GCCA | Graduate Careers Council of Australia

Graduate Careers Australia

ergo - Number 87 June 2002

The Graduate Managers’ Forum

The Australian Public Service Graduate Managers’ Forum (GMF) first met in December 2000 when a small group of Federal Public Service graduate program managers met to see if there was any interest in periodic round table discussions on graduate issues.

Previously, Recruitment Services Australia (RSA) had provided the opportunity for contact between APS graduate recruiters and managers and with the establishment of the GMF many agencies were pleased to have the opportunity to meet again and discuss issues relevant to government graduate recruitment and development.

GMF Represents Twenty Five Agencies

The GMF has proven to be a very popular forum. Today we have over 25 agencies on our email list and representatives (on average) from 15 agencies at our meetings, held every six to eight weeks.

Fundamentally the GMF is driven by the demand for high quality graduates across the APS and we deal with a range of issues including recruitment, training and development, retention and also government policy and procedures.

Despite the fact that in some ways we are competing for the same group of graduates, there is a strong spirit of cooperation within the group as evidenced by the support and advice the more experienced graduate managers provide to other GMF members. For example with the 2002 round of University careers fairs recently completed across the country, the GMF members had the opportunity to compare their experiences and perhaps redefine and enhance their marketing strategies for 2003 based on the advice received across the table.

Recently, the GMF lobbied DEWR to place an APS Graduate page on Australian Jobsearch (www.jobsearch.gov.au) which has now become a one stop shop for graduates seeking information on APS graduate development programs. Given that Jobsearch has 3.5 million hits per day this is a very pleasing outcome and in the future Jobsearch will become an important mechanism by which APS Agencies will be able to advertise their graduate programs.

The GMF is largely self driven by members who take on these duties over and above their normal work, and perhaps this is where the success of the GMF lies. Membership is voluntary, so those who are there want to be there. We find that our members are dedicated to their role as graduate managers and are always seeking to enhance these positions. Here, the GMF can provide valuable help.

If you are an APS graduate recruiter or manager and would like more information on the GMF please email [email protected] or phone 02 6213 6508