. But rather than hoping vainly for this not to apply to your company, there are things you can do to help minimise the pain by 2 ways:

1. Make sure you ask why they are leaving

If a grad is leaving after more than 18 months, you can assume the culture or their manager wasn’t the primary reason. But if someone is leaving after 3 months, it is even more important to know why.

To avoid this early on, make sure you use the one question to ask every grad at interview to ensure a true fit. Sometimes the fit just isn’t there, and the fault is no one’s. If the issue is the culture or the manager, and this isn’t the first time it’s come up, that is a red flag for you as an employer to do something about it.

2. Make sure you use a recruiter that works well with you

Unless you have an amazing organic candidate flow, odds are you will be using recruiters. Consider which ones have provided good candidates who know how to nail a phone interview and understand that writing is a unique weapon in their arsenal.

Whittle down your PSL and even consider giving a recruiter exclusivity for your roles. This enables a better ad campaign and a more streamlined HR process as a whole, as well as the possibility of assessment centres, which generally increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the process.

Incentivising Loyalty: Balancing Competitive Pay with Career Growth

There is of course, an elephant in the room, the fourth reason the graduates leave a role: More money. It is arguably the most common reason grads move on from a role. If this is the case, it is important that you handle it correctly. If someone offers a figure you can’t match, there isn’t a huge amount you can do.

At the very least, you have provided that employee with a good working environment and enabled them to secure other graduate roles. In today’s increasingly networked age, word will spread of the positive environment you provide. The main thing to do is avoid getting a reputation for being a ‘stepping stone’—remind them that while they don't need to be perfect, grads need to be solid, not spectacular to succeed with you.

Make sure that you make every effort to help good grads make the decision to stay. Whether that is a small pay rise every now and then or tracking them for a promotion and an increase in responsibility, give them a reason to not want to go.

In the case of what graduates want in a job, it is the same as with most issues: the simplest answers are the most effective. If you as an employer make a real effort to listen to your employees, help them develop (perhaps by using a complete bar staff training guide for those in service roles), and manage them well, people will want to come and work for you and, more importantly, will want to keep it that way.

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Whether you are looking to find staff or are ready to find work, we are here to help. For more information, please contact us today.

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