SNOOZE-INDUCING INFO PUTS GRADUATES OFF APPLYING, SAYS TOP SUPERMARKET BOSS
Do most firms’ graduate jobs websites send you to sleep? You’re not the only one. Employers looking to attract the best graduates must invest much more time (and cash) in explaining what their company is all about, including drastically improving the careers sections of their websites, the boss of one of the UK’s most popular graduate employers has suggested.
Having beaten Google in the latest Times Top 100 list of graduate employers, the supermarket chain Aldi has just won a top industry award for doing a great job of explaining to graduates what they’re all about, and what sort of graduates should apply to the Aldi graduate scheme. (They won Gold in the ‘Best Communication of Employer Brand to the External Audience’ category at the Employer Brand Management Awards for their graduate attraction campaign).
But the supermarket insisted it would not have been possible without significant investment – something few employers seem willing to acknowledge (witness the crummy careers sections you find on many big employers’ graduate recruitment websites, which give very little information or insight into the reality of the roles on offer, or what the employer is looking for).
Instead, Aldi really did their homework, conducting in-depth research across all levels of the business to develop an understanding of the skills and qualities required from candidates to achieve success. Their team then promote an accurate description of the challenges and demands of the role together with raising brand awareness and profiling the skills and attributes of the ideal candidate.
Supermarket Aldi thinks investing in their graduate website is money well spent
Finally, the supermarket made sure that the graduate section of their recruitment website was packed with useful content, including self-assessment tools and an interactive timeline of a year in the life of a graduate Area Manager. This content was promoted and via Aldi’s social media channels including Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Offering insight that many graduate employers should listen to, Aldi’s Regional Managing Director, Ruth Doyle, said:
“Developing a brand which is based largely on the culture of our business had enabled us to identify suitable candidates more effectively across the board.
“Aldi has invested significantly in creating an employer brand that is as transparent as possible, to reflect the culture and values that are so critical to our business, and we are pleased that our work has been recognised with this award.”
Graduate Fog agrees that big employers should work harder to help graduates understand what their company is all about, and what the jobs on offer are really like, day to day.
We also know that the best graduates are desperate for information about an employer, hunting high and low before they apply. Our “How to get a graduate job at…” Q&A series has been hugely popular with the brands who have taken part so far – “How to get a graduate job at EY” has attracted more than 9,000 views to date, with IBM and RBS‘s Q&As receiving more than 6,000 views each. But for many employers, this key information simply isn’t available anywhere, meaning many graduates waste their time on applications for jobs they aren’t right for, and many HR professionals waste their time reading them.
With many large firms demanding that graduates invest a huge amount of time and effort on their applications, Graduate Fog thinks the least they can do is offer the right information and tools to help you decide whether to apply, and how to do the best possible job on your application. Ultimately, helping you to get this right is good news for everyone.
* WHICH FIRMS HAVE A GREAT GRADUATE WEBSITE – AND WHOSE IS TERRIBLE?
Should employers spend more cash helping graduates on providing better information to graduates consdierign applying for their vacancies? Or is it up to graduates to work out for themselves whether a firm is right for them? What information and tools would you like to see on more firms’ graduate websites? Have your say below…
I must admit that, in view of reported discrimination, I have given Graduate Recruitment Schemes a miss….although issues such as age discrimination, IT employers being particularly bad (Forbes Magazine reported that Social Media Managers should be under 25, in addition to the age of 30 being an upper age limit), other issues such as an employer rejecting candidates from the Former Polytechnics (ie Mickey Mouse Universities) as opposed to giving graduates from the Russel Group Universities preference.
Some organisations are even adopting a “Blind Recruitment” protocol, with candidates being required to remove any information which could lead the identity of the candidate (such as Name, Age, Educatio History, Qualification Titles etc).