Is some work experience more equal than others?
The number of graduates with good grades is rocketing and employers, unable to distinguish between candidates on academic grounds, are looking for something extra on the CV. Professor Peter Hawkins, a graduate employment expert at Liverpool University, has said that work experience is now “absolutely crucial” for young people. He describes a degree as “no longer a meal ticket to people’s future – it’s merely a licence to hunt.” Continue Reading »
Weeding out ‘unsuitable’ teaching applicants
Whilst it is not unusual for employers to ask prospective employees to undergo psychometric assessment as a tool to assist in their development it is rare, except for verbal and numeric reasoning, for it to be widely used as part of the recruitment process.
But, in a global first for England, the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA) has announced that by 2012 all applicants for University teacher training courses will undergo psychometric assessment. Continue Reading »
Do top law firms erect barriers to social mobility?
Some elite London law firms are passing over well-qualified, white working-class job applicants in favour of middle-class graduates from elite universities who they think would be better for their image, new research says.
The firms studied had successfully recruited Continue Reading »
Top Firm’s Trial Dress Code Subject Of Much Mirth
UBS is trialing a new dress code for employees (the trial is starting off in five retail branches in Switzerland). And already the 44-page document is the subject of much mirth.
According to The Times, the document points out: ‘An impeccable appearance can procure interior peace and a feeling of security’. Something lost in the translation, eh ? Perhaps, but then a UBS spokesperson told the newspaper: ‘A correct appearance is part of banking custom’.
Anyway, The Times says that apparently only Continue Reading »
How to find the one that you really, really want
If you make chocolate, have a well known brand and are owned by a global foods group then your appeal as an employer, and your advertising budget, is going to be greater than most. Who wouldn’t want to be an assistant taster to a “head of taste” – and, yes, that’s a real job title.
Micah Carr-Hill, Green & Blacks head of taste, commented that “jobs like this very rarely come up”. So, no surprise there then. He conceded that “there’s obviously a lot of tasting involved” but there are also more scientific and creative elements of the job.
Green & Blacks’, a division of Kraft the US foods group, approach to the ongoing recruitment has been a brand managers Continue Reading »
Graduate recruitment market ‘optmistic’ as employers increase intake
Graduate recruitment is showing “signs of optimism” as one-third of employers increase their intake of university leavers.
This is according to the 2010/11 XpertHR annual graduate recruitment survey, which also found that 71.6% of companies are currently recruiting graduates and 84.2% predict that they will do so in the future.
Since the recession, employer demand for university leavers has fallen, with graduate unemployment recently at its highest level in 17 years.
Despite large numbers of graduates looking for entry-level jobs, the survey found that Continue Reading »