LEAD ARTICLE: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE


1968 was a year of revolution with social and political change across the globe.


Anti-Vietnam war and civil rights campaigns spurred the hippy movement with the first student uprising in Poland. While anti- establishment rebellion echoed across Europe, the Commonwealth Immigrant Act further reduced right of entry to the UK. “I’m Backing Britain” encouraged workers to work extra time without pay to help competitiveness and women sewing machinists went on strike for equal pay at Ford. Some professions died out as coal mining in the Black Country and cotton trading at Manchester Royal Exchange ceased.


...it is the seismic shifts in the early talent recruitment landscape that have heralded another rebrand and the association approaches the next 50 years as the Institute of Student Employers (ISE). “One of the biggest changes our industry has seen is the prominence of school leaver programmes and apprenticeships alongside graduate schemes,”


It was against this backdrop that the Standing Conference of University Appointments Services (SCUAS) invited 200 UK graduate recruiters to a conference where it was agreed that the employers would form a comparable body to SCUAS. The Standing Conference of Employers of Graduates was formed, later rebranding as the Association of Graduate Recruiters.


Fast-forward 50 years and some of the challenges faced by members have echoed through time. “We continue to confront gender issues and with leaving the EU on the horizon, reduced access to talent from tighter immigration has returned to the forefront. Fuelled by technological advancement, the types of jobs we do are evolving too,” explains ISE Chief Executive, Stephen Isherwood.


However, it is the seismic shifts in the early talent recruitment landscape that have heralded another rebrand and the association approaches the next 50 years as the Institute of Student Employers (ISE). “One of the biggest changes our industry has seen is the prominence of school leaver programmes and apprenticeships alongside graduate schemes,” says Stephen.


“The name change reflects that members now take a much broader approach to getting the right talent to meet their organisation’s needs. This can only be a good thing.”


Dawn of a new era


In the mid-sixties around a third of male school leavers entered some form of apprenticeship. There were around 171,000 apprentices in 1968, but when university became more fashionable and aspirational, various industries declined, and by 1990 the


Technological advancement We are reminded each year of the pace of change by futurists who dare to predict that robots will take over our jobs or certain skills will become redundant, just as they foresaw the web would be the demise of print.


TheStudentEmployer ise.org.uk 9


numbers had dropped to 34,500c (Labour Force Survey). Then in 2015 the government set a target of three million apprenticeships by 2020.


Alison Heron, Chair of ISE and Global University Relations Director at GSK, explains: “Apprenticeships were craft related and a million miles away from what they are today. There was a clear difference between leaving school to work as an apprentice and those going to university. A combination of government influence, heightened competition for talent and the need to tackle skills shortages has meant the lines have blurred.”


“I’d worked through the demise in apprenticeships, so was sceptical when I first heard of their re-emergence. I’ve since met the leading lights in developing degree- level programmes. I can see how among rising fees, apprenticeships can satisfy a lot of young people as well as provide a new route to developing UK talent and meeting skills shortages,” adds former AGR chief, Carl Gilleard.


This competition for students and shortage of talent is evident across the decades and continues to be a major priority for businesses. ISE Annual Surveys show that it has remained in the top five challenges for employers for several years.


“The market was buoyant in the eighties, graduates could pick and choose, and they knew it. Candidates would play one employer off against the other to increase salaries, get a phone, a car, whatever. In those days mobile phones were a status symbol, not something you’d take for granted,” says Carl.


“Then overnight came the crash and graduates were like rabbits caught in the headlights. I learned that an accident at birth – the year you’re born - can affect your career chances a lot. Despite all of this, the one thing that hasn’t changed is the war for talent. It never went away.”


Time may appear to stand still in the war for talent, but in other realms of recruitment acceleration of change has become so rapid it’s like a glimpse into the future.


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