Challenging Recruitment Career Services
Turning the Tanker
The University of York has a brand-new focus on the employer experience, challenging and changing its culture to make this research intensive, academic institution more open and welcoming to employers, and connecting them with students in new ways. Becky Jones, Assistant Director of the newly-created Employer Engagement Team, explains how she turned her attention to the various tools and activities that facilitate employer access to talented students. One high profile example is the York Award…
to our model’s success, it’s since been emulated widely across the sector. Over the last 16 years, it has contributed to the achievements of thousands of York graduates, giving them the opportunity to learn new skills, to develop their ability to reflect on their university experiences and specifically to articulate their experiences to employers.
T Changes
in the recruitment pipeline mean that our employers are increasingly asking to meet and start conversations with more first and second years.
In a competitive climate, resting on our laurels isn’t an option, so we’ve taken a brave, fresh look at the York Award, very much from the employers’ perspective. Statistics prove that students gaining the York Award certificate are more successful at securing graduate level employment. The challenge now lies in increasing the quantity of students able to benefit from participation, whilst maintaining the quality of their experience – so allowing us to provide ever more able and experienced graduates for our valued employers. The new York
Award has been developed with the changing needs of recruiters – looking to do more with less - as a priority, aiming to treble student engagement with employers in the first year alone.
Changes in the recruitment pipeline mean that our employers are increasingly asking to meet and start conversations with more first and second years. The new York Award has a three tier structure open to all years (rather than assessing only final year students as it did previously). The first tier in particular has been designed to assess and reward
he York Award was the first of its kind, and is familiar to many graduate recruiters. Due
our students for early engagement with employers – both on and off campus – really driving those potential applicants in their first year, encouraging them towards insights, summer and full year placements.
The second tier maintains the current strengths of the Award - encouraging and supporting development of the reflective skills that are so valuable in continued professional development throughout a graduate’s career. Employers have already proved invaluable at assessment stage – with hundreds participating in our interviews over the years. With the new model, we plan to involve them in different ways, facilitating cost-effective access to our first year talent but also showcasing our brightest and best through a third ‘elite tier’ to the York Award process.
The Award’s third tier enables our top students to hone their leadership skills in a competitive environment, and will align
www.agr.org.uk | Graduate Recruiter 09
with employers’ timing for assessment centres. Alumni and senior employers contributing to the programme will delivering master-classes, workshops and case studies covering diverse aspects of leadership, with the added potential of mentoring or fast-tracking.
If it feels ambitious to re-visit a model with proven benefits, what better and bolder way to shine a light on our commitment to employers than to overhaul our flagship? Having played a key role in the redevelopment process, recruiters are already welcoming the changes to the Award, and our many alumni are keen to give back and get involved. The ripples of the new employer-focused approach are vividly bringing to life the changed strategy of putting employers and students jointly at the heart of our employability strategy – the tanker is turning. n
@RebeccaZoeJones
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