http://www.unigrad.com.au/The latest blog feeds from unigrad.com.auCopyright 2012 unimail Pty Ltd. All rights reservedFirst things first, Thanks to all in attendance for a great conference!  As usual, it was an amazing week with some fabulous people, both old and new!  The conference had some real highlights for me..Employee Enragement with James Adonis set the tone of candid conversation covering real life issues and what employees really want.  Working with people you like, says Adonis, is what drives people to stay.  Getting those people who like each other to work effectively is the tricky bit.The Melbourne Aquarium hosted 350 delegates and was sponsored by Fusion.  Huge thanks to David Cvetkovski and his team for what was a brilliant show as we all watched Ben Reeve’s tiny (jealous!) little ankles peering out of a scuba suit, holding placards of the winners from the night’s draw.Thursday started again with inspiration by Reach, if only we were all as confident as Jodie.  Many in the crowd were moved.  I also particularly enjoyed the GradConnection session on stats and how to read them.  It did get a little “CIA” for my liking but it was very interesting to see it in play.BHP & PWC both brought to light the ins and outs of their grad programs and the ATO provided a fun and interactive view on how to communicate your campaign to the CEO.Tim Wise of High Fliers turned us all on with his numbers as we headed into the Gala Awards night full of anticipation.So the AGRIA’s!  As always some great companies and people were recognized on the night and we’d like to again congratulate them on their successes:Award for Best PRINT Marketing Strategy Large programsParsons Brinckerhoff Australia (PB) (agency : unimail) Small programsDepartment of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (ironic?) Award for Best ONLINE Marketing Strategy Large programsXstrata Group (agency: urban executive) Small programsL'Oréal Australia (agency: Thinklab)  Will Spensley Memorial Award for INNOVATION in the Graduate MarketQueensland Rail (QR) Award for Best Graduate DEVELOPMENT ProgramBHP Billiton Award for Best CAREERS SERVICE for Employers Monash University Award for Best SUPPLIER to the Graduate Recruitment Industry  UnimailAward for Best CONTRIBUTION to the Graduate Recruitment IndustryBen Reeves, Australian Association of Graduate Employers  Award for Graduate Recruiter of the YearHayley Warne, GE Capital Finance Australasia Award for Aspirational Employer of the YearGoogleThere were also some awesome stats that came out of the conference on the final day.  Some highlights from the AAGE Employer Survey report:Vacancy rates went from -22.2% to 18% : almost a 40% increase in grad jobs over the past 12 months!65% of the 175 companies surveyed recruits from 1-25 grads9% of those companies recruit over 100 gradsNo for the contemplation.  It was a great conference, but I’ve noted one thing from all the sessions and all the questions and all the ideas.  Everyone keeps asking for the “Silver Bullet Approach”, the one thing that solves all problems for all people and unfortunately it doesn’t work that way.  Asking someone what kind of car they would like to buy would get you a range from Ferrari to Toyota, from red sports car to big black people mover.  It is never one size fits all. In the same way there are 10 different dress sizes in 10 different colors in 10 different price ranges, so too should there be grad campaigns.  What you need, want and want to say will determine which parts of the process you focus on the most.  Be sure to take the information you learnt and apply it how it works for you – not how it works for your neighbours.I had a wonderful time at the conference, from shark tanks to science labs; from social media to print debates; from PWC to BHP; and from walking into a lift backwards to creating faux marketing campaigns for the ATO.  I loved meeting and learning from everyone.  I’m already excited for next year! What did you enjoy the most?  Tweet it and msg me on @acculligan or email me and let me know! /employers/520/2010-aage-wrap-up---kudos-congrats-and-a-little-co.aspxMon, 15 Nov 2010 16:39:45 GMTGraduates in their 2nd year of work who are looking to develop themselves further are not craving time management, team work and problem solving skills workshops. They want to move beyond ‘basic skills’ to ‘leadership-oriented’ skills. So what are we doing about it?In the AAGE’s recent Graduate Development and Retention Survey for 2010, 1,754 graduate in Australia were asked what areas they wanted further education. Here were the top 10 results:    1.    Technical Skills specific to my career: 45%    2.    Business Knowledge: 45%    3.    Industry and Business Knowledge: 40%    4.    Influence and Negotiation Skills: 38%    5.    Project Management: 34%    6.    Analytical Skills: 33%    7.    People Management: 31%    8.    Relationship Building: 26%    9.    Knowledge of Business Etiquette: 24%    10.    Conflict Resolution: 24%Leadership-oriented skills like these are what many top graduates are looking for. Not surprisingly; young, fresh new leaders are what many businesses are looking to their graduate programs to provide.So my question is this:Why not focus on these “leadership-oriented” skills in their 1st year? Why wait?The answer is because many 1st year graduate development programs are too focused on ‘basic skills’ like time management, team work and problem solving amongst others. This means that leadership-oriented skills like those listed above often get held back until year 2 or 3 … or just get left out all together!Here’s an idea … if the industry could find a way to effectively and efficiently empower graduates to self-teach the ‘basic skills’ BEFORE they arrived on day 1, wouldn’t it make sense to then focus graduate development programs on ‘leadership-oriented’ skills from that point onwards?Let’s get a little clever and think carefully about this.  Employers recruit grads because they're smart, switched on and keen. Most 'basic skills' can be self taught with the right tools in the right environment by people who are … wait for it … smart, switched on and keen!What’s more, an average 6 month gap between when most grads accept their job offers and when they actually start the following year could be a perfect window of time to provide them with self-teach tools to do it.  They’d turn up on day one job ready with the basic skills under their belt, and your entire graduate development program is 1 year ahead of schedule. Now you can develop new leaders, faster.A focus on leadership development from the outset is already happening with some leading employers and it is fast becoming best practice in the industry. Why? Because it simply speeds up how quickly businesses see a return on their graduate programs in terms of creating a pool of new leaders … and does so because it invests limited training budgets in skill areas that provide more ‘bang for their buck’ long term.Josh Mackenzie is a tour de force in the leadership market with infectious enthusiasm and a palatable passion for what he does.  For more information on how to get him involved with your graduate program, visit the DBL website or shoot him an email jmackenzie@dblearning.biz /employers/515/develop-new-leadersfaster.aspxTue, 26 Oct 2010 11:27:08 GMTUnfortunately for students, there is no unique combination of skills and attributes that employers are looking for. Each employer is different and looking for different things from applicants. The public sector is a very different work environment. It has great career opportunities, but it is also highly scrutinised and accountable for its actions, there is a high level of change and expectations to achieve a lot with minimal resources. Also, there can be multiple organisational cultures within one department let alone across the sector. Because we want to retain our employees, all these factors are considered when developing our recruitment strategies. Recruitment practices can easily identify things such as communication skills, teamwork, problem solving, computer literacy and leadership potential. What is much harder to identify and assess are an applicants personal attributes. These are the personal attributes that almost guarantee a positive employment experience in the public sector. The top ten personal attributes I look for in candidates are: Confidence – not to be confused with arrogance. Someone who is not afraid to ask questions, doesn’t feel the need to impress others with what they know, they feel comfortable with themselves and does what he/she feels is right. Flexibility – can adapt easily in an ever changing environment. Someone who can quickly meet the needs of clients when facing multiple priorities, can adapt to the personality and work habits of co-workers and supervisors, can move to different areas of the organisation and quickly integrate into new teams, can deal with changes to work procedures or the unexpected cancellation of projects. Motivation – keeps up-to-date with new developments and knowledge in their field. Someone who looks for self development opportunities and requires little supervision and direction to get work done. Dependability – responsible for themselves and their behaviour. Someone who gets to work on time, who carries out their tasks within agreed timeframes and keeps their supervisor informed on their progress or any other issues. Loyalty – dedicated to the organisation they work for. Someone who displays an understanding of the organisation, who is considerate of the investment made in them and talks positively about the organisation they work for. Initiative – takes the first step without prompting. Someone who doesn’t sit around waiting for work to come their way, who can identify an issue and implement a solution, who manages their time well and researches answers to questions before approaching co-workers and/or their supervisor. Positive – optimistic. Someone who seeks opportunities within their job or team, who displays a positive attitude despite their personal feelings about a decision or action by management, who tries hard and makes an effort to get on with others. Friendly – approachable. Someone who displays good teamwork skills and awareness of those around them. Can maintain work relationships and build networks. Ethical – willingness to work hard and work smart. Someone who makes decisions based on organisational policy, who can follow established rules, who uses resources efficiently and acts honestly. Humble – low estimate of one’s importance. Someone who is truly appreciative of the opportunities presented to them, who makes the most of what they have, who participates and contributes despite their personal opinion, who doesn’t think highly of themselves and is willing to learn and grow. So, how do you know if you have these attributes? Do you have the self-awareness to do an honest assessment of yourself? Maybe, you could ask people around you what they think. For example, if you receive an email from an employer advising you that you were unsuccessful for a graduate position, what is your immediate reaction? Do you send a heated email in reply or do you react professionally and request feedback to help you for next time? Try developing your own checklist of things to consider when applying for roles. This can include how you present yourself to employers at career fairs right through to when you submit your application. This will help you to ensure that you display these personal attributes throughout the recruitment process. Here are some other things to consider: Invest the time – applying for jobs takes time. Mass producing applications without any tailoring is not going to help you…and employers can tell! Proof read your documents…even have someone else read them for you. Do some practice online tests so you know what to expect.  Acceptance – accept the recruitment process as it is. Employers develop their recruitment processes specifically to meet the needs of their organisation. Respect this process. Professionalism – always interact with employers with professionalism. It doesn’t matter whether this is face-to-face, over the phone or via email. Do not speak negatively about any previous employers….this doesn’t show loyalty. Show appreciation for any assistance provided to you by the employer. Preparation – is the key to success. Research the organisation, particularly get a good understanding of what the key issues or projects are for that organisation at that time. Refer to the organisation using the correct terminology/title. Patience – don’t miss out on opportunities in your haste to succeed. Sometimes, particularly in the public service, your first role may not be your ideal, but it may lead to bigger and better things. A move sideways rather than upwards could be the best move you make. Building your networks will lead to further opportunities. There are many opportunities available to you….you just need to know what it is your looking for. Make an informed decision about which programs you apply for and put time and energy into your application/s. Yes…we want you to work for us…but most importantly we want the ‘right’ people working for us. Make sure you present yourself as the ‘right’ person! Best of luck with your career choices. /employers/512/the-10-thinks-we-like-about-you.aspxTue, 28 Sep 2010 13:34:17 GMTHello e-listeners!unigrad is in need of some excellent people to join our ever expanding team.  Available immediately are two roles, one for a Web Developer and one as a Business Development Manager.  We are looking for some exceptional candidates so if you know someone who would fit (or might you fit yourself) check out the links below for our job advert: WEBSITE DEVELOPER BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGERWe look forward to hearing from you!! /employers/475/unigrad-is-hiring.aspxThu, 08 Apr 2010 12:16:32 GMTThe GFC brought a new trend to the market that employers haven't seen for a few years.A nervous graduate.For the past 3 years strong employers have been focusing significant time and resources on ensuring their market-share knows who they are and developing leadership and development programs that gets their brand in a competitive marketplace. Employers couldn't depend on providing the highest salary to bring them the best grads.[jump]Students have been demanding more competitive options like travel, corporate responsibility, bonus structures, enhanced development programs, fast track options and the like. Employers had but no choice to follow suit.They labeled it Gen Y.I label it a "great work force".Bringing these changes to our work environment has changed the way we work, we live and what we leave behind.The last 14 months saw a significant difference for employment. From students stomping their feet and asking for more more more...to employers just shutting the doors and saying, I'm afraid there isn't any left. The average recruitment intake in the UK went from +14%/annum to -25%/annum.What happens now however, has been a wonderful solution. Employers that have taken time, effort and resources to develop more than a bottom line to students have a sustainable brand, a positive image and are being recognised more than ever for it.Students are becoming more and more educated. More and more advanced. More and more attractive to employers and developing their own personal brand more effectively.In turn employers that have developed their business brands in the past few years effectively now prove their worth in the market.If you are one of those employers that has looked at their grad program lightly and at the first sign of difficulty turned off the switch and shut the door, hid behind it and said.."no one's home" when the students come knocking..I can assure you it's a dangerous game to play.Students are the most advertising savvy group of consumers in the world. They have seen and will see more advertising each day than you and I will see in 10. Becoming fickle in a growing market even in an economic downturn is dangerous and turning away at the touch of adversity is like slapping a student in the face and saying...oh we didn't really mean what we said last year. And they will feel the sting for years.What we have noticed is a significant number of new employers entering the market this year..so much so that for every company we've seen "reduce" their spend or "reduce" their numbers, we've seen one or 2 new companies enter the marketplace for the first time. They're taking the bull by the horns, braving the storm and chucking themselves out the door to show their strength, their innovation and their desperate need for high quality educated candidates.These companies will reap the rewards of great talent paying attention and looking for them, instead of the organisations spending more to look for the student. Be brave in times of adversity, or you could be paying more for less for years to come./employers/434/its-a-tough-year-for-studentsor-is-it.aspxWed, 17 Feb 2010 18:10:42 GMTSo you think you've finished for the year...think again!It feels like the careers and vacation fairs have only just finished and that you have finally stopped hearing the ping of your inbox hitting yet again, but I hate to break it to you..the cycle has begun again.[jump]Most careers guides have closed up their booking deadlines and are now awaiting the glossy looks you are sending in to sell your wares. Online services have started to finalise their strategy for the 2010 promotion campaign and universities are starting to open the careers fair booking floodgates yet again.Are you ready? Don't be fooled by an economic downturn, there are a significant number of employers in the marketplace silently looming in the wings, waiting to snatch up your quality talent, the minute you slack off.Here's an update of the season at hand and some deadlines to keep in mind:unigrad booking deadline - October 30thunigrad artwork deadline - November 17thGraduate Opportunities artwork deadline - October 30th (although I think they can move on this date if you require it)AAGE Conference - November 11-13thNAGCAS Conference - December 6-9thCareers Fairs Commence - March 3rdAlthough it seems so far away, remember that this gorgeous country pretty much shuts down from December 18th - January 14th and that leaves little time for printing, designing, creating and developing campaigns to target graduates.Ensure you have enough time to focus on your branding awareness and what you want you want to achieve. Align your grad program with your company EVP and a targeted graduate focus that is true to your identity for the program and work with suppliers that know how to make this happen (unimail has a fab creative studio to help out, and there are other agencies like the FACE and REAGENT that know their stuff as well)Enlist the help of experts! If you don't know what or how you need to do it, there are a great number of suppliers to the industry that can assist with building your strategy and implementing it.Don't leave it to the last minute!Your campaign look and feel should be locked up and ready for printing by Christmas..yes I said by Christmas at the VERY LATEST! It takes days and sometimes weeks to print particular styles and requirements so be sure to take this into account when you're planning your on campus presence for 2010. If you would like any assistance building your brand, distributing your material or getting your brand out there, be sure to give us a buzz! If we can't help you, we can definitely put you in touch with someone who can./employers/433/its-that-time-of-the-year-again.aspxWed, 17 Feb 2010 18:08:45 GMTUnimail was a finalist in the recent Fairfax FEMA award for the BEST PROMOTION OF PUBLIC & EDUCATION SECTOR CAREERS category with an innovative campaign for the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).“ASIC is a very conservative organisation – as the watchdog over the financial sector it has to be. As such, it isn’t an obvious choice for students looking for employment. We created a communications campaign that reflected the strength of the organisation while also projecting the image of a young, culturally diverse and really dynamic group of people. The campaign worked. It fed ASIC 2,325 well qualified responses, 25 of whom were taken on.”[jump]Print advertising is just a tiny piece of the communication jigsaw.Companies that insist on putting out conservative, traditional advertisements, using print media alone, do not have a chance of attracting the best pool of talent.When it comes to reaching students, on line, SMS and social media are all essential to a successful communications campaign. Students want instant interaction with your business, they want to be able to ask questions, to chat with others to find out about your organisation’s culture and, importantly, they want to know how their application is tracking. It’s all about instant gratification.To this end, Unimail offers employers a comprehensive range of marketing communication services to facilitate communication with their prospects.We established Unimail with a website that connects employers with students. This site has provided us with an incredible databases of 70,000 students and its highly segmentable. We make our database available to our clients to use for everything from regular e-newsletters, SMS campaigns and on line promotions. Clients can identify the faculties they want to target, the year groups, geographical locations and more – so they really know they’re only communicating with the students they want as future employees. Its very efficient and effective.Graduate employment handbooks, as well as an art studio that produces advertising and graphic design for print, complement Unimail’s on-line and e-marketing tools.As we move towards to the end of the year, please don't hesitate to contact us to get a quote on any of our services including our publications through to our distribution and logistics service. As the year is slowly coming to a close, most job directories, websites and graduate lift-outs have set their artwork deadlines for late November. During this time most companies are defining their concept and creative for next year. Unimail would relish the opportunity to respond to your creative brief and pitch some wonderful ideas to build a custom made campaign. We would love to work with you to develop a creative, innovative and successful graduate campaign, making it you’re most engaging and attractive campaign to date!/employers/432/fema-finalists.aspxWed, 17 Feb 2010 18:03:54 GMTAfter traveling throughout the US, UK and Canada, our team has found some interesting results in the graduate market.Firstly, Australia is kicking butt and taking numbers. Australia's unemployment rate doesn't have a sniff on the UK or the US, and doesn't forecast to get much worse in the up and coming graduate recruitment cycle.
To give you an example of the current results, the AGR conference in Wales in June revealed statistics to show the following:[jump]For the past few years, the UK has been enjoying an average of +11% increase in job vacancies. In 2009, there was a 24.9% DECREASE in vacancies with a median vacancy of 20 positions; the largest decrease in positions being in infrastructure industries, such as Engineering and IT.Interestingly though, there is no change for recruiting internships so at least a further long term focus is still held in the minds of our European neighbors.The most interesting thing I noted was that the UK has a stat showing over 60% of the employers surveyed DO NOT MEASURE their grad campaigns for effectiveness and efficiency!Prospects UK , a not for profit jobs board and research company in the UK, surveyed over 14,000 students and some further interesting statistics were revealed in that women were getting paid MORE than men in graduate programs, where our Australian stats show this to be the opposite.We may do some things better, but we still have the line to cross!In the UK, there were over 15 jobs boards dedicated to graduate recruitment alone, all desperately trying to gain the business of the fewer employers recruiting for students in 2009 and 2010.With over 350,000 students graduating in 2009 and just over 35,000 positions, the fight is going to be massive.The dichotomy of this being the results of the TMP Worldwide survey released at the conference showing that over 80% of students believe in the doom and gloom but they ALL believe that employers should still be putting money into quality brochures and websites as they wouldn't be interested in working for an organisation with "shabby" marketing material.A strong focus on niche and targeted marketing are in order for the northern nation and with a heavy focus on social media, but still unsure stability on the success of the platform.Canada on the other hand was a complete flip side.With an 8-10% unemployment rate, employers are not focusing their strengths on branding in the student sector. Their focus on contract employment is becoming a key point of reference until the GFC sorts itself out and there are very few agencies focused on achieving successful branding for Canadian companies.Surprising considering their neighbours just south of the border have agencies, websites, publications and numerous jobs boards that focus entirely on attracting quality grads to their organisations no matter the unemployment rate. I mean really, no matter the climate, the difficulty in finding quality candidates is immense!What I was impressed with by Canada was their intent from their university advisors to enhance a student transition from uni to work. Stemming from understanding your digital tattoo (http://www.digitaltattoo.ubc.ca) universities are advising students on how to become better employees before they even debate the job market and for them to be accountable for their actions online, in life and then in the workplace.The US has over 2000 universities and tertiary education centres, which makes it a very difficult path for employers to travel nationally.Strong focus is put on careers service relationships and this is evident by how many careers advisors attend the NACE conference each year to not also enhance their offering to students but ALSO to employers.Social media is hot but has been for so many years now, employers are more refined in their use and their success methodologies. In saying that, our American buddies use ALL of the social media platforms whereas we here in the great southern land opt for 2-3 maybe of the highest volume social media opportunities. Our reasoning is most definitely lack of resources, which I'm sure will affect the US in due time.Youtube, podcasts and webinars are point of reference for students seeking high quality employers and the determination of interactivity and personalising their positioning in the marketplace.Their spend on SEO and SEM is directed by their marketing departments and is highly utilised by their recruitment team instead of their recruitment team attempting to manage the additional platform.The Americans live and breathe their entrepreneurial thought processes through everything they do and are willing to take risks to brand themselves outside of the rest of the market share.Australians do what I call the -5 +1 rule. we sit and wait for everyone to make the mistakes, then we go in for the jugular creating and utilising the best new and proven method the strongest.In summary, getting out amongst the rest of the world to understand not only their attraction practices but their induction and retention schemes is a brilliant way to educate yourself, your team and your organisation..Go on get out there...AndreaShould you have any further queries about the international and Australian graduate attraction market, please don't hesitate to contact me./employers/431/attracting-grads-around-the-world---an-internation.aspxWed, 17 Feb 2010 18:01:20 GMTIt surprises me that there hasn't been an uproar of discrimination cases throughout the world with employers using social media sites to "filter" and "assess" candidates prior to interview.Most employers although using facebook as an attraction method, are also using it to filter their candidates prior to even their initial stages of an interview and why shouldn't they? Facebook and other social media sites provide direct representations of who their candidates are in public without the veneer of an interview room and a high quality suit. In saying that, some people have their facebook photo public in their birthday suit? Should this define how and who we recruit? When did the line become so fuzzy between personal life and professional?[jump]Essentially the line now almost doesn't exist. Most employers now provide lifestyles and workplaces that offer a significant work life balance. This doesn't necessarily mean you're home by 6pm every day, but have the ability to work around your lifetimes and cycles. What this also means though, is that slowly but surely, your personal life..is your professional life.You've gone from being 2 different people - one at home, one at work - to offering both personas in one location..a one stop shop! Although this is a positive solution for most companies and employees the line is fuzzy and acceptance and understanding become two different things. Although it's acceptable to be yourself and provide a more personal work environment. It's not okay to sit back in your undies in the boardroom and hog the WII.Social Media and Gen Y has bridged the gap between personal and professional life, but candidates have yet to understand and nor do employers for that matter, the consequences. Unlike a paper trail that can be eliminated and reworded, the internet has provided a platform for an eternal memory bank of stupidity and photo proven actions. The future only shows more significant interaction without education on the uses of the opportunities. They just move and happen and evolve too quickly. In time we will see how this affects our student recruitment and whether it turns into "us" or "them" or whether we have to all live "peacefully" together...to find out more about how to attract quality grads send me an emailandrea@unimail.com.au/employers/430/social-media-and-discrimination.aspxWed, 17 Feb 2010 17:57:18 GMTWe're in the midst of vacation fairs yet again. You see, this is my 11th year of them, and I've seen a few changes.Interestingly, vac fairs to me, represent the graduate student up and coming. You can tell what kind of student you will be dealing with by attending and participating with vacation students and each year is vastly different.[jump]For example, 3 years ago, I was attending vacation fairs and to be honest, I was rather unimpressed. I found the attitude of students was disheartening and downright rude. No thought towards employers outside their particular zone or outcome. No interest in finding out more. No discussion with anyone about employers that didn't pay BIG or brand BIG.The following year, employers complained that it was the most difficult recruitment season they had seen in a very long time. With highly demanding students and the inability to meet the more superficial demands, acceptance rates for applications were low and recruiter morals were even lower.2 years ago, I noticed a change. Now in saying that, I am on campus from orientation weeks and could see the differences then. They started to show interest in different things like corporate social responsibility, and environmentally sustainable organisations and then even more lately sustainable companies due to the GFC.Their demands have changed and in doing so, so have employers. Throughout the world, the hot topic of recruitment is GREEN recruitment. This could mean everything from a fully online only system for recruitment practices to endorsing the companies green efforts in their campaigns. Students are hungry for it.Funny though, that students show a very small percent of volunteer involvement and environmental sustainability. The vac fairs are a brilliant indication of what your organisation can expect from your graduates the following year and even better yet - how to prepare for it. /employers/429/vacation-fairs-2009.aspxWed, 17 Feb 2010 17:55:47 GMT