Graduates Writing for Graduates


By the end of that first meeting the team had achieved the: • Scoping of the book’s content. • Agreement of future timescales, guidelines (npower has a ‘tone of voice’ for all communications) and delivery dates.


• Agreement of a project management process to completion by July 2015, for printing in time for publishing for the 2015 cohort in September.


Innovation Step Two – Freedom: Let the writers write what they know. The 12 graduate volunteers then began the writing process. They were offered a little training from an external copywriter well versed in npower’s ‘tone of voice’ for written words, but they were then left alone to create. They were encouraged to share chapters with the copy editor as they were finished, but on they worked.


Buckenham remembers ‘We realised that we had asked them to do a lot in a very short space of time, and sometimes we wondered if we had been too ambitious, but the grads delivered. They managed themselves through the process, and there was never any sense that they wouldn’t complete.’


Innovation Step 3: Embrace the Beta version The final draft of the 35,000 word document was produced on time and sent to the proof reader on July 1st 2015. Thereafter, there were few changes, and some small rewrites, but the book went to print in August and was used in early September as the cornerstone of the ‘new’ npower graduate programme in September. Harvey reflects,


‘We took a risk in asking the graduates to do this, and we expected that what would be produced first time would be a ‘Beta’ version of a book. We felt that we would then have to spend time revising it, polishing it and use at least some of the new content in 2015. But because what was produced was so good, we will use nearly all of it as the skeleton of the new programme content this year.’


Lessons Learned Buckenham reflects on the lessons learned from the project, ‘The delivery of such a high quality product demonstrated the real and potential value that graduates bring to our business and we are delighted with the results.’


Harvey adds, ‘We were hugely impressed by the quality of thinking and writing that went into the book, all while the grads were working hard at their day jobs. This quality will flow into the programme from here and it has encouraged us to go even further.


Derbyshire continues, ‘The graduates delivered a much more rounded and interesting book than we/or they imagined they could, and we will now build their insight, thinking, language and priorities into the heart of our connected and challenging 2-year programme.


‘It has also been a fantastic project for our graduates to be involved in. They are rightfully proud of what they have produced, and would love to see their work published externally to help all graduates make the most of their first years at work.’


Rosie Mitchell, a 2013 Graduate Entrant puts it this way, ‘I thoroughly enjoyed being part of the team that co-authored the Graduate Development book. Not only did it make me reflect on my previous two years, the concept of “by graduates, for graduates” was fundamental, so I genuinely believe it will prove to be a useful tool for graduates for years to come.’


Buckenham concludes ‘We learned to be brave. Innovating is tricky and high risk vs reward. But we’re glad we did it, and are even more encouraged to ‘break the mould’ in the future when we’re evolving our Graduate Development Programme. Our advice to other graduate programmes? Go for it.’


Next steps: Our next step is to use the manuscript created by this team and get it published externally as a resource for all new employees entering the world of work form University. Two publishers have shown an interest so far and discussions continue. n


The best graduate programmes in the world… CONNECTED


Understand that talent is competitive advantage, and expects to be measured against its ability to deliver talent to the business.


Have clear, measurable goals that link to business strategy.


CONCRETE


Deal in real issues in a simple language with practical examples. Are not abstract.


CHALLENGING


Understand that development without real challenge leads to complacency and decay.


Speak the language of the business not the language of L&D.


Are never satisfied with their own performance and are always looking to improve.


Are integrated with existing talent and performance management systems.


Train for practical skills for immediate use in the real world of life and work.


Challenge the graduates, the business and the Graduate Development Team.


Figure 1 www.agr.org.uk | Graduate Recruiter 19


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