Sneak peek: Annual Student Recruitment Survey 2018

Sep 21, 2018 | Attraction & marketing, Sector & policy, Selection & assessment

Ahead of our Annual Student Recruitment Survey 2018 launch on Monday, we share some of the key trends dominating student recruitment and selection.

ISE Annual Recruitment Survey 2018 explores how employers are bringing young people into the labour market to gather the talent that they need to meet their skills requirements. It is our first report created by the ISE’s new Chief Research Officer, Tristram Hooley, who you’ll hear much more from over the coming months.

A big thank you to the 138 members, representing 17 sectors, who took the time to respond over the summer, your input is invaluable.

More than a hundred members were given a preview of some of the data at our event yesterday at the University of London. We also heard from Dr Bob Gilworth, Director of The Careers Group and President of the Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services. The Guardian also presented new research on generation Z.

Our survey launches officially on Monday (24 September 2018). Inside you’ll find a wealth of information and data to help inform recruitment strategies and activities, from how teams are resourced and the investment made to approaches to graduate, apprentice, intern and school leaver recruitment as well as university collaboration.

Here are a few of the key findings around the recruitment and selection of young talent:

Employers need to resource recruitment activities

Recruitment is expensive and around half of employers (54%) are actively trying to reduce the costs incurred during hiring. On average, employers have a team of around six people to run their recruitment. This team is typically supplemented with three external staff. In addition to staffing, employers are also spending an average of £2,189 for every new hire. The resourcing that is allocated to recruitment varies considerably by sector.

A mix of approaches to recruitment and selection

The overwhelming majority of employers characterise their recruitment approach as ‘competency-based’ (79%) but there are also substantial numbers who favour ‘strengths-based’ (43%), ‘valuesbased’ (32%) and ‘technical’ (40%) approaches to recruitment. The majority combines more than one approach, suggesting that candidates need to be ready to answer a range of different kinds of questions and manage different selection activities.

Most employers set minimum requirements for entry

Degree classification is the most common minimum requirement reported by employers (58%) but 15% use prior attainment (A levels) as a minimum requirement while 19% of employers now choose not to set any minimum requirements.

Similar recruitment and selection activities for graduates and apprentices

Employers were more likely to use online applications and psychometric tests with graduates, but the only area where there was a complete difference was in the use of training providers to manage some of the recruitment for apprentices. While many use psychometric aptitude assessments, the use of personality tests is fairly uncommon (only used by 18%).