Graduate recruiting tip #9: Create a student placement scheme

A placement scheme is a great way to test the water, for both employer and employee.

Although “internships” aren’t as ingrained in UK business culture as they are in mainland Europe and the US, there are many companies here that use this strategy. The AGR Summer Survey 2008 (available free to members or £200 to non-members) reports that UK companies rate “internships” very highly “in terms of valuable experience and also as a pool from which to select high quality graduate employees.”

When you think about it, a placement scheme is a perfect way to have a better look at candidates, and for candidates to learn amore about your company. This makes a lot of sense in today’s current economic climate, and we may soon see more companies using this strategy.

Many companies with well thought out placement schemes find they can lead to a steady source of reliable candidates, and if offered a full time jobs, some of their most loyal and productive hires.

In fact, some placement schemes manage to convert 75 percent of placements to graduate hires!
Unfortunately many placement schemes are not well thought out, are poorly funded and have no measurements of success.

Here are some tips to think about when creating a student placement scheme:

-Provide “real work” – Yes, students will expect some grunt work, but structure it so there is something tangible and that they feel they are adding to their experience and building their CV.

-Create mini-projects – graduates love a sense of accomplishment, which can be hard to get with a short term placement. Create a project that the students can do from start to finish in the allotted time frame, and let them present the results. Obviously these projects have to be valuable to your organisation, but with a little thought this can turn out to be a win-win idea.

-Have the CEO or other senior executives give “master classes” to placement scheme participants once a month. Of course, these could take the form of conference calls, webcasts, podcasts etc. The students will feel important, and it will get senior management in touch with Generation Y.

-Assign students to work alongside a senior exec or manager. Make sure you pick the right exec (some are better at managing students than others).

-Provide a mentor, close to their age and interests.
Design the placement programme so the students know they will work with the latest methods and technologies, this will be a draw for them.

-Offer students training. The incremental cost of adding students to your training programme is minimal and they will appreciate it.

What are the aspects of your most successful placement scheme? We’d love to hear…

-Susanna

PS — Our next post in this series is on “going on campus”.

This post is an excerpt from Advorto’s “15-minute guide to graduate recruiting”. You can download the full report for FREE at http://www.advorto.com/GradGuide.aspx

Article By: Susanna Cesar Morton of Recruitment 2.0

Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching for entry level jobs and other career opportunities.