Selecting Graduates

Whatever your business, getting the right person for the job is critical to success.

With 44% of people under 30 entering Higher Education, there’s an increasing pool of graduate talent to tap in to.

Graduates bring the flexibility, creativity, motivation and skills that a business needs to stay competitive and dynamic.

These skills are vital to all sectors. Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are increasingly looking to graduates to help drive their business forward.

If you're recruiting and employing a graduate, it’s important to plan ahead and consider how you will keep them interested and motivated. Graduates will expect a degree of autonomy and ongoing training, development and supervision. Visit our recruitment guide for some ideas.

Some projects offer support and funding for graduate recruitment – these projects allow you to ‘road test’ graduates before making a commitment to full employment.

Graduate retention - will they stay?

Employers are sometimes concerned that graduates won’t stay long enough to make a return on the investment.

This is not borne out by research.

The Institute of Employment Studies (IES) research Measuring Up: Benchmarking Graduate Retention concluded that retention rates are high at 86% on average after three years.

Eligibility to work in the UK

As an employer, you are responsible for checking that your staff are eligible to work in the UK. You should therefore ask shortlisted candidates to bring the appropriate documents to interview and check and record them before making any unconditional offer.

Once you have your perfect candidate, the focus moves onto developing them!