By Am
anda Menaheim, HR Director, Hastings Direct
Last month I talked about the skills gaps of graduates coming out of university and our need to recruit talented, well rounded individuals who’ll stay with our business and add long term value. This is timely as we are just about to start selecting for our third graduate intake and we recently made some changes to our assessment process to better select the attributes we seek, such as dealing with moving goal posts and changing circumstances.
In this day and age its essential to be able to quickly adapt. Nothing stands still in the world of business!
This third intake will build on an already successful programme. Our first intake is filling important roles across our business and we have retained 90%. I recently met with our latest group of graduates to see how they’re getting on and it’s a delight to see them enjoying new and challenging experiences. Eight months into the scheme, I took the opportunity to ask them the question: ‘knowing what you now know about work, what do you wish your university had taught you to prepare you better for the business world?’ This is what they said:
Wasim Bux (Age 24) Management Studies, University of Leicester. 'At my university a placement was not offered and we were left to pursue our own placement if we wanted to. I feel a placement year is the perfect way to prepare for the ‘world of work’ and really gives you an insight into how companies are run and managed.'
A placement year could be something Hastings considers offering in the future alongside the existing Graduate Scheme. I think this is the one thing my university experience lacked and when it came to applying for jobs after graduation I felt at a disadvantage to those who had been on a placement.
