Graduate Careers Australia
Graduate Grapevine - Number 7, Autumn 2007
Latest Recruiting Trends from the USA
This article has been extracted from the Fall 2006 edition of the NACE Journal and was written by Troy D Nunamaker, MEd, MHRD, Director of Internships and Educational Career Services and Flora Riley, MEd, Executive Director of the Michelin Career Centre Clemson University, South Carolina.
Employers, faculty, administration and others are constantly asking two questions:
- what is the latest recruiting trend
- what does the economy and the job market look like for our graduates?
The Michelin Career Centre at Clemson University in the USA has successfully pursued one avenue to answer both questions on a regular basis. During their busy recruiting cycle, careers staff find it difficult to connect with employers during campus visits, information sessions and Career Fairs. Clemson’s Career Centre has found it effective and informative to invite employers back to campus in August for an employer retreat before the northern autumn recruiting season begins. Faculty and staff are also invited to participate in the retreat. Employers appreciate the opportunity to build relationships with faculty in their discipline, and faculty value the chance to build their industry network.
Program
At each two-day employer retreat graduate employers, careers staff and faculty members share ideas and information about recruiting, industry standards on recruiting and selection, graduate trends and other relevant topics.
Retreat delegates are given updates on current issues and initiatives being carried out by career advisers and the university Deans of Students and Faculty Chairs. Round table discussions concentrate on current topics such as:
- early identification of potential hires
- recruitment trends
- building campus relations
- minority recruiting.
Keynote addresses are held on current economic development issues, and some social activities are scheduled.
Employers, careers staff and faculty value the opportunity to get away from their daily functions for two days and delve into important current topics in our field. The evaluations from employers and faculty are always positive.
Since 2003, the facilitators have noticed that some ideas are recurrent themes, while some discussion points such as best recruiting practices, hiring and benefit packages and the demand for applicants have changed with the profession.
Recurrent Themes
Employers at these retreats have consistently commented on economic trends and recruiting, and certain desired skill sets have been cited every year, eg. consistently, they are looking for candidates with:
- good communication skills
- problem-solving abilities
- leadership
- flexibility
- transferable skills.
The desire for these employable skill sets should be no surprise. However, this information warrants special attention because it was not only commented on during all three years of conversation by the employers present, but the facilitators at the round table discussions have also determined it to be an overriding theme each year as well. Rather than just be taken as fact, the idea of transferable skills continues to be a hot topic. Another area consistently discussed by employers at these retreats was student candidates’ expectations of the workplace. Recruiters and managers are experiencing an intense learning curve to understand what motivates their graduate recruits and how they view their career path and their starting salaries. They have found that graduates expect to:
- make significantly more money
- have higher job classifications
than what is typical of a starting position.
For some companies this has been a stumbling block when talking about retention rates. Students backing out of job offers have also been somewhat of a problem.
Best Recruiting Practices
Recruiting techniques have been transformed during recent years. Some of the larger organisations are using university teams to maintain contact with campuses. These teams are assembled by companies to recruit at a specific uni with no other recruiting responsibilities. Along those lines, companies are also using recent recruits from a university as ambassadors and resources for identifying ‘friendly’ faculty members during the recruiting season. Those alumni become the resident experts for that campus.
According to event participants at the round tables, branding and the development of faculty relationships are also becoming more prevalent practices on campus. Branding continues to help companies keep a presence on campus even during decreased hiring times. The reward for becoming part of the daily campus language and culture is invaluable when the organisation is ready to start hiring again. What’s more, recruiters commented that faculty relationships benefit the company not only through identifying student leaders, but as a means for exchanging information on jobs, and on skills sets and duties in the classroom versus the workplace. A few avenues for this practice include inviting faculty and careers staff to site visits, lunches and teaching classrooms; or visiting groups as guest/expert speakers on pertinent academic content.
At the first round table discussion in 2003, virtual information sessions were still an upward movement in recruiting. However, in 2005, organisations reported a returned focus to on-campus recruiting, eye-to-eye meetings and face-to-face recruiting. According to round table participants, students are savvier than ever and can see through the ‘smoke’ of technology. Therefore, companies should ask themselves, “Are we using the technological advances as an added resource and tool for candidates or as screens to avoid interacting with candidates?”
Recruiters present at the retreat also reported over the past three years a major shift towards recruiting ‘across the board’ majors. This helps provide intangible skills like communication, leadership and teamwork, which results in well-rounded/well-balanced professionals. They are recruiting a personality type, not a degree type. Others at the retreats have reported engaging in focused recruiting activities by visiting specialised schools/programs/majors and by pursuing interest groups. Almost all of the companies present at the retreats commented that they were continuously being charged by their managers to have a limited number, or target group, of universities at which to recruit. It is believed that these budget constraints and target approaches will continue through the second half of this decade.
Hiring and Benefit Packages
Employers are finding that educating the student candidates on their benefit programs and ‘total package’ offers is more common than in the past. Students are becoming astute to the array of benefit packages that are available among employers. They are most likely getting their knowledge from parents, as the student-parent connections become more prevalent. Recently the term ‘helicopter parent’ has increasingly been heard at the retreat discussions. More than ever, students want structured and clearly defined training programs – they want the avenues for professional growth and development. Student candidates are more likely to ask the question “Where is company X going to take my career?” Each year, more applicants are requesting to go abroad to work. This is true whether they have the experience and skills or not. Recruiters at the retreats reported the graduates are looking for positions with excitement and responsibility, and they are looking for roles where they can see the results of their work. Larger organisations can sometimes find this difficult to achieve.
Over the past couple of years, employers at the event have also unfailingly commented on candidate site/location placement. According to them, students are increasingly becoming opposed to relocating. This may be explained partly by the plethora of research on the changing student-parent relationship dynamics. They either want to stay close to their families or close to the university. This limits job opportunities for the student. Even though the smaller, one-site companies may prefer to hire such students, the decision not to relocate can affect the student’s opportunity for advancements and promotions – and even hurt employment candidacy – with the larger organisations.
Moreover, recruiters commented that the student/recruiter contact continues to increase through the hiring process each year. More time is spent with each candidate than ever before. Even though the timeline has stayed about the same for recruiting a candidate, the volume of candidate email continues to grow exponentially over phone conversations.
Demand for Applicants
Consistent with USA national trends and data, employers said that the recruiting outlook has grown increasingly positive since 2003. This trend was reportedly due to an improving USA economy and more experienced employees looking for other opportunities after recovering from the economic downturn and consequent redundancies. Others found the increase in openings to be due to a high number of retirees.
During a recent event, recruiting was believed to be up so much that the competition shift has changed back from candidates competing for jobs to employers competing for candidates. During the 2003 retreat, companies were being very selective in their hiring process. Due to the large numbers of candidates, some organisations were opting to hire experienced individuals over new graduates. With the change in supply-and-demand, and increases in co-op and internship numbers, demand by employers for candidates with demonstrated skills has been met and the tables have turned. Candidates now have the upper hand. Also, results are less of a priority with some companies, with talent and skills taking its place. Even though internships and co-op experiences are rising in the USA, the economy is cyclical and thus so is the recruiting world. Most seasoned professionals at the retreats felt that demand would come back full circle in the future.
Implications and Future Recruiting Topics
With some discussion points such as best recruiting practices, hiring and benefit packages and the demand for applicants, there has been a transition in the arena of recruiting trends and the current economy. Employers and career staff have noticed changes in the graduate employment sector; however, some things stay constant. Employers are still looking for the same skill sets and attributes that they were a few years ago. To no ones’ surprise, employers still desire good communication skills, problem-solving abilities, leadership and flexibility in candidates. Likewise, there also seems to be a continued disconnect from year to year between what employers can offer in an employment position and what graduates expect early on in their professional careers.
Summary
Career centre practitioners are called upon by their institutions, and often the media, to know what the latest recruiting trend is and how the economy is performing in relation to jobs for graduates. At the Clemson University Michelin Career Centre, they have found one road to success in getting those answers. Inviting employers to campus for an employer retreat prior to the recruiting season has been helpful and informative for university careers staff and employers. Holding an employer retreat is a way to connect with employers and to share information in a relaxed environment.
Reprinted from the Fall 2006 NACE Journal, with permission of the National Association of Colleges and Employers, copyright holder. GCA also wishes to extend its thanks to Troy Nunamaker and Flora Riley, authors of ‘Recruiting Trends and the Current Economy’, for granting their kind permission to publish this article in Graduate Grapevine and their invaluable help in its production.
Authors
Troy D Nunamaker, MEd, MHRD, Director of Internships and Educational Career Services, Michelin Career Centre Clemson University
Troy received a bachelor degree from Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio, and a masters degree and MHRD from Clemson University. He has presented at professional conferences such as the SACE regional conference and AAEE national conferences. He has also been involved with such groups as SCACE, GoinGlobal’s Advisory Board, CEIA, NACE’s Executive Leadership Development program and the Board of Directors for SAEE.
Flora Riley, MEd, Executive Director, Michelin Career Centre Clemson University
Flora holds a bachelor degree from Clemson University, a masters degree in counselling education from Clemson University and a Behaviour Management Certificate from JP Stevens Textile Company, now known as West Point Stevens. She has completed the NACE Management Institute, the SACSA/NASPA Mid-Manager and New Professional Institutes and presently in Leadership South Carolina. She has served on NACE Excellence Awards committee and has served on the SACE Board for Professional Development, and presented at five SACE conferences. She received honourable mention for a Research Fellowship and the Certificate of Appreciation award from the SACE Board for 2001.
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