Graduate Recruitment Best Practice and HEAR Building awareness

Overview The objective of this project is to raise awareness of the Higher Education Achievement Report (HEAR) amongst the graduate recruitment industry and share graduate recruitment best practice mainly: To encourage employers to make best use of the HEAR in recruitment and selection To persuade employers to review their selection criteria to ensure that they are not restricting access to student internships and graduate level jobs of those from disadvantaged backgrounds with a special focus on social mobility Key deliverables include: Engaging a reference group comprising AGR members, SME’s, Universities and Government bodies Design an awareness raising campaign and promotion amongst employers and agencies acting on their behalf and employer bodies of the HEAR and best practice assessment and selection regarding social mobility Production of Top 10 reasons why the HEAR is good for recruitment and why social mobility is good for business Establishment of a best practice in social mobility award for AGR

The HEAR The HEAR is similar to that of an achievement record of a students time during University. It is proposed that employers use this report through the selection and assessment process. The aim is for it to be more than just an academic review of a students achievements but proposes to include activities outside of this such as leading the debating society, participation in entrepreneurial type work etc.

The Value of the HEAR report The value of the HEAR is to : Provide students with an accredited university record of their achievements, both academic and extracurricular during their time at university Give visibility to employers of students ability to demonstrate academic and non-academic skills learnt at university Provide clear, reliable and verifiable information Distinguish candidates beyond the degree classification Provide a basis for examples or questions in interview process, and could form the basis of further training and development A framework for 1 st generation graduates to work to

Stakeholders With this type of project there are numerous stakeholders that have an interest and a role to play in the launch and utilisation of HEAR: Stakeholders EmployersUniversitiesStudents HEAR & Supporting agencies Professional Bodies (CIPD) Graduate Bodies (AGR) Creative Agencies Assessment Suppliers Internal (Barclays) Employers and universities to work closely together to target the activities which will match the skills set employers are looking for “practice what we preach” How do we promote the use internally across Barclays Assessment suppliers will need to review their methods and tools for assessment Actively engage in extra curricular activities Promotion and use of HEAR across the industry Branding and awareness of the HEAR across the industry

Stakeholder Approach: Employers Forming a Reference Group of employers, universities and SME’s created a decision making and testing body for raising awareness and implementation of the HEAR report and social mobility project. Engaging a handful of employers to sponsor and drive both initiatives. Regular communication to reference group via LinkedIn Engagement of graduate suppliers, diversity and social mobility organisations to share best practice Employers may be required to update processes and practices to support engagement internally Employers will need to engage internal stakeholders through briefings, updates etc to raise awareness of the HEAR and focus on social mobility Benefits: Increasing employer engagement and awareness, increase understanding of projects, enabling employers to utilise HEAR to their advantage as well as gaining better understanding, forum for testing initiatives, university engagement is likely to increase if senior business stakeholders are behind initiative, employers social mobility awareness increased, larger candidate pool and more diverse selection. Dependencies: Dependant on University engagement into HEAR. Dependence on scale of participants in reference groups and employer size and influence, buy in level of employers and engagement of CEOs. Dependant on budget of hiring graduates (those smaller employers may incur high costs as a result of additional screening being required).

Stakeholder Approach: Universities Universities are being invited as part of the Reference Group to input and support awareness raising of the projects. AGCAS will also provided two members from their advisory panel to connect both projects. Many different approaches needed as purpose and scope will differ from one university to another. Regular communication to reference group and updates from Universities regarding their approach to HEAR and work on widening participation Possible need for dedicated work streams to be invited to input into the design and build stages of the awareness raising campaign and supporting collateral. Approach needs to be tailor made to each university dependent on size, influence and engagement. Face to face meetings where possible will be preferred approach Benefits: Increasing engagement and awareness of projects. Forum for testing initiatives. Consistent messaging across the board. Richer content in terms of collateral and more real-time views approaches and updates captured. Dependencies: Buy-in level of each university will be different. Dependent on engagement levels and time

Stakeholder Approach – Creative Agencies Design awareness raising campaign, to educate and engage employers on the HEAR and consult on social mobility project. Design toolkits for both projects and presentation materials and ensure all stakeholders are in agreement with outputs and delivery of campaign. Regular meetings and milestones to be agreed with agency Outputs to be shared with reference group for their feedback Set up KPI’s and measure performance of awareness raising campaign AGR team to ensure that reference group and other stakeholders are engaged and communicated to throughout the campaign build Tracking of feedback and comments to be documented and addressed Benefits: Expertise gained from partnership on campaign management and professional guidance and consultation on project overall. Professional guidance and innovative cutting edge consultation on creatives and overall projects. Dependencies: Dependant on budget in terms of what can be delivered and timelines outlined in project plan.

Stakeholder Approach – ATS Suppliers Research and survey ATS suppliers to find out capabilities of existing systems to incorporate the HEAR and to incorporate findings into collateral and share with reference group. Consult with ATS suppliers on the awareness raising work being carried out which may increase demand for this functionality from their clients To create and distribute survey to all ATS suppliers to understand current picture of approach in regards to the HEAR Understand what functionality will be provided for Employers and costs Consult and share awareness raising collateral to demonstrate uses of the HEAR in assessment and selection process Benefits: To remove any perceived barriers to Employers from using the HEAR by updating progress made to date. Awareness raising to ATS companies the need from clients for this functionality. Demonstrating the need for this facility from clients and assist in removing barriers and clarifying need. Dependencies: ATS suppliers engagement with the research and Identification of all ATS suppliers.

Stakeholder Approach – HEA and supporting Agencies HEA, CRA and other supporting agencies to be invited as part of the reference group to input and support awareness raising of the projects. Many different approaches needed as purpose and scope will differ from one supporting agency to another Regular communication to reference group Possible need for dedicated work streams to be invited to input into the design and build stages of the awareness raising campaign and supporting collateral Approach needs to be tailor made to each organisation dependent on size, influence and engagement. Face to face meetings where possible will be preferred approach Benefits: Increased engagement and awareness of projects, Forum for testing initiatives, Consistent messaging across the board, Richer content in terms of collateral and more real-time views captured. Dependencies: Buy-in level of HEA and supporting agencies Dependent on engagement levels and time.

Themes: Benefits of the HEAR to Employers Employers Provides a broader picture of candidates achievements and full transcript of all module results, which enhances degree classification Enhances credibility of candidates as the extra-curricular activities are accredited by, or are with external accreditation recognised by the university Gives a rounded view of candidates’ potential Enhances business efficiency as the HEAR can be accessed electronically on a rolling basis Better applications as students realise the importance of employability skills and develop their USP Allows a targeted focus on students’ on-going development (personal tutors, career advisers…) and once in employment Could be used as a reference checking mechanism A framework for 1 st generation graduates to work to

Themes: Social Mobility and potential barriers Employers Unpaid internships – students may be unable to afford to work for free and therefore unable to gain the experience provided, which can hinder further employment UCAS points - some students will have taken alternative routes into university, other than A- Levels and should not be excluded from applying to jobs because of this Degrees from less prestigious universities – candidates may have attended universities closer to home because of financial constraints, and these may be the non target universities for employers Other barriers include employer discrimination, psychometric testing, online applications and the lack of role models. Employers need to address and bridge the gap regarding non-academic capabilities that undergraduates from less-privileged backgrounds tend to lack and struggle to build.

Questions 1.How might institutions and careers services adapt to meet the needs of less advantaged students? 2.What measures should employers take to be inclusive regarding different backgrounds of graduates? 3. Does the HEAR have a role to play in this and, if so, how can this best be exploited? 4.How can employers and universities work together to raise more awareness of the HEAR?