INTERVIEW WITH
IN CONVERSATION WITH...
A series of interviews with AGR Board Members
NICKY IVORY-CHAPMAN
Reputation and Resourcing Manager, McDonalds >>
“One big challenge is managing the expectations of graduates and trying to get them to look a little closer at opportunities that exist in organisations other than their most preferred options”
“I find meeting young adults at the start of their careers really inspirational. I’m regularly blown away by the ability of the really driven graduates to combine studying for a degree, whilst working part-time, being involved in associations and societies and finding the time to have hobbies or undertake charity work.”
N
icky Ivory-Chapman has an unusual HR role, with a third of her time focused on recruitment, a third
on employer reputation and the other third managing the employee engagement website. It means the proportion of her time spent on graduate recruitment varies, but it is the most enjoyable aspect of her job – despite its complexity. “One big challenge is managing the expectations of graduates and trying to get them to look a little closer at opportunities that exist in organisations other than their most preferred options,” says Nicky. “Job snobbery still exists, even during such tough economic times. I get numerous requests from graduates wanting to work in HR or Marketing, who can often be dismissive of joining a retail management scheme or working in the hospitality sector as way to progress – but these sectors give such great grounding in business that it’s invaluable, and it develops a really strong work ethic, which will always go a long way.” Her own experience at McDonalds is a case in point. McDonald’s runs a secondment programme for operations employees to experience working for two years in support departments, such as Marketing, Communications, Environment and New Product Development. After working in the restaurant side of the business for 10 years, Nicky was taking her first sabbatical when an opportunity arose in a regional HR role. “I thought that the secondment programme may be an option for me at some point in my career to learn about another aspect of the business – but I’d never really considered which department would be best suited for me. “I was put forward for the HR secondment, as my
restaurants had historically performed strongly in the people metrics. I did have reservations about whether to go for the interview or not, but within the first week I knew this was something I would love doing and my experience from working in restaurants really helped in understanding the needs of my customers and dealing with the areas of
employee relations and recruitment.” Nicky stayed on secondment for three years before moving to the newly created Reputation team and creating the roles that her team have today. Graduate recruitment is now a growing priority for her. McDonalds recruits around 250 managers each year and it has recently launched an industrial placement scheme within restaurants. “It is a focus currently in the business as we’re keen to recruit more graduates on to our Trainee Manager scheme.” The move has highlighted certain trends for Nicky – and brought certain challenges to the fore. “A lot of graduates appear to be applying to numerous positions without doing adequate research or submitting a real quality application. This doesn’t help anybody and will add to their frustration of job hunting.” But she is cheered by the growth of industrial placements and internships as a route to work experience and permanent jobs. “Over half of my team came to their current roles having completed recent industrial placements, so I’m a firm believer that this is a great route to getting a foot in the door and finding out what your preferences and strengths are.” It is timely that Nicky has just joined the AGR Board, and she is a firm believer that now – more than ever – employers need to support each other and collaborate. “AGR is an enabler for this and the sector groups and advisory board are great avenues to build relationships and influence change.” She also urges more restaurants and retailers to join AGR. “Our service sector deserves to be seen as a desirable place to work and attractive to ambitious graduates.” But it isn’t all work. This year Nicky and her husband will
share their 10 week sabbatical – a reward for 20 years’ service – globetrotting.
“Any time away from work is
spent out of the country as my husband and I love to travel. He works in the restaurant side of the business so we rarely have a weekend together.” No doubt she will return from her travels with even more energy…
32 GRADUATE RECRUITER
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36