We underestimated
the talent at school leaver age and now we are really harnessing that.
Tom Banham Head of Talent Academy Acquisition, Nestlé UK
Tom Banham has seen a dramatic shift take place since he joined the graduate recruitment industry just over five years ago. With budgets squeezed and team sizes reduced, not to mention the ongoing impact of technology and the growth of the school leaver market, he has had to adapt fast, and he doesn’t see the landscape changing any time soon. “Another war for talent is on, and this time the candidates, not the employers, are leading it,” he says.
years, and for Tom it has been this new shift that has influenced Nestlé’s strategy. He moved from HR into the graduate sector in early 2010 when he joined Addleshaw Goddard as Graduate Talent Advisor. He became Academy Recruitment Manager at Nestlé in 2012 and is now Head of Academy Talent Acquisition, and took a seat on the AGR Board of Directors in January 2015.
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One major change during his career has been the broadening of entry level opportunities into organisations. As Tom points out, 78% of AGR members now have alternative entry routes into their organisation, such as school leavers and apprentices, yet few businesses have been able to increase their budget to fund this. “The challenge facing recruiters is to provide a broader talent offering, but with the same team and budget structure.” And the school leaver space is not an easy one to access. “With a massive number of schools and colleges to factor in it presents a challenge as employers need to
here is little doubt the industry has changed considerably in recent
broaden their offering and target individuals in a market that is much more complex than the graduate market.”
But Nestlé has come up with an answer to the conundrum, with the launch of its Academy in 2011. Nestlé Academy tackles the industry skills issues at all levels by offering a variety of different opportunities such as University placements, apprenticeships, internships and meaningful work experience. “We now hire technical apprentices and school leavers through our Fast Start programme, and it is proving really successful. The attrition rates compared to graduates are much lower - we have 99% retention rate for apprentices and 100% for our Fast Start programme.” Tom believes this is a result of an inherent loyalty to the organisation. “Because we bring individuals in from school and train and develop them, they have a greater sense of commitment to the organisation than a typical graduate. Some graduates want to join a big organisation, get the experience and move on, but when employers are investing a significant amount
of money from assessment through to development, they don’t want people joining and then leaving. Ensuring retention levels are acceptable and delivering a strong ROI is really important.”
In 2012, Nestlé identified a gap in the market and partnered with Sheffield Hallam University to co-create a three year degree programme. It is built on the foundations of the University’s existing business course, but has been developed to enable students to carry out six monthly placements in different divisions of the company, from sales and marketing to the supply chain and HR. In the final year, students will specialise within a specific division and return to the department they excelled in most. “They get great commercial experience that no other graduate would get while doing their degree,” says Tom. The first intake joined the business in September 2013, and two cohorts are currently in the business, with a third due to join in September 2015. “It has been a phenomenal success, and many individuals have outperformed graduates. There
has always been a lot of industry focus on graduates being better [than school leavers] but it’s not necessarily the case. We underestimated the talent at school leaver age and now we are really harnessing that.”
It is experience that Tom hopes to share in his capacity as an AGR Board Member going forward, particularly as one of the key drivers the Board has identified over the coming years is to reflect the changes in its membership base as more organisations move over to the apprentice and school leaver model. “Many other companies purely hire grads and perhaps don’t have the knowledge and expertise of our offering. I want to be actively involved in the Board and to leave my tenure knowing I made a significant difference, enabling the AGR to adapt and deliver the required changes to support our valued members.” n
A series of interviews with industry figures
www.agr.org.uk | Graduate Recruiter 39
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