Richard Bowden Employer Relationship Manager, De Montfort University


Universities and FE providers


Finding a compatible partner


Richard Bowden, Employer Relationship Manager at De Montfort University, jokes in the office about launching a dating app to bring together universities and employers who are ‘made for each other’. Rather than a matching algorithm based on a shared mutual love of animals, similar hobbies or enjoyment of windy walks in the countryside, less romantic notions of shared strategic agendas or objectives would form the foundations of these relationships.


Despite the lack of interest in my amazing idea we have, however, introduced some fundamental changes to how we operate within the Employer Engagement Team at De Montfort University. No longer do we spend our days chasing hundreds of employers in the vain hope that the more businesses we contact the more likely it is that someone will want to come on to campus.


We took some time last year to take a step back, collect our thoughts and evaluate our position. We identified the unique selling points of our students and graduates, aligned our aims with the overarching strategic objectives of the institution and considered the most efficient way to use the resources we have at our disposal. What emerged was a lean and targeted approach to identifying and engaging with employers who have specific recruitment needs that we are well placed to service. As an example, 45% of our undergraduates are BAME and 18% have declared a disability which immediately makes us a great university partner for employers who have a workforce diversification agenda. These kinds


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of synergies in objectives provide the potential for greater mutually beneficial outcomes for both universities and employers, which can help foster much more effective strategic partnerships.


Over the past year we have made tailored approaches to select employers and are already seeing some positive outcomes. It is very much a quality over quantity strategy with substantial research carried out prior to any communications being sent out to employers. Through this process we identified Enterprise Rent A Car as a potential key employer partner. We acted swiftly to make contact and adopted a needs led approach to explore how we could further enhance the already positive relationship we enjoyed with them. Using the data from their application tracking system we were able to identify a skill development need within our student population relating to Assessment Centre performance. The agreed aim was to deliver a bespoke package of activities which would drive both an increase in the number of applications and improve the quality of performance of our students during the recruitment process.


Drawing on the expertise of colleagues across the Careers and Employability department, we devised a bespoke solution which incorporated timely and targeted activities and initiatives which


were delivered across the 2016/17 academic year. It wasn’t, however, all down to us. Paul Philips, Talent Acquisition Manager at Enterprise’s Nottingham Office, invested substantial time and energy in the partnership and also funded a Campus Brand Manager in the form of DMU student Kinari Shah.


Working in this collaborative way, with a focus on clearly defined and targeted outcomes, has proven to be hugely


effective. Applications from DMU students to Enterprise Rent A Car increased by 42% in the past year and the number of job offers made to those applicants increased by 183%, an impressive statistic which is set to rise even further. The impact has been a fantastic result for Enterprise Rent A Car, our students and therefore ourselves but the aim is to continue to build on this initial success. We are looking to take things forward even further with Enterprise Rent A Car in 2017/18 through our shared focus and commitment to supporting social mobility and we have some exciting ideas in the pipeline already.


The lesson from all of this is that taking a measured and considered approach to identifying employer or university partners delivers fantastic results. It is also considerably more fulfilling than flirting with as many potential suitors as possible.


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