Graduate Talent

During consultations with employers, our Employer Engagement Team was increasingly asked how organisations could better attract and recruit students and graduates, from a range of diverse backgrounds. Whilst some guidance for employers exists, there was no single comprehensive source to help employers realise the benefits of recruiting a diverse workforce, and understand how to adapt their processes to recruit and retain a wide range of candidates.

The University of Bradford has forged a robust partnership with STRI Group, a renowned design and management consultancy specialising in sport surfaces. STRI Group is widely recognised for their scientific research and analysis expertise pertaining to sports turf surfaces. This collaboration has provided valuable opportunities for students, including work-based internships, mentoring, guest lectures, and work-based learning experiences. Recently, the partnership took a significant step forward by participating in the Brad-ATTAIN project, which seeks to address the underrepresentation of Black, Asian, and minority ethnic (BAME) groups in postgraduate research studies.

The University of Sheffield provides a number of schemes to enable students to gain valuable paid work experience both within the curriculum and alongside it. One of these activities is the annual OnCampus 100-hour internship programme, which provides students with excellent opportunities to work and gain experience in one of a wide range of university departments.

The University of Bradford’s Centre for Diversity and Inclusion offered an opportunity in 2022 to apply for a grant to run new initiatives to support the institutions Access and Participation Plan (APP). Careers and Employability Services successfully applied for funding to develop a pilot programme, ‘In Bradford’, which aimed to engage a group of 10 first year undergraduate students, with widening participation characteristics, in week of work experience, employer engagement and employability activities.

This event was held due to feedback from both staff and Huddersfield’s large body of international students that international graduates are struggling to gain UK-based, graduate-level employment, often due to employers stating that they need to have the right to work in the UK and not require sponsorship.

In November 2022, the University of Huddersfield invited three other regional institutions to collaborate together to deliver an online ‘Mega’ Careers Fair. The aims of the fair were to work in partnership with regional HE institutions; provide wider choice for students by attracting more employers than one institution could do alone and thus boost student engagement; and assist busy employers by bringing four institutions’ students to one event.

Government funding became available to deliver Kickstart programmes to reduce unemployment within the region. The University signed up to the scheme in October 2020 initially taking 30 Kickstart placements across the University for a period of 6 months. The aims behind this project were to identify unemployed graduates to provide in-depth employability training and work experience and to identify a talent pipeline for the university.