Graduate Careers Australia
ergo - Number 93 December 2003
Getting that Grad Debuts in 2003
At the end of October 2003 as students moved into exam time and the graduate careers community paused to take stock after a hectic recruitment season, the GCCA held its inaugural graduate recruitment day, Getting That Grad. Staged at the Australian Institute of Management in St Kilda in Melbourne and then again two days later in North Sydney, the event was attended mainly by graduate recruiters, as well as a number of recruitment consultants and services, software vendors and professional associations.
The program was developed mainly for graduate recruiters from medium-to-large organisations with an intake in excess of 20 or 30 graduates per year and with an ongoing succession plan. Attendees ranged from those who had been in the job for no more than a few weeks, right up to some of the “old hands” with many years of experience, and the discussion was both lively and informative for the newcomers.
Starting with an overview of the current and historic graduate labour market, and moving through the demographics of the present day graduate pool, the presenters moved on to the mechanics of a formalised graduate process. From here the content covered a variety of topical issues including marketing methods, the impact of technology particularly in volume recruiting and developing an efficient selection process. The addition of key guest speakers gave a fresh perspective on some other issues such as retention strategies and the role of careers services in the process, the final panel of speakers sparking a great deal of animated discussion in the attendees.
Feedback about the event has been excellent, and it is set to become an annual fixture in the GCCA’s calendar, along with some other initiatives planned to further the discourse between universities and graduate employers. Our warm thanks are extended to our guest presenters over the two days – Jeannie King (University of Ballarat), Adam Clark (People Business), Craig Aunger (Talentzone), Di Rachinger (University of Melbourne), Sarah Felice (AAGE), Leigh Mabin (University of Western Sydney), Malcolm McKenzie (University of Technology, Sydney), Lisa Halloran (Illuminati Partners), Patrizia Anzellotti (Robert Walters) and Deborah Haines (IBM Corporation.)
Dugald McNaughtan
Communications Coordinator, GCCA
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