A series of interviews with industry figures
Julia Harvie-Liddel Global Head of Graduate Recruitment, BP
After joining BP from Accenture in 2011, to head up the company’s Upstream Resourcing segment, Julia Harvie-Liddel always kept a keen eye on the sourcing of BP’s graduate talent, so when the opportunity arose to lead the organisation’s global graduate recruitment team last year it was too good to turn down… Now Global Head of Graduate Recruitment, she tells us what’s on her radar…
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enjoyed a diverse mix and have regularly moved between early years, experienced professional and executive recruitment.” It is a broad interest that has stood Julia in good stead for her latest challenge, which has seen her take on a graduate programme which began formally at BP over 30 years ago. As a multinational energy company, BP has always had a global outlook and attracted talent keen to find career opportunities all over the world. “We’ve consistently seen graduates talking about their interest in working internationally and for a global organisation. As an international company, this is something we’ve always offered.”
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It has been a busy time for Julia since taking on her new role in October 2013. One of the key projects she has been heading up is the creation of a standard assessment framework for all graduate roles globally, an area in which she says the company is making good progress. “This helps to ensure that we are delivering consistent quality.
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hroughout my 20 years in recruitment I have always
In addition, we’ve rolled out a new programme of development activities for the first three years of a graduate’s career, to ensure we are enabling our talented recruits to be high performing and ready for all assignments.”
When it comes to attracting top talent, Julia cites the STEM skills shortage as one of the common challenges facing many employers. “We’re all in the market for very similar skills – STEM continues to be a real appeal for most large organisations, and we all have diversity ambitions to help drive an effective workforce.” She says the answer lies, in part, in having consistently excellent attraction strategies. “As employers we have to work harder than ever to excite students about the work we do and find candidates who will fit well with our culture and values.”
One of the trends she is seeing is the increasing demand from graduates to get a hands-on insight and understanding of the work they will be doing in a role, rather than simply being told about it. This has informed the approach Julia and her team takes.
have to work harder than ever to excite students about the
work we do and find candidates who will fit well with our culture and values.
“Graduates benefit greatly from seeing and trying out what we do – alongside BP staff – to help them determine if this is a good career decision for them. This is something we have noted and have implemented initiatives to ensure we are giving graduates what they want.”
Of course, having a global remit also brings with it additional challenges, not least always being ‘open for business’ somewhere in the world. “With the variety of
academic calendars you are always gearing up somewhere to a recruitment season starting,” says Julia.
That’s not to say she doesn’t find some time to relax in her busy schedule. “Down time is hugely important to me. I have a love of live music and can often be found travelling to music festivals with family and friends in our VW campervans.” It sounds like a perfect way to let your hair down. n
www.agr.org.uk | Graduate Recruiter 37
BP, 20 Canada Square in London’s Docklands
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