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Video: Attracting Talent

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Your first step is to ask yourself what you need. Look at your business needs and identify the skills and competencies that you require.

It's important to describe any role as accurately as possible - otherwise you may encourage unrealistic expectations which can cause difficulties later on.

It is good practice to develop a job description and a person specification. You can then use these throughout the process - from setting a salary to writing a recruitment advert to writing an interview checklist to assessing performance - so it's important to get them right.

This section contains all the information you need to attract graduate talent to your organisation including information about:

Job descriptions

Summarise the main purpose of the role in one or two sentences.
List the key tasks and responsibilities using active verbs
Describe the scope of the role - who it reports to, who it works with, supervisory responsibilities, degree of precision required etc.

Active verbs are an effective way to communicate about the job. Examples include;

Negotiate, influence, supervise, evaluate, design, train, motivate, organise, create, promote, persuade, plan, manage, identify, produce, delegate, research, time-manage, facilitate, review, analyse, problem solve, direct, monitor, advise, initiate, present, arrange and develop...

When writing your job description, it may be useful to use the following headings:

Job description
Job title:
Location:
Department / section:
Duration (if not a permanent appointment):
Normal working hours per week: (you could mention that some flexibility will be required)
Main purpose of the job: (short description of why the job exists)
Key responsibilities / tasks:
Key contacts / relationships (internal and external):
Challenges (what are the most difficult, complex or challenging parts of the job?):
Responsible for (staff, equipment, budgets etc):
Responsible to (line manager):
Additional information (working to appropriate policies etc):

You can also download our specimen job description.

Sample Job Description

When writing the job description, you may want to know more about Higher Education Qualifications.

Person specifications

List the skills, knowledge and behaviour that the candidate will need to bring to your organisation
Break down your list into qualifications, knowledge, experience and skills
Prioritise this list - which are essential and which are desirable?

When writing your person specification, you can refer to our downloadable specimen person specification:

Sample Person Specification

Alternatively, you may find it useful to use the following headings:

Person specification	Essential	Desirable	How assessed
Company name
Job title
Knowledge (including qualifications and experience)
Skills
Attributes
Other

Salary considerations

This is a critical factor in attracting graduate talent. The national average starting salary for a graduate in 2008 is around £18K per annum. The most common salary range for first graduate jobs advertised on Gradsouthwest is £17,000 - £19,500.

You will also need to take scales, grades and negotiated agreements into account, plus any immediate factors such as skills shortages.

Salaries are subject to the national minimum wage and the requirements of equal pay and discrimination legislation. In general, a new employee should be paid at the same level as the previous incumbent unless there is a formal system for increments or length of service. The equal opportunities section below will help you to avoid the most common pitfalls.

Whatever salary you decide upon, state it explicitly in your recruitment as graduates are often put off by jobs that do not indicate a salary range.

Creating the advert

Graduates look for:

A decent starting salary
Training and development opportunities
Location

State all of these in your advert and outline any other working benefits.

Remember:

Use clear, concise language and avoid technical jargon or acronyms
The job title is the first thing the jobseeker will see - make sure it describes the role and if possible, the field of work. For example PR Events Administrator is likely to get more interest than Administrator
Use the job description and person specification to give a bit of information about the job and summarise the skills you are looking for
Describe the role accurately - don't give unrealistic expectations
Take care not to discriminate
Tell candidates how you want them to apply
State the closing date and if possible the interview date
Be clear about whether you will contact unsuccessful applicants

Download our sample advert for further ideas:

Sample Recruitment Advert

Equal opportunities in adverts

UK employment legislation contains several measures to guard against discrimination in recruitment.

To ensure you do not discriminate your advert should not include:

References to age. Avoid asking for x number of years experience. Salaries should not be advertised as 'dependent on experience'. This is to ensure you comply with the recent Age Discrimination legislation.
Language that might imply someone of a certain age ie ‘mature’, ‘young’ or ‘energetic’.
Requests for specific qualifications without stating ‘or equivalent’. This is because some qualifications can only be held by people of a particular age or nationality.
Requests for experience in a particular type of computer software without stating ‘or equivalent’. This is to avoid discrimination against disabled applicants who may use adapted technology which does the same job.
Gender specific language ie ‘manageress’ or ‘waiter’ which implies someone of a specific gender.
Requests for ‘husband and wife’ teams. This discriminates against same sex partners or civil partnerships.
Requests for applicants who speak English as their ‘mother tongue’.
Requests for a full driving licence unless it is absolutely necessary. This discriminates against disabled applicants who may be able to fulfill the requirements of the role via public transport or a personal driver.

Please note that this is not an exhaustive list and you can contact the Gradsouthwest team for further guidance. In limited circumstances, it is lawful to discriminate when being from a particular group is a genuine occupational requirement, but you must quote the relevant legislation.

Advertising the job

Advertising on Gradsouthwest is quick, simple and free.

If your graduate vacancy is located in the South West, it will be advertised to student and graduate jobseekers from ALL Higher Education Institutions within the region.

If your graduate vacancy is located outside of the South West, it will be advertised to student and graduate jobseekers from MOST Higher Education Institutions within the region.

Our quick guide gives you step by step instructions to enter your vacancy on Gradsouthwest.

Getting Started - A Quick Guide for Employers

Information for Candidates

You'll need to consider whether candidates should apply by CV or application form. CV's are easier for candidates - and may yield more applications - but it's harder for you to collect all the information you need in the same format. Application forms are generally considered to be best practice in supporting equal opportunities.

If you are going to use application forms, it is common practice to ask candidates to contact you for an application pack. This is a good opportunity to highlight what you offer and to give candidates a good feel for the business and the vacancy. It also gives you the opportunity to monitor and compare the response to the advert and the actual number of applications received.

Application forms should include the following sections:

Application Forms
Personal details: Name, address, contact telephone number, email address etc. Do not ask for nationality, marital status, date of birth etc. It is good practice to detach the personal details from the rest of the application prior to shortlisting so that you make objective judgements about the candidate (but remember to code each application so that you can link it back to the person!)
Education and training: Formal qualifications, professional accredidation and work based training
Employment History (including voluntary work): Name of employer, dates employed, job title and key responsibilities.
Additional Information: This is where the candidate can explain how they meet the requirements of the job descriptions and person specification
References: Make sure that the candidate can indicate whether references can be taken up prior to interview

The application pack could include:

Standard covering letter thanking the candidate for their interest, outlining key deadlines and indicating whether you will or won't be in touch with unsuccesful candidates
Further information about the business; achievements, priorities, working styles, employee benefits etc
Job description and person specification
Application form
Equal opportunities monitoring form
Any other relevant literature such as your Annual Report, promotional leaflets etc

Once you've advertised your vacancy, you'll need to think about how you will select the best candidate.