GCCA | Graduate Careers Council of Australia

Graduate Careers Australia

ergo - Number 89 December 2002

The Vital Partnership – Workshops in Review

The recent Vital Partnership conference, held between 18 and 20 November 2002, was a joint initiative of the Graduate Careers Council of Australia (GCCA), National Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services (NAGCAS), and the Australian Association of Graduate Employers (AAGE). During the event, a number of workshops were held to provide opportunities for best practice development, resource sharing and information about the latest techniques and technology being employed in the graduate labour sector. Three of these workshops are reproduced in summary below to give an indication of the types of themes covered:

Marketing of Careers Services

This workshop looked at effective ways careers services can market themselves both internally and externally. In keeping with the theme of the conference, the vital partnership between employers and careers services was highlighted.

Effective marketing relies on a thorough knowledge of both the product and stakeholders’ interests, and therefore undertaking a SWOT analysis of the careers service was presented as a valuable starting point. The concept of becoming a “one stop shop” was presented, the major step being to “capitalise on your cutting edge – both as a careers service and a university.”

The cyclical nature of graduate recruitment was emphasised through ten-year analysis of employer statistics from UNSW Careers and Employment. With less employers recruiting on campus this year, UNSW Careers and Employment has adjusted its marketing strategy. The importance of being responsive to the cycle of recruitment was covered, as well as the need to maintain relationships with employers who may be having a hiatus from campus recruitment. The value of networking with other careers services and professional associations was stressed – both as a source of new ideas and support.

The workshop provided practical tools, and the brainstorming sessions allowed the collective knowledge of the group to be shared. The concluding message was the value of continually seeking fresh approaches, and of enjoying the process.

Dawn White
University of New South Wales

Supporting Postgraduate Students – How do Their Needs Differ?

The postgraduate student population is diverse, is more experienced and more specialised that the undergraduate. It provides the engine room of any University’s research effort, and it is largely responsible for the enhancement of a University’s research reputation (even though higher profile academics may get the credit). However, owing to resource cuts and the pressure to expand service reach, current career support does not provide adequate cover to postgraduate students.

International models demonstrate a far greater commitment of resources to providing this support, especially in the United States. This support is orientated to employment outcomes, and rightly so. In the United Kingdom, there is significant Government support to assist PhD candidates into the workplace. Something similar in NZ would be welcome!

I have proposed a separate postgraduate careers support service, called “PostGradCareers”, to enable a surer focus upon individual support and a more efficient and effective linkage between research demand, research capacity and employment outcome. This focuses upon establishing links before the degree is finished, and the role of PostGradCareers is as a facilitator of those links.

The model is a reconstruction of elements that many Universities currently employ, and that we employ to a lesser extent at undergraduate level. However, I have not seen quite this model in operation elsewhere, in particular in relation to its linkages with purchasers of research services. There are careers services and placement services, and there are research offices locating high quality research opportunities for students, but they do not seem to work together as I envisage they might.

Tony Crane
Auckland University, NZ

Effective Selection – Why must we consider “Corporate Personality” or the Work Environment?

How can one graduate be a high performer in one job, yet under perform in the same job elsewhere? The reason is often their degree of match with the “corporate personality” or the work environment.

Tonie Amos, from CORPORATE FUSION, led the discussion on the importance of profiling candidates with the work environment – to attract, develop and retain the best-fit graduates.

The negative impact or adjustment process that graduates and organisations experience during a mismatch was also discussed. Many unfortunate personal experiences in the group were also brought to light.

The group also agreed that the objective was not only to attract the right graduates, but to engage them once they were on board. Again the work environment played a major role in increasing organisation commitment, retention and job satisfaction – and hence return on the organisation’s investment in new talent. In light of the uniqueness of the upcoming Generation Y, the challenge of engaging graduates of today’s society became clear.

Participants achieved from the workshop:

• A greater awareness of the importance of the work environment and corporate personailty in graduate careers
• The process and importance of engaging graduates
• The impact of ROI and stress of not considering corporate personality in graduate recruitment and development and
• A methodology to profile graduate preferences against the work environment

Tonie Amos
Corporate Fusion