Two out of three graduates make a mistake with their first job

Nick Elvin

Two thirds of graduates regret accepting job offers as soon as they start in the role, with many struggling to find a position and an employer that really motivates them, according to a new report by advisory firm CEB.

The global report, entitled ‘Driving New Success Strategies in Graduate Recruitment’, says that one in four graduates surveyed expected to leave their first employer within a year, and one in five has applied for a role that does not interest them just to have something on their CV while searching for the career they want.

Employers are also suffering, with many saying they could not find the talent they need, while graduate recruitment programmes are proving costly due to workers moving on after 12 to 18 months.

Eugene Burke, chief science and analytics officer at CEB, said the report raises two key questions: ‘what are employers really looking for in their graduates?’, and ‘do they understand what makes today’s graduates tick?’

“Today’s graduate recruitment market is stuck in a vicious circle,” he said. “Graduates are struggling to wade through generic company messaging to find their way to the right job while businesses are wasting millions chasing high numbers of graduates who leave within the first year. We estimate that in the UK, this amounted to sunk cost of approximately £112 million in 2013.

“Employers need to rethink their approach to graduate recruitment. The first step is to challenge their recruiters to show they are delivering the graduate talent that will drive organisational goals.  Just meeting quotas isn’t enough.

“Employers need to break down the silos between recruitment and learning and development functions to maximise their investment in acquiring and developing graduate talent. That’s what today’s graduates want – to understand what opportunities there are to develop and grow, demonstrate the talents they have and progress in the organisation. Many firms simply lack clear intelligence on their graduate talent to know what is going to make them stay and be high-performing employees.

“Organisations and the recruitment industry have a simple choice – carry on with the same old practices that do not work yet expect things to change, or adopt a more intelligent model that will drive a stronger return and build a more effective brand as the graduate employer of choice.”