AllAboutSchoolLeavers Survey
prefer the prospect of being paid during their studies by working at the sponsoring company, rather than the prospect of gaining a degree debt-free.
Understandably, the guarantee of employment following graduation is also a decisive factor. It is vital that companies understand that school leavers want financial security in the here and now, and emphasise how their programmes can offer this security.
Reaching other influencers For businesses, conveying key messages to school leavers is only part of the mission. They also need to target those who influence school leavers - parents, subject teachers and careers advisers.
Parents should be the first and foremost target for businesses: 81% of school leavers say they are influenced by their parents, and 61% consider them the most influential factor on their career choices.
Interestingly, 48% of parents seek information about companies offering school leaver opportunities from teachers, meaning that businesses must ensure marketing campaigns reach both these groups in order for information to trickle down to their ultimate target: the students themselves.
These statistics explain why Deloitte attends large conventions and holds information days for school staff, as well as why Mazars is planning to increase its outreach with schools. Senior Resourcing Manager at Mazars, Shirish Mistry, says the firm is starting to build “long-term relationships with schools providing relevant, engaging information via school visits as well as offering students the chance to visit our offices”.
Steve Green who works in Student Recruitment at Deloitte, agrees with this two-pronged approach: “We hold information days for school staff, to learn more about our schemes and application process. We also speak with many
teachers at the large careers conventions that take place across the country, and help explain the various options available and key dates for making applications to our BrightStart apprenticeship programme in particular.”
Perhaps unsurprisingly in an increasingly online world,
AllAboutSchoolLeavers.co.uk found that the internet is an important source for key influencers: 52% of parents use it to find out about school leaver options, as opposed to the 45% using teachers as their source of knowledge. Teachers also see online methods as a means to keep their knowledge of the school leaver market up-to-date: 96% use information sent via email, with 91% using careers websites.
With both teachers and parents using online resources, and parents using teachers to educate themselves, a vital aspect of a school leaver marketing strategy should certainly involve targeting these groups online.
The importance of social media The university graduates that businesses employ may still be able to remember a time when social media did not exist (just about), but the same cannot be said for their younger brothers and sisters: the Millennials.
Someone born in 1999 was just seven years old when Facebook was made available to anyone with an email address in 2006. Millennials have grown up as digital natives, the first generation to be constantly connected to each other and the internet, and they’ve never known anything different.
This is reflected in their habits when exploring career options online. 62% of students use social media to stay informed about employer events and opportunities and 48% because they want to be the first to know when applications open. It is a particularly useful indicator for businesses when devising their social media strategy.
Steve Keith says that EY found Twitter to be “one of the most effective ways to share up-to-date insights into our business and to allow school leavers to connect directly with our trainees. We have a really engaged community of social media ambassadors who regularly tweet about their working days and also respond to school leavers who are researching their options.”
EY have not shied away from being innovative with their social media outreach either; YouTube vlogger, ‘Sprinkle of Glitter’, recorded a video for the company, discussing all the options available at EY in an accessible, engaging way.
Jaguar Land Rover have also diversified impressively when it comes to social media, venturing beyond the usual Facebook and Twitter platforms, running campaigns on various channels such as Snapchat and Instagram to promote the company’s offerings.
Social media is important and does not require hours of valuable time. Given that 79% of students and 55% of teachers and careers advisers use Facebook, and that respectively 66% and 62% of them are on Twitter, it is clear that efficient social media presence with a clear marketing strategy can reach all of a recruiters’ key targets and reap huge rewards.
The school leaver recruitment challenge is still a very new one, but if businesses share their expertise, and are not afraid to break with tradition and employ new methods, as outlined here, there is no reason it cannot be overcome. It is also vital that organisations take on board research - like the recent insights from
AllAboutSchoolLeavers.co.uk - to better understand this new target group, and ultimately to reach their employees of the future. n
www.agr.org.uk | Graduate Recruiter 17
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