FEATURE
“Graduates are a key part of strengthening our economy and can offer employers valuable skills, knowledge and a fresh outlook.”
Practical elements include: • Understanding of business and enterprise and why a particular degree is relevant.
• Help to build an excellent, bespoke CV and develop the recruitment toolkit needed to secure an interview.
• Interview training to develop technique. • Learning how to communicate with impact. • Opportunities to meet graduate employers and hear tips, experiences and expectations when recruiting graduates.
STANDING OUT FROM THE CROWD
As the graduate jobs market continues to struggle and universities increasingly focus on employability skills for students, Debbie Horner from Unlocking Cornish Potential (UCP) – the Combined Universities in Cornwall’s graduate placement programme – explains how its ‘Stand Out from the Crowd’ employability course is contributing to a better recruitment environment in Cornwall…
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n 2009, as part of its corporate social responsibility work, Deloitte approached Cornwall College about
creating a model for employability at Higher Education level. Cornwall College was already a centre of excellence for delivering those skills at Further Education level but Deloitte’s focus was on graduates. It recognised a need to impact the employability agenda at this level and improve the skills graduates displayed to recruiters after leaving university.
UCP is managed by Cornwall College and was the obvious choice to develop the ‘Stand Out from the Crowd’ course, given their strong relationship with graduate employers, and Cornwall College and Deloitte playing an important role. Securing investment from European Social Fund (ESF) Convergence enabled the objectives to be ambitious. Carleen Kelemen, then Director of the Convergence Partnership Office for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly explains, “Graduates are a key part of strengthening our economy and can offer employers valuable skills, knowledge and a fresh outlook. ESF Convergence is being used in this case to offer graduates the practical skills to be able to sell their value to employers and to move from their familiar world of academia into work.”
The course, worth £1,500, is fully funded by ESF Convergence and was developed to be: • Accredited with a Higher Education Level 5 employability module, awarded by Plymouth University.
• Two-weeks long, full time (with a new part time five week module now in operation too).
• Boost graduates’ confidence to apply for jobs and sell themselves to employers.
28 GRADUATE RECRUITER
Most recently participants have won jobs at high profile employers including Pirate FM, Cornwall College, The Seafood Restaurant in Padstow and Plymouth University, with many others now enjoying well-established, successful careers in Cornwall in their chosen field. Michael Rabone, Human Resources Manager at Rick Stein’s The Seafood Restaurant is a keen benefactor and, as a graduate employer, he has found the process extremely valuable. “‘Stand Out from the Crowd’ effectively allows individuals to bridge the gap that can often occur when practical employment experience may not always live up to academic achievement and ensures that individuals are better prepared for work. I see first-hand that the course helps graduates to appreciate and understand how businesses work, subsequently making the interview and assessment process easier to manage for an employer. The combination of developing technical and behavioural know-how helps graduates to be prepared in readiness for that all-important career opportunity. This concept has proven incredibly successful in Cornwall as it adds value to employers while giving individuals access to a range of expertise through a network of business professionals.” Cornwall Council, the biggest employer in Cornwall, is also benefitting from these work-ready graduates. Isla Newcombe, People and Organisational Development Business Manager, says the impact of the course is very noticeable, with two of the top shortlisted graduates for the Council Graduate Development Programme benefitting from the two week course. “One graduate in particular, blew us away. His preparation for the interview was clearly considerable. He was methodical and organised in his approach to answering the questions and gave tangible evidence to back up his experiences. He was confident, enthusiastic and passionate. He left no stone unturned and literally gave us no room to not want to offer him the job.” Our three years of experience delivering the course has taught us that employability is increasingly valuable for graduates, but for graduate recruiters it could well be priceless.
www.unlockingcornishpotential.co.uk
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