There is fierce competition among businesses to attract top graduates, so savvy companies will need to offer something extra.
Learning and development programmes are attractive to prospective graduate hires. A company willing to invest in its staff and encourage their ongoing professional development will certainly receive more interest.
Communicating learning and development values
Graduates want to see how they can succeed with you. They are often happy to accept lower wages if it means learning and development is prioritised.
They’re keen to get the skills and knowledge to do a great job and move up the ladder. Play the long game to attract dedicated graduates who will be invested in your business. In return, you’ll get a high standard of work, commitment, and loyal staff who feel valued.
Graduates are different from experienced employees. They are ambitious and keen to make a good impression and impact in their first career role. Remember they are:
- protective of their knowledge
- wanting a lot of responsibility
- looking for formal training
- looking for a competitive salary
It’s highly likely graduates don’t have the technical and workplace skills needed to do the work effectively. Train them in the way you work and provide them with the knowledge they need for their role.
Creating a learning and development programme
Bring HR managers and senior stakeholders together to plan out what a learning and development programme for graduates could look like. Typical learning and development schemes include:
- Cross-department
This gives graduates experience in different areas of your business. It offers them the opportunity to try different things and see where their interests and strengths lie. You can see where they would fit best within your organisation.
- Functional
Use this scheme if you have a specific role in mind for a graduate. This will train them for the role and all training will be tailored accordingly. This is a good path to take if you know you are lacking specific skills and knowledge and want to build them up in the team.
- Management
Fast-track candidates with a scheme developed to push their skills and set them up for senior positions. Use this if your business needs more strategic thinking and leaders to grow further.
HR leaders can monitor the success with regular evaluations to ensure graduate hires are meeting targets. This is a big investment of your time and money. You want them to succeed, so put steps in place to help them.
Taking a strategic approach towards attracting, training, and retaining graduates to align with your future business plans.
- What skills do you need for your company to grow?
- Which areas of the business do you want to develop?
- What are your strengths and weaknesses?
- Is the balance right between managers and their teams?
- Is knowledge missing?
Without ongoing learning and development, skills will stagnate and this will impact the business. Review where you are and what you need to ensure you get the right graduates in place.
Start learning and development from day one
Your new hires will be keen to start learning and development from their first day. It’s essential to nail the onboarding and set up process of new hires. When it’s right, they will be invested and enthused about their role from the first day.
This brand new Inplacement programme has been designed to give your new staff everything they need to hit the ground running. They will learn what is expected of them, how they can build their future with the company, and integrate into the company culture.
Book a call to see how Inplacement can help train and retain employees with Hannah Waddington Hannah.Waddington@maru-search.com
Categorised in: News
This post was written by maruhrstaging