The recruiter battle for the strongest graduates is becoming so intense with students more empowered than ever before – making engagement and candidate experiences the top recruiter priorities for 2018, according to two industry leaders.
In a study of almost one million applicants and excerpts of responses from almost 40,000 business students across four international regions. leading global talent acquisition software provider WCN and employer branding thought leader Universum have compiled The must know student recruiting trends for 2018.
The report offers factual insights into why attraction and engagement are key to hiring the best future leaders and empowering them to choose where they start their professional careers. Based on the analysis conducted by WCN, the following global conclusions can be reached:
WCN Founder & CEO Charles Hipps comments: “The findings in this study, coupled with the perspectives provided by Universum, show just how intense student recruitment is becoming around the world. Mounting competition is ramping up business pressures to recruit faster and be more agile but employers also face the threat that increasingly it is students who hold the power in determining which business is the best fit for them.
“This report clearly demonstrates the need for recruiters to expand sources, find diamonds in the rough and improve diversity in a hugely competitive landscape. Engagement is key to this and recruiters really need to be thinking about how to accelerate their commitment to hiring superstars by personalizing approaches to candidate nurturing so that you can vie to be faster than your competitors.”
Universum’s data reveals stark insights into what students expect to choose an employer as ideal for them including:
“Our research shows that students indeed have more options than before – they are both indicating a broader interest for different industries and employers as well as assessing their personal fit with the values of their future organization”, comments Universum Managing Director for Americas, Jonna Sjövall.
“Fair and friendly trumps elitist and competitive for sure. Graduates want to know if they can be themselves at work and are asking for transparency both in terms of the recruitment process, selection criteria and the culture”, she continues. “This makes it even more important for recruiters to be good at fine-tuning their communication with a diverse talent pool.”
Full regional breakdowns of how graduate recruiting is performing based on office locations can be found in the full report – which is designed to help stimulate thinking about how to be more adaptable to what emerging talent candidates now expect.
Intelligent approaches to talent acquisition, talking advantage of technological tools such as WCN’s award-winning suite of recruiting products, can help tackle talent scarcity and introduce you to candidates you may otherwise overlook at any given stage of your hiring journey. Universum is an insight driven analytics, research, consulting and activation firm specialized in Employer Branding.
Universum Talent Research was conducted between October 2016 and March 2017 – the number of respondents for business students in each region are as follows: 1,771 – Hong Kong, 2,715 – Singapore, 8,677 – UK and 26,809 for the US.
About Universum:
Universum is the global leader in employer branding, during our 25+ years we have established ourselves in 60 markets throughout the globe and our diverse workforce is physically present in 20 countries. Our services include actionable research, strategic advisory, data-driven communication and social media solutions for talent branding, sourcing and analytics. A trusted partner to over 1,700 clients, including many Fortune 500 companies, as well as global media partners that publish our annual rankings and trend reports. We work with over 2000 universities, alumni groups, and professional organizations to gather insights from students and professionals in order to advise employers on how to attract and retain talent that fits their culture and purpose. On an annual basis Universum surveys over 1,500,000 students and professionals worldwide. Find out more at www.universumglobal.com
About WCN:
WCN is a leading pioneer in the field of innovative recruitment technology. With over 20 years’ experience, WCN solutions are built to accelerate and improve recruiting from start to finish, creating a more meaningful and transparent experience for recruiters and candidates. Using WCN talent acquisition technology, organisations can drive real change by accelerating and improving the entire process of finding, assessing and managing events and hiring the best talent at every level — from emerging to lateral hires, veterans and diversity. To learn more, visit www.wcn.uk