Employers value good work ethic

When it comes to hiring graduates, employers say they favour work ethic over work experience when looking for their next student recruit.

Almost three quarters (69 per cent) of respondents to a poll conducted by Anne Corder Recruitment said work ethic and personal ability ranked way above work experience when it came to offering the job.

Transferable skills (31 per cent) were also favoured – with work experience scoring 0 in the online survey.

It’s pleasing to see employers are recognising that work experience has been affected in the last couple of years, meaning young people may not have been able to gain part time jobs in the retail or leisure sector for example, or through voluntary placements in their chosen fields.

But we know that graduates bring some incredibly positive benefits to the workplace; they are eager to start their first ‘proper’ job, have fresh ideas and new talents to offer an employer, come with a willingness to learn and are filled with enthusiasm.

Employers are shifting the emphasis when it comes to traits they are looking for when recruiting for their next graduate role, which in turn will help with retaining enthusiastic young talent. So, with students now well and truly into exam mode, it’s time for employers to start thinking about how they can engage top graduate talent – to bridge any gap in their workforce, offering an internship or filling a fulltime position.

Here are some tips to ensure you attract the right candidate for your role:

It’ s crucial you put together a competitive package. Many employers look towards graduates to bring new skill sets into their business. With this generation of graduates being extremely digitally savvy, it could, for example, provide an opportunity for your organisation to plug digital skills gaps. Could graduate recruitment be one way of bringing these skills into your business? With that in mind, make sure you use digitalchannels to attract and engage graduates.