Category Archives: Graduate Development

In the Autumn issue of The Student Employer we outlined some ideas about how to engage managers in graduate development by reverse engineering your approach. Here are some further suggestions you can use to tackle this challenge

It’s September and for many graduates across the Northern hemisphere, it’s induction week. After decades of research into high flier graduates, and working to assist graduates in different sectors and countries to make the leap from academic success to work high flier – what do I believe are the 3 key messages to pass on to graduates in induction week?

Recently SHL Talent Measurement research reported that a staggering 55% of people on High Potential programmes leave their organisations within 5 years.

When I ask people about performance management for their graduates, people often tell me “Oh, the same way as we do our other members of staff”. In practice, this usually means assessing how well objectives have been met; and using the company’s standard competency framework. I hold pretty strong views on performance management, when it comes to graduates – especially if they are on a rotational scheme. If you use the normal corporate process, you could be wasting your chance to shape this key early talent into high fliers. This is because graduates on schemes are not ordinary members of staff.

20% of graduates apply to jobs that don’t appeal to them, just to get into employment. 66% of graduates said that they regretted accepting the job soon after starting in roles. 25% of graduates plan to leave their first job within 12 months. These figures are currently making waves – practically, what can we do about early career turbulence in the graduate market?