How to Audit Your Graduate Attraction Strategy

How to Audit Your Graduate
Attraction Strategy
Contributors:
Dan Doyle
Katie Harrison
Helen Jackson
Nathan Ouriach
Sean Talbot

What we are doing and how we did it.
The Project
Insert image
Six months ago the Marketing team at GradTouch wanted to build the
perfect Graduate Attraction Strategy. We have all been graduates, we
all know the difficulty of finding the perfect graduate opportunity and
now, in our current roles, we also understand the obstacles in place
for companies to find them.
To offer an update on the graduate market and the two parties
involved, we have been running two concurrent surveys. The first was
to learn the modern habits and techniques graduates use to both look
for job opportunities and then research the roles to help aid their
application. To dig deeper into the other side of the relationship, we
have also spoken to and audited hundreds of graduates employers
across the country to see how their methods measure up to our
Graduate Attraction Gold Standard.
It was simple. Just 40 straightforward, yes/no questions. What we
learned was interesting and revealing and we want to share that
knowledge with you today.

o 50% of graduate employers ask their graduates for their opinion of the company’s product or service
o 38% of graduate employers have media on their website which displays their office environment
o 38% of graduate employers have media of a senior member of the company talking directly about how integral graduates
are to the company’s future
o 67% of employers disclose the exact name of the person graduates should address their Cover Letters to
o 67% of employers spoken to have a website optimised for mobile
o 58% of employers highlight their Corporate Social Responsibility on their website
o 63% have someone in-house whose core responsibility is to manage social media feeds and content
o 50% have articles or blog posts written by employees available on their website
o 25% of employers cater and adapt their content for specific social media channels
o 29% of graduate employers can build detailed profiles of everyone who visits their website
o 46% of employers rely on a “drop down menu”, or through directly asking applicants, to discover where a candidate first
discovered their opportunities
Executive Summary

During the mid-season of the 2016 hiring window recruiters across the Top 100 anticipated a growth in graduate vacancies of at least 7%. The
expectation increased to 8.4% in July 2016. Nevertheless, the final numbers show that a total of 19,658 graduates actually started work with the
organisations featured in The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers – considerably fewer than had been expected. Whilst this number still signifies an
increase, the rise of just 1.6% was a huge drop from the 8.4% in July. For the second straight year, close to 1000 graduates reneged or delayed
their commitment to a certain role.
This time last year employers in Banking & Finance, Engineering & Industrial and the Public Sector were facing up to the largest decrease in
graduate intake compared to the targets established the previous September.
With recruitment forecasts becoming larger and graduate intake consistently failing to materialise, what needs to be done to solve the problem of
stubborn job roles?
A modern issue requires a modern approach and set of techniques.
Who is here and why?
Graduate intake targets are increasing, yet recruitment marketing budgets are decreasing
nathan@gradtouch.com

Company Profile
Attendees of the webinar and their respective industries Attendees of the webinar and their respective company sizes
1-50, 12%
51-200, 14%
201-500,
37%
501-1,000,
7%
1,001-
5,000, 13%
5,001-
10,000, 1%
10,000+,
10%
11%
20%
7%
10%
1%
5%
6% 6%
3%
1% 1%
15%
1%
11%
1%
2%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%

Company Profile
Large companies are looking for new ways to update their strategy and have an
appetite for change.
The top attendees of this webinar, by industry, are
Advertising, Marketing, Media & PR and
Recruitment & Executive Search. With Tech and
Accounting, Banking & Finance just behind.
When it comes to company size the most popular attendees by
a distance are companies with a size of 201-500 employees.
With a close tie for second between companies with a staff of
51-200 and 1,001 - 5,000.
This is understandable when considering that their annual
graduate intake will naturally be very high for such a large
organisation.

Employer Profile
Attendees of the webinar and where they went to university
Tier 1, 31%
Tier 2, 16%
Tier 3, 11%
Tier 4 +, 17%
Non-UK
University, 9%
Did Not
Attend
University, 16%
Summary
Do people from traditionally prestigious universities favour
graduates who share a similar background? Conversely,
do people who probably attended 20% of all of their uni
lectures prefer candidates now with stronger personal
skills over anything academic.
We’ve found that the people attending this webinar
attended universities classed as Tier 1 (31%). What is
also interesting is that the joint-second most popular
profile group are the people who Did Not Attend
University (16%).
*These Tiers are sourced from the Sunday Times Higher Education Guide 2017 and are based on participants
who disclosed their university background.
Do people build their recruitment strategy in their own image?

Key Themes to Explore
What to have in mind
1. Where does the line between HR and Marketing start and end?
2. What sort of metrics and insights belong in the HR department?
3. What is your stubborn job role and how can it be solved?

The Results
How to Audit Your Graduate Attraction Strategy
 Section 1: Employer Brand
 Section 2: Video
 Section 3: Attraction
 Section 4: Website
 Section 5: Social Media
 Section 6: Content
 Section 7: Reporting

72%
64%
96%
60%
52%
Clear Branding Guidelines
Updated Branding Guidelines
Clear Company Values
Graduate Understanding of Brand
Graduate Understanding of Product
Section 1 Results: Employer Brand
72%
64%
96%
60%
52%
Employer Brand
72%
64%
96%
60%
52%
72%
64%
96%
60%
52%
Five questions on Employer Brand. Each bar represents the % of people saying yes to the question.
1/7

Video
72%
48%
52%
36%
52%
60%
48%
40%
48%
56%
Videos on Website
New Videos
Highlighting Values
Showcase Office Space
Celebrate Graduate Development
First-hand Experience
Unique Company Culture
Leader Addressing the Future
Training on Offer
Incentives and Benefits
Section 2 Results:Video
72%
48%
52%
36%
52%
60%
48%
40%
48%
56%
Videos on Website
New Videos
Highlighting Values
Training on Offer
72%
48%
52%
36%
52%
60%
48%
40%
48%
56%
Videos on Website
New Videos
Highlighting Values
Training on Offer
72%
48%
52%
36%
52%
60%
48%
40%
48%
56%
Videos on Website
New Videos
Highlighting Values
Training on Offer
72%
48%
52%
36%
52%
60%
48%
40%
48%
56%
Videos on Website
New Videos
Highlighting Values
Training on Offer
Ten questions on Video. Each bar represents the % of people saying yes to the question.
2/7

88%
68%
68%
72%
84%
64%
88%
Specific Job Description
Detail of Exact Person to Address
Perks and Benefits in Job Description
Only CV and Cover Letter Required
Easy to Understand Job Description
Salary Disclosed in Job Description
Location Disclosed in Job Description
Section 3 Results: Attraction
Attraction
88%
68%
68%
72%
84%
64%
88%
88%
68%
68%
72%
84%
64%
88%
88%
68%
68%
72%
84%
64%
88%
Seven questions on Attraction & Job Descriptions. Each bar represents the % of people saying yes to
the question.
3/7

68%
80%
56%
80%
Mobile-Optimised Website
Predominantly Use Your Own Media
Corporate Social Responsibility Highlighted
Dedicated Careers Section
Section 4 Results: Website
68%
80%
56%
80%
68%
80%
56%
80%
68%
80%
56%
80%
68%
80%
56%
80%
Website
Four questions on Website. Each bar represents the % of people saying yes to the question.
4/7

64%
64%
40%
80%
40%
In-house responsibility to manage social media feeds
Social media posts consistent in style and message
Using a content calendar
Encourage employees to share company content
Measuring success of social media content
Section 5 Results: Social Media
64%
64%
40%
80%
40%
Social Media
64%
64%
40%
80%
40%
64%
64%
40%
80%
40%
Five questions on Social Media. Each bar represents the % of people saying yes to the question.
5/7

80%
60%
52%
56%
24%
Share insightful content on industry & product
Content strategy that aligns with brand values
Articles and blog posts written by employees
Sharing content written by employees on social
Content adapted for different channels
Section 6 Results: Content
80%
60%
52%
56%
24%
Content
80%
60%
52%
56%
24%
80%
60%
52%
56%
24%
80%
60%
52%
56%
24%
Five questions on Content. Each bar represents the % of people saying yes to the question.
6/7

72%
72%
32%
52%
Using reporting to measure visitor traffic
Able to determine traffic source
Can build detailed profile of visitors
Keep track of application sources
Section 7 Results: Reporting
Reporting
72%
72%
32%
52%
72%
72%
32%
52%
72%
72%
32%
52%
Four questions on Reporting. Each bar represents the % of people saying yes to the question.
7/7

Results
Industry Average Brand /5 Video /10 Attraction /7 Website /4 Social /5 Content /5 Reporting /4 Total /40
Consultancy 4 10 5 3 4 4 1 31
Hospitality 4 5 6 3 4 4 3 29
FMCG & Retail 4 5 5 3 3 4 3 27
Engineering 3 9 3 4 4 2 0 25
Advertising, Marketing, Media & PR 3 7 4 3 3 2 3 25
Recruitment & Executive Search 4 4 6 3 3 3 3 25
Technology 3 4 6 2 2 2 2 21
Accounting, Banking & Finance 1 2 1 3 2 1 4 14
Trading & Broking 1 0 6 1 0 0 0 8
Which industry came out on top? The entire audit was marked out of 40.

Action Points 1/2
1. Ask your current graduates what they believe your brand to be and what their thoughts are on your product or service
2. Start putting hiring manager names on your job descriptions
3. Get Google Sheets and start sharing content with the help of a content calendar
4. Your team want to share their thoughts on the industry they spend every day working in, get some stories down and
write some blog posts
5. Grab your iPhone and take some pictures of your office environment
6. Start talking about your company values, loudly
Short term, immediate steps to take to improve your Graduate Attraction Strategy

Action Points 2/2
1. Develop a Corporate Social Responsibility scheme
2. Introduce more recent and relevant video content to your website
3. Unlock the important relationship between graduates and the company’s growth and tell your audience about it
4. Update your website to make it optimised for mobile
5. Understand your employer value proposition and align it with a long-term content strategy
6. Ensure all of your media is repurposed and catered for different social media films
7. Increase your reporting capabilities to learn where applicants come from, what their full profile is and, more
importantly, understand as much about the people who view your opportunity and choose not to apply as opposed to
centring on the graduates who do apply
Long term tactics and tools to improve your Graduate Attraction Strategy

How to Audit Your Graduate
Attraction Strategy
If you want to organise an audit, simply email nathan@gradtouch.com and we can fit
you in
Looking to improve your strategy? We run free demos throughout the week and are
happy to talk through effective, immediate steps you can take to update how you
connect with, and learn from, the right graduate talent
How do I get involved further?

How to Audit Your Graduate Attraction Strategy

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