Graduate Prospects - March 5, 2008 - (Page 4)

4 PROSPECTS GRADUATE Issue 62 · 5 March 2008 · Fortnightly www.prospects.ac.uk ASK THE EMPLOYERS IS THERE A GRADUATE SELL-BY DATE? We sought the views of two top recruiters. LUCY TARRANT IS GLOBAL LEADERS PROGRAMME MANAGER FOR BARCLAYS. We welcome all applications. However, we find that people in the early stages of their career, or those starting out on a new career, are better able to take advantage of the development and objectives of the programme. Those with experience might find the work and programme not to be as challenging as their current role, as a graduate programme is designed for those with little to no experience. As such they may be ‘stunting’ their professional advancement which negates the ‘fast track’ possibilities of a graduate scheme. For Barclays, there really is no stereotypical graduate – we love the diversity of experience our graduates bring and I think it is one of the keys to our success, having a cohort of very different talent. Otherwise our business would become dull and we would loose that injection of fresh ideas and views that makes Barclays so pioneering. Although some line managers like a ‘blank canvas’ graduate to develop from scratch, some also prefer a little more experience in their graduate. Extra experience, be that gained in the work place, from travelling, volunteering or personal reasons makes you a richer person to an employer in terms of what you can bring to them. GAINING AN EDGE SARAH SHILLINGFORD IS GRADUATE RECRUITMENT PARTNER AT DELOITTE, CONSULTANTS AND ACCOUNTANTS From our point of view, when someone ceases to be a graduate does not depend on their age or anything like that – it much more depends on their experience and also the relevance of their experience to the job that they would be doing here. We do recruit people who are what we call experienced hires but generally those would be people who had already trained for the profession with another firm. But if someone had left university and gone travelling or become a teacher , or whatever it might be, for a few years, then if they wanted to work for us they would need to apply as a graduate. RESULTS NEXT TIME THE VOTE LAST TIME Assessment centres are not better than interviews, according to most readers. 63% did not rate them above interviews. 37% liked the idea of a range of assessments. They would come through the same recruitment process but there would be some parts where that person would have an edge over someone who had just left university. A lot of the competencies we are looking for are gained from doing other sorts of work, not necessarily work in our profession. If you had for example been a teacher for a few years you would have developed those competencies very well. Send questions for employers to editorial@prospects.ac.uk YOUR VOTE Are you confident of avoiding ‘quarter life crisis’? (SEE PAGE 2 ARTICLE) YES NO SEE THE BAD BUSINESS ARCHIVE http://www.prospects.ac.uk/cms/ShowPage/Home_page/Graduate_jobs/p!edcaefX http://www.prospects.ac.uk/cms/ShowPage/Home_page/Feature_articles/No/p!eaLeijF http://www.prospects.ac.uk/cms/ShowPage/Home_page/Feature_articles/Yes/p!edcbjiF http://www.prospects.ac.uk/cms/ShowPage/Home_page/Feature_articles/Bad_Business/p!egimFbd

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Graduate Prospects - March 5, 2008

Editorial: Where Am I? Ofgem Editorial: Is There a Graduate Sell By Date? Royal Bank of Scotland Group Bibby Financial Services Majestic Wine Warehouse Graduate Prospects Manhattan Associates Royal Navy Chartered Institute of Personnel Costain Oil & Gas Process Ltd Somerset County Council Digby Morgan EPSRC MSPS Ltd Samuel Heath & Sons Plc Manhattan Furniture BSRIA InBev ORC International Editorial: Turn Around Editorial: Postgrad Fairs Bournemouth University Queen Mary, University of London University of Manchester

Graduate Prospects - March 5, 2008

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