Diarist Dr Paul Redmond
Recognition in the Thin Air Economy
awards and even more glittery awards ceremonies is with us once again. And as everyone knows, when it comes to awards and awards ceremonies, there’s no business quite like the graduate recruitment business.
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Name me the industry that does awards shows half as well as the world of graduate recruitment. And while you’re at it, name me the industry that looks half as good when attired in its best clobber. Has there ever been so great a concentration of ‘erotic capital’ in one place as when graduate recruiters come together to celebrate all that’s great about their industry? As far as I know, not since that day when Carl Gilleard and Stephen Isherwood got stuck in a lift together…
Over the years, I must have attended countless of these conflagrations on at least three continents. I’ve won awards (scandalously few), presented awards, hosted awards and even judged awards. Where else but at an awards ceremony would I be propositioned from the stage by a famous TV comedian? Where else but at an awards show would I be
rum roll, please. Yes, it’s that time of year again: the season of glittery
heckled by David Walliams? Oh yes, I know all about awards.
And just think of the hours I’ve spent watching lines of winners ooze to and from the stage. No wonder it only takes a couple of bars of Tina Turner howling ‘SIMPLY THE BEST!’ to bring me out into spontaneous applause. This is what being a serial awards-goer does to you. It’s practically Pavlovian.
Now, let’s be clear: I’m a great fan of these shindigs: they’re celebratory, they’re fun and, best of all, they recognise great practice. But over the years, I’ve started to put together a few ideas about why awards and awards ceremonies have become so important to graduate recruitment – and why now. Because believe it or not, awards ceremonies as we know them are a fairly recent innovation. Once there was a time when people like us were content to receive nothing more than a nod from the boss. Those days are well gone. Today, HR departments have policies for dealing with nodding bosses.
So here’s my take on why awards ceremonies have become such big business in our line of work. See if you agree.
The thin air economy How many awards was Brunel granted by his peers (or for that matter Christopher Wren)? The answer is: who knows. I bet, however, that it was nothing like the haul scooped by many leading graduate recruiters. So were they gutted, these world-bestriding giants? Did their bosoms harbour secret resentment? Probably, yes. But the point is this. Who needs external recognition when you can point to a bevy of iron-clad leviathans? Who needs trophies when you’ve just put the finishing touches to St Paul’s Cathedral? The reason why awards matter to us today is because so much 21st century work is intangible, symbolic, and entirely transactional. You go to meetings; you do emails. When you work in the thin-air economy, every now and again you need something that you can drop on your foot. And what better than something that’s glittering and made of Perspex?
Dr Paul Redmond, Director of Student Life, University of Manchester
So what about if you’ve yet to win an award? What should you do? Here’s a thought from Tom Cruise, “Awards are wonderful. I’ve been nominated many times and I’ve won many awards. But my journey is not towards that. If it happens it will be a blast. If it doesn’t, it’s still been a blast.”
Now there’s someone who wouldn’t last five minutes in graduate recruitment. n
Where else but at an awards
ceremony would I be
propositioned from the stage by a famous TV comedian? Where else but at an awards show would I be heckled by David Walliams? Oh yes, I know all about awards.
www.agr.org.uk | Graduate Recruiter 37
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