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What is the average cost of recruiting a graduate?
This is a very difficult statistic to tie down, due in part to the wide range of different ways that this can be measured.
The AGR Winter Survey does ask some specific questions around marketing spend. In the 2009 survey (published in February 2009) and available to
download here. The average marketing spend per vacancy was measured at £2,198 for the 2008 recruitment season, with the predicted marketing spend per vacancy predicted to rise slightly to £2,533 in 2009.
Other significant areas of cost include assessment and selection, on boarding, graduate induction and development and effort required from staff in the business to help the graduates integrate. The AGR briefing paper “What is the Return on your Investment”, published in March 2009, attempts to break down some of these costs in more detail. The paper can be
downloaded here.
I am looking for information on the quality of degree courses from different academic institutions, where should I look?
The independent QAA (Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education) produces review reports will tell you the judgement that they have reached about a university or college following a review visit. These are available at
www.qaa.ac.uk
I am trying to find out which universities offer a particular degree course; where should I look?
UCAS (
www.ucas.ac.uk) offers a facility which allows you to search for a particular degree course by academic institution.
How many students graduate from Higher Education each year?
HESA (the Higher Education Statistics Authority) produces a publication called ‘Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education’. The latest results are from the 2007 / 08 academic year, and are linked to a second report which looks at the number of students currently in Higher Education. Both reports are available from the Customer Services Team, HESA Services Ltd., 95 Promenade, Cheltenham, GL50 1HZ; telephone: 01242 211155. See
www.hesa.ac.uk for more information and for other statistics relating to higher education.
Where can I get information on work experience and internships?
AGR produced a briefing paper on Work Experience in 2008, which can be
downloaded here. Benchmarking information relating to work experience placements can be found in the AGR Graduate Recruitment Survey,
summer review. More information on work experience can be found on the National Council for Work Experience’s website at www.work-experience.org and also via PlaceNet www.placenet.org.uk.
I’m looking for a list of the top graduate employers, do you produce one?
There are a number of different employer rankings, and it is important to consider the source of the information that has been used to generate the lists.
AGR is working in partnership with Prospects to produce Real Prospects, a new listing which is based on the views from graduates who have been on graduate programmes for a period of time post-university. The survey will seek to understand more about how these graduates feel the reality of the workplace has met the expectations that were set during recruitment. Although it does not aim to provide a “top 100” type listing it will highlight companies where particular examples of good practice are found.
In addition there are several different rankings of employers of graduates that come out each year. The most well known one is the Times Top 100 (
www.top100graduateemployers.com), which asks students which companies they would like to work for. Similarly, Universum produce a ranking for both the UK and Europe (www.universumeurope.com). Although these can be useful barometers of graduate marketing success to a certain degree, they are inevitably based on student perceptions and a company’s performance in these graduate lists is often tied strongly to the company’s general performance and marketing. This can lead to companies appearing in the list, even though they might not currently be advertising graduate opportunities. They are not an indication of how good a company is to work for.
I’m looking to benchmark statistics on diversity; where can I get this data from?
AGR does not tend to collect diversity related statistics from its members, as companies are often understandably unwilling to make this data public, even if it is something they do collect for their own internal evaluation.
Data on the gender and ethnicity of the graduate intake of AGR members can be found in the AGR Graduate Recruitment Winter Review. The latest version from February 2009 can be
downloaded here.More sector specific information has been shared on an informal basis from time to time at Sector Focus Groups. We would recommend that you attend the next meeting of your sector group and ask other participants if they are willing to share that information with you. Where you do not have a relevant sector group, you could add a posting to the discussion forum and ask replies to be sent directly to your email address (rather than posted on the forum), so that the information is kept confidential. Please also see our useful links page for details of organisations that operate in the field of diversity.
I don't always understand today's qualifications; can you help?
The QAA (
www.qaa.ac.uk) have produced a leaflet called Understanding Qualifications. It gives details of the various levels of qualifications offered within higher education and what you can expect from a student with that qualification. Information on qualifications from GCSE level upwards are covered in the National Qualifications Framework available at the QCA (
www.qca.org.uk).
I'm trying to employ someone from overseas but don't understand their qualifications; can you help?
UK NARIC is the official source of information and advice on the comparability of international qualifications from over 180 countries worldwide with those in the UK. For further information about UK NARIC and how they can help you, please see their web site at
www.naric.org.uk
I am looking to engage a third party supplier to help me with a particular service. Can you recommend anyone?
The AGR is not able to make individual recommendations for particular suppliers. You may wish to look at the suppliers who have chosen to advertise in our
Find a supplier section. or in Graduate Recruiter magazine. Alternatively you could look at the suppliers who are regularly winning awards in our annual awards ceremony (held every July at our conference) or at other award ceremonies such as the Target Awards held annually in May.