Increasing graduate opportunities in SMEs

Nottingham Trent University asks 'how can universities equip SMEs to compete with the businesses for graduate talent?'

A notable trend is emerging, where universities are proactively engaging with regional employers with an aim of building loyal partnerships that both support local businesses and keep graduate talent in their areas.

Nottingham has a number of prestigious corporates located in the city, but they are not the largest graduate recruiters in terms of local vacancies. At Nottingham Trent University (NTU) we recognised a need to strengthen our market hold with high growth and larger SMEs. In Nottinghamshire alone, the top 50 fastest growing businesses employ 12,000 people and bring in £1.8 billion a year in revenue. Recognising this, we saw an opportunity to offer bespoke support to some of our fastest growing employers.

We started 2018 by refining our SME strategy, and went through a business development exercise of identifying the criteria for our definition of a fast-growing SME - considering employee numbers, expansion plans and interest in graduate recruitment.

Training the trainer

While shaping our strategy we knew the value of bringing in industry expertise to take our ideas to the next level. We worked with Gradconsult to facilitate an SME engagement workshop and develop a 'deep-dive' diagnostic tool to support NTU with carrying out the consultancy interventions with our targeted businesses.

We adopted a 'training the trainer' methodology, in which NTU business development consultants in our employability team were to be part of the consultancy from the diagnostic, through to the delivery of this service to the business. We knew what we were providing to businesses was above and beyond the usual standard of service, but what was the point of going to these lengths? Our aims were to:

• strengthen relationships with high-growth local employers
• upskill our employer engagement team
• develop content for a range of attract, select and keep activities
• create a conference to showcase the project and provide further networking/support to the businesses
• recycle the content, to develop student-facing support documents and in-role development
• cross-sell wider university services (apprenticeships, MBAs, careers fair attendance)
• boost NTU's reputation as an expert among the business community.

Talent Management Consultancy (TMC)

To summarise our idea, and to make clear what help and support we wanted to offer SME employers to manage their talent intake, we named this project 'Talent Management Consultancy', typically a minimum two day intervention with high-growth SME employers.

Within a couple of weeks we had 20 employers lined up to undertake their 'deep-dive' diagnostic. This took place over an initial two-hour meeting with the business' HR representative. We structured our diagnostic around three key areas: attraction, selection and retention in order to form a strong understanding of the challenges businesses currently face and their aims for early-careers recruitment.

Providing a tailored solution

Employers were then presented with three to five solutions that would meet their requirements, and they picked one area in which NTU offers further intensive support to the business.

From the 20 businesses engaged, a combined total of 79 tailored solutions have been created to support the businesses. They range from developing placement schemes, to re-structuring their interview processes, to enhanced on-boarding and in-role development plans for new employees.

This tailored approach allowed us to engage high-growth SMEs that would take on a large number of graduate hires in the near future. The research we gathered told us that the 20 SMEs we engaged had a median of six graduates hires per year. This delivery, based on our research, allowed us to provide effective solutions to SME needs. After solutions were selected and consultancy given, businesses were left in no doubt about how NTU could support them to attract, select and retain talent in their organisation.

Securing talent for SMEs

Collectively, the information gathered from the businesses has allowed NTU to develop an important understanding of SME trends and their recruitment practises.

As an institution, we strive to create more opportunity and enrich society in the local economy. Developing stronger relationships with local employers is crucial. The TMC project has allowed us to work with high-growth employers and benefit the region by providing high-quality employment experiences for graduates working in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, as well as ensuring our SMEs are able to secure the vital talent they need for important growth.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the position of HECSU/Prospects

Notes

Discover more about the success of our Talent Management Consultant at our one day conference on attracting, selecting and keeping the best talent in your organisation, supporting local SMEs with their recruitment.

Finders Keepers Conference

Written by

Emmie Studencki

Employer engagement projects manager

Nottingham Trent University