For immediate release: Tuesday 7th July 2009
• IBM the big winners as they scoop Best Website, Best Literature, Best Integrated Marketing Campaign and the Best of the Best Award
• Bank of England wins Graduate Development Award
• NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement takes Graduate Selection & Assessment Award
• Best Employer Brand Award goes to RBS
Last night (Monday 6th July) the winners of the 2009 Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR) Awards were announced at the organisation’s annual conference at the Celtic Manor in Newport, Wales.
The awards, now in their 31st year, recognise and reward graduate recruiters for creative and innovative campaigns that attract the best graduate talent to their organisations. They are designed to highlight best practice in terms of graduate recruitment and to ensure standards within the industry remain high.
IBM proved the success story of the night picking up four awards including the Best of the Best Award. In naming theirs Best Website, the judges recognised that high expectations were realised through a combination of powerful simplicity and impressive technical features. Jaguar Land Rover picked up the award for companies employing fewer than 100 graduates, while HSBC took the prize for larger recruiters.
The Best Literature award also went to IBM. The judges cited a real commitment to corporate responsibility evident throughout IBM’s publications, literature that also provided in depth understanding of the company and the opportunities available. KPMG took the award for firms employing over 100 grads, with Lovells LLP picking up the award for smaller recruiters.
IBM took their third award of the evening winning the Integrated Marketing Campaign Award 2009, sponsored by The Guardian. The judges praised ‘a very co-ordinated, comprehensive campaign with bold, clear messages,’ adding that crucially ‘the brand was very consistent across all the materials.’ Highly commended in this category were Shell, Linklaters and Transport for London.
This year’s Graduate Development Award went to the Bank of England, retaining the prize they won in its inaugural year at the 2008 conference. The judges lauded the programme for supporting not only the graduates but also their line managers. Praising the ‘visibility throughout the programme of top level senior management’, they recognised a commitment to the strategic importance of developing graduates.
The NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement was named winner of the Graduate Selection & Assessment Award. Judges noted in particular that their ‘Day in the Life’ package was ‘very realistic and the experience of the candidates was considered at every stage’.
The Best Employer Brand Award went to RBS this year - the judges expressing admiration for a brand ‘expressed consistently across multiple channels and media’. They described the use of “Make it RBS” as a ‘call to action which was supported by a holistic, total proposition and the creative treatments acted to distinguish RBS very clearly from it’s other financial services competitors.’
Carl Gilleard, Chief Executive of the AGR, comments: “All of our winners have done supremely well in what has been a tricky year for graduate recruitment, especially IBM who has done exceptionally well. It is no surprise that they won the overall Best of the Best award after picking up three others, so congratulations to them and we hope to see more of the same next year!”
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For further information please contact Henry de Rougemont or Anya Matthews at Colman Getty on 020 7631 2666 or email firstname@colmangetty.co.uk
NOTES FOR EDITORS
The AGR is the recognised national voice for all UK employers involved in graduate recruitment. The AGR has over 800 members from both the public and private sectors. To find out more about AGR membership, visit www.agr.org.uk and click on ‘Join AGR’ or call 01926 623 236
www.agr.org.uk