Planning Your Next Graduate Recruitment Program

Quality Assurance

Quality assurance is a combination of procedures which are designed to constantly check how well a process is working, predict how it can be improved (or how it might fail) and make corrections before it actually goes wrong. It is very costly to wait until recruitment and induction are over, and then realise that you've recruited the wrong people because, for example, you hadn't thoroughly understood what the technical manager really wanted. It is much better to check with the manager that you have correctly interpreted the requirements early on, so that adjustments can be made before time or resources are wasted. Of course, it would be even better if the manager was involved in the selection process all the way along, though this isn't always practical.

Quality assurance exists in contrast to ‘quality control’ which relies on detecting errors in products once they have been made (or finding your recruits lack certain skills, after they have joined your organisation). Some of the key quality assurance issues are:

• an understanding of why you're recruiting graduates
• clear knowledge of what you're looking for in your graduate recruits
• forward knowledge of recruitment numbers (and disciplines, if appropriate)
• knowledge of what students want in an employer, and how they choose potential employers
• staff training
• communication and feedback within the recruitment team
• appropriate communication with candidates
• constant checking of filter ratios
• choice of assessment mechanisms and criteria
• long-term relationships with careers and departmental staff.

In addition, it is a manager's responsibility to ensure that processes, plans and details are documented so that others can use them. Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) should be created so that if someone new has to take over from an existing manager, the project or process can continue as before. These may relate to data entry, interviewer training, methods of scoring application forms and even high-use phone numbers.

A situation common to Careers Services is that when a recruitment manager leaves an organisation, there is usually a following period of turmoil. This may be because the new manager wants to try new ideas and does know what did or did not work before. However, it may also be that they have to work in the dark because the previous holder of the role did not brief them properly or was not available to brief them. The total quality approach has been applied in the manufacturing industry for many years but the principles apply equally well to the recruitment process.

The basic supporting elements to ensure a total quality approach are:

• well defined and articulated objectives and plans
• right team of people with clear responsibilities and management
• appropriate techniques and skills to support and continually improve the process
• well managed communication systems
• development of strong relationships with suppliers.

The difficult part is putting all these supporting elements together and making them work in your organisation. Best of luck to you and your team!

• Project Planning
• Managing the Day-to-Day Activities
• Staff Development
• Quality Assurance