Future Talent is a new industry group. As the recruitment market changes, more organisations look at every available means of sourcing future talent, including apprenticeships, school leavers, interns and of course graduates.
The Future Talent group has been created on LinkedIn to facilitate interaction between employers, students, graduates and those responsible for shaping policy. It is home to the latest recruitment news, discussions, views and best practices in attracting, engaging and developing new talent. We explore Future Talent’s value and its role, and how employers can benefit from engaging with the group.
In January last year GradWeb looked at the increasing importance of social media in “How ‘Social’ is Your Recruitment”. Which identified that social media was a key emerging tool for recruiters to engage with graduate talent. Companies such as Roche, Nokia and Cisco all agreed that social media is an important element in the graduate mix to attract and develop Future Talent. Another crucial point the article identified was that many young jobseekers are being much more strategic in their approach to gaining employment. A large number are taking advantage of specialist sites such as career-related groups and forums, and nearly half of people in a recent survey (48 percent) felt that being a member of a group has helped provide new leads for jobs.
Relationships matter
Relationships can play a big part in recruitment, so it makes sense that social media will have a big impact in helping employers foster relationships with potential recruits. Tried and tested methods like job board sites remain a key focus of recruitment campaigns, with most students recognising them as a resource for specific opportunities. The main drawback is that they offer no way to build relationships. And while links to corporate recruitment sites may provide more insight into a company, they only act as a one-way communications platform.
Social networks enable a wider demographic of students and graduates to be approached whilst two-way engagement is maintained with candidates throughout the recruitment process. For the students, social media also helps to bring a more transparent approach to recruitment, engaging with the people behind the company, not just the brand; after all, people buy people. It also means that when people are recruited they already understand the organisation they’re joining – which leads to better retention rates.
Future Talent: A social network
Acting on the increasing importance of social media, GradWeb recognised that there was a need for a group that would bring together all stakeholders involved with the recruitment of Future Talent. As the country’s foremost specialist in running outsourced recruitment programmes for apprentices, school leavers, interns and graduates, GradWeb has a unique understanding of Future Talent. This gives us the ability to address the challenges faced by both employers and candidates. Until the creation of the Future Talent Group there was no single forum that sought to bring all parties together to share knowledge, experiences, promote best practices and shape policy.
The new group serves to aid all companies involved in the recruitment and development of Future Talent by providing a platform that not only promotes the sharing of best practices but enables employers to engage with and tap into the views of students. Furthermore, employers have the opportunity to share their knowledge and promote their experiences with group members that are not directly connected with recruitment but recognise that Future Talent is important. These members include many influential FTSE 100 business leaders, education professionals and even politicians, all of whom understand that nurturing, upskilling, developing and – of course – recruiting Future Talent is essential, not only for organisations, but for the country as a whole.
Many benefits can be derived through sharing knowledge and experiences in the group. Employer and personal brand visibility is increased amongst peers and students, and to group participants such as business leaders and politicians. In terms of promoting your Future Talent recruitment and development activities and initiatives, all discussion posts are not only distributed to group members but also promoted on Twitter to increase engagement and visibility. In this way sharing news and programme information with the group can help improve visibility and increase global reach for employer recruitment schemes.
Your opportunity with Future Talent
Today the Future Talent group provides the means to engage with over 3,000 members, and is rapidly growing every day. Success from social media will only come to organisations that recognise social media as a means of two-way communication, so engagement is key – all of which is possible (free of charge) through Future Talent.
We really hope that our group will become home to the widest and most passionate debate about a subject that is vitally important to all of us, and we have already had some fantastic discussions and dialogue within it. Unlike most groups, there will be no recruitment agencies spamming jobs via Future Talent, no sales pitches and no irrelevant posts. We believe fundamentally in helping to stimulate a vital debate, for the benefit of our industry, the talent pool in which we are all fishing and – most importantly – the success of our country’s Future Talent.
If you would like to network and support Future Talent while promoting your apprenticeship, intern or graduate programme, please join the
Future Talent Linkedin group.