Last week I was having a new boiler plumbed into my house. All very interesting I hear you say (not to mention timely, what with the temperatures dropping) but what does this have to do with student recruitment?
Under the carpet in one of the spare rooms our plumber found an entirely intact copy of the Daily Mail from November 17th 1994. Resisting the urge to burn it immediately, I had a brief flick through and reached the Career Mail section (this being in the days when print advertising for job roles was still a multi £million business).
It so happened that this particular issue focused on the skills that Graduate recruiters of the day were chasing. It gave an interesting - albeit fairly brief and high level - insight into the working world that faced individuals graduating all the way back in 1994/1995. The headlines made for interesting reading...
Demand for students with engineering and financial qualifications was significantly outstripping supply. Recruiters were also looking beyond traditional academic qualifications for their students to possess the softer skills that would enable them to begin impacting the business they join early on – communication skills, commercial awareness, teamwork. The top graduate recruiters of the day included Price Waterhouse, Coopers & Lybrand, Ernst & Young and KPMG Peat Marwick, holding 4 of the top 5 positions in the newspaper's run down.
Some 20 years later and what has changed we might immediately ask? Engineering in particular is still in huge demand. Those softer skills, for consulting and advisory businesses such as Deloitte, have never been so important. And the professional services firms still hold most of the Top 5 positions for graduate recruiters.
But there have been shifts over the last two decades.
For one, the article mentions employers beginning to see the value of the work experience or sandwich course options offered by the polytechnics. While the Poly's themselves may be resigned to history, Deloitte is proud to now offer a huge range of work experience, placement and other chances to engage with and experience a working life at the firm. In fact we place increasing value on the skills that can be gained in work experience or teaming roles, wherever that experience may have been gained. Of course academics remain critical, but at interview we love to hear from students who have demonstrated important skills outside of the lecture theatre.
Of course salaries have also changed (although, with an average of just under £15,000 at the time where no tuition fees were charged, the argument about being better off is hard to quantify).
The other massive, amazing and scarcely believable change from 1994 to 2013 is the absence of Deloitte from that previous list of top employers. From sitting outside the Top 12 in the mid 1990's to being named Graduate Employer of Choice for Consulting in 2013. That's an incredible period of growth and success we have seen and continue to build on. If being part of that kind of business is something which appeals, visit www.deloitte.co.uk/graduates to find your path with us.
While you do that, I'm off to dig around under some more carpets to see what else I can find.
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