Analyse this


Do things differently with data


Samuel Gordon


of innovation is a great one to cover. By sharing AGR’s insights on graduate recruitment and development, we hope to give you ingenious tools to innovate with impact. How’s that for alliteration?


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There are endless ways to be innovative with analysis. You can add a new formula here, try a new correlation there, invent a metric that is bespoke to your sector or even just experiment with infographics. At AGR, a lot of our innovation with data starts by asking new questions.


We have been doing this a lot lately. We asked employers about gender ratios to show that the average share of female graduate hires is almost 20% lower than the share of female graduates. We captured retention rates at the 2-year mark, which allowed us to show that attrition rates double in the year after graduate development programmes end. We also averaged the time that graduates stay with employers, to estimate the total cost of a graduate hire for the very first time (see right).


If innovation is a process of doing things differently, then our Annual Survey contains a lot of findings employers (“you”) can act on.


Here are four. 1. Benchmark the cost of your graduate hires Half of employers tell us that they calculate the value of their hires. To join these pioneers, first calculate the cost. AGR has all the statistics you need in order to benchmark this. The standardized measures of


recruitment cost per hire and development cost per hire are roughly £3,400 and £3,000 respectively. The median salaries for graduates are £28,000 in year one and £35,000 in year three. The average time that a graduate stays with their first employer is 4.9 years. So, adding up all the


costs, over that timeframe, gives an average cost of £163,900. This is the average value that a graduate needs to add, before they leave, to be worth your investment. In the case of your business – is this value higher or lower? Even thinking about value is innovative in this case.


2. Use video interviewing 30% of AGR employers now use video interviewing. Not only that, but use of this technology is constantly rising: just 6% of employers were using it four years ago and its upward trajectory shows no signs of slowing. Adopting this technology is another way to innovate compared to your peers – provided that the technology suits your organisation of course.


elcome back! This is my second column on analysis and the topic


30% of AGR


employers now use video interviewing. Not only that, but use of


this technology is constantly rising: just 6% of employers were using it four years ago


3. Train your managers to support graduates Just 40% of firms train all the managers of their graduates. This is an intriguing finding, because the meaning of “train” is subjective and could mean little more than a briefing. However, given that manager engagement is always a hot topic, training mangers represents an innovation in graduate programme design.


4. Record when graduates quit during graduate programmes 11% of graduates leave their employer before their graduate programme ends. But when, on average? Analysing the timing of their exits should help you to establish cause-and-effect. A lot of leavers around six-month milestones could reflect a stressful rotation process. A lot of leavers in the first three months could reflect a poor fit, which suggests that changes to your selection process are needed.


Extra insight on tenure will help you to be more innovative in how you improve retention.


As usual: act on our findings, and let us know how you get on. n


www.agr.org.uk | Graduate Recruiter 31


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