Graduate Careers Australia
The Graduate Grapevine - Number 1, September 2005
Retention Strategies: You’ve Got Them … Now Keep Them!
By this time of the year, many graduate recruiters have already signed up next year’s graduate intake. But in the positive graduate market we are facing at the current time, the chances of losing some of those graduates to better offers from other employers are high. The trick to ensuring that your new intake actually arrives on the first day of work is to make them feel a valued part of your organisation from the day of initial recruitment, so that they are constantly reminded that their decision to join you in preference to others was the correct one.
Try some of these hints:
• Offer them vacation work, but give them the opportunity to also have a final break just before they commence on a permanent basis.
• Add them to the mailing list for any regular company communications or newsletters. Invite them to participate in any corporate sporting events, or see if they can join any existing corporate sports teams or competitions (basketball, squash, etc.). Or consider setting up a team just for your new graduates or conducting a ‘new intake sporting day’. You may have just recruited a winner for your company!
• Invite them to any relevant social functions and the Christmas party.
• Consider having some special graduate functions where you invite the new intake and your graduates from last year’s intake. Try to get some senior representatives from your company to also attend.
• Send them a birthday card and put them on the Christmas mailing list.
• Consider developing a special area of your website for incoming graduates – providing regular updates, details of social activities, organised chat sessions, etc.
• Send them a text message on a regular basis about some aspect of their orientation program that may be of particular interest – or simply just to say ‘Hi’ and keep in touch.
• Allocate their future buddy and arrange for them to meet regularly in a non-work setting.
• Ensure that they are regularly updated regarding commencement matters.
During this time period between recruitment and commencement, you will also want to ensure that your organisation is prepared for the new graduate intake. Use this checklist below as a prompt for areas that may need to be addressed:
• Ensure that all HR policies are up-to-date and appropriate for graduates.
• Start to develop the basic rotation program for the graduates or identify areas of employment if no rotation program is in operation.
• Organise the graduate orientation program – line up key speakers, develop the program, book any required venues, etc.
• Review your graduate development program.
And most importantly, involve your line managers and those who will be working with the graduates right from the beginning. This can require:
• educating existing staff so that they have realistic expectations about incoming graduates
• educating or supporting staff to take responsibility for cultivating the talent of their graduates and ensuring employee satisfaction
• appointing existing staff as buddies or mentors for the new graduates.
Next issue, we’ll look at some key orientation issues.
This article is based on a session of the popular Getting That Grad program for new graduate recruiters, which will be conducted in Sydney on 22 September and in Melbourne on 6 October.
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