AGR
REMOVING BARRIERS
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The AGR is currently conducting two awareness raising projects among employers funded by the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills. The first project looks at the implementation of the Higher Education Achievement Report (HEAR) which aims to provide a more detailed picture of students’ achievements and their transferable skills during their time at university. The second project will highlight the important issue of social mobility during the recruitment and selection processes, aiming to remove the barriers applicants from disadvantaged backgrounds may face, and promote best practice in graduate recruitment.
J
ane Clark, Barclays’ Head of Corporate and Investment Banking Campus Recruitment, Europe
and Asia, has been seconded to the AGR on a part- time basis to lead the projects and will be working with Laura Millar who will be interning at AGR. Both projects will be carried out in partnership with the Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services (AGCAS). We caught up with Jane and Laura to find out more. ‘The HEAR project is all about raising employer
awareness how the report can help enhance the recruitment of graduates into organisations – from global companies to SMEs. As HR practitioners we should always be looking to continuously improve the way we attract, select and develop graduates. There is much more to the HEAR than it simply being an endorsed piece of paper, and it is important that it is not misunderstood. Over the next few months, we will be popping into sector groups, presenting at masterclasses and producing toolkits to raise awareness of the HEAR and its uses, and to demystify some misconceptions which may exist – for example that it will be a costly implementation exercise. We will also be working closely with Rob Ward from CFA and Jane Denholm from Critical Thinking, who wrote an excellent article in Graduate Recruiter last month called ‘Listen Without Prejudice’. It provides a good introduction to the HEAR from an employer’s perspective.
The second project highlights the issue of social
mobility. With the Milburn Report published earlier this autumn, this is clearly an issue that is high on the agenda. Our project aims to make employers aware of certain recruitment procedures that may be resulting in the exclusion of applicants who are from disadvantaged backgrounds, in particular for internships and jobs. Again, we will be raising awareness of this through masterclasses, and updating the AGR ‘Best Practice in Assessment and Selection’ guide, as well as designing a new AGR Award which will recognise best practice in Diversity. We will be attending conferences, forums and
discussions throughout this period to understand as much as we can about the landscape which surrounds these two projects. We will also be setting up a reference group comprising employers, universities and professional bodies in order to gather your views and input and gain your support. If you would like to be involved please contact
laura@agr.org.uk. We know that a lot of organisations are already heavily
involved in these two areas and this is a great opportunity to highlight and showcase best practice and work together. We will be providing updates of these projects through the AGR website. We are both very excited to be working with the AGR over the next six months and hope to meet as many of you as possible’.
www.agr.org.uk
GRADUATE RECRUITER 9
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