Partner Article

Bringing graduates into a small business

It’s graduate week on Bdaily and we are looking at the state of play for graduates and SMEs. Kristin Atkinson, managing director of Integrity SEO, has seen his company’s turnover quadruple in two years. In that time he has also taken on two graduates.

We choose to employ graduates for a number of different reasons. Firstly I’d recommend graduates to get involved in a recruitment scheme. We’veused two graduate recruitment schemes from Teesside University - The DigitalCityInnovation (DCI) industry placement scheme and the Graduate Recruitment andPlacement [GRAP].

They work for us as they save us recruitment advertising costs but, most importantly, help us to hunt out the best people for the job.

When our company was at the stage where we needed to recruit it was essential wegot the right people for the position. We approached the local authorities and jobcentres to see if there was any funding for staff and were pointed in the direction ofthe university graduate schemes.

We knew graduates would be keen to join the workforce and to make their mark onan expanding company, and eager to learn the necessary skills to do their job.

I can’t deny that the funding we got through the DigitalCity Industry Placementscheme and Graduate Recruitment and Placement [GRAP] played a massive partin the reasons we decided to recruit a graduate as opposed to somebody alreadywithin the workforce.

As a relatively new business we couldn’t have afforded to recruit at the times we did without the wages subsidy offered, which was 50% of the graduate’s salary for sixmonths.

In addition to that the assistance and support from Teesside University’s DCI wasfantastic. They acted in many ways like a recruitment agency and managed the whole process, sourcing the appropriate candidates.

Employing graduates also has significant advantages. At Integrity SEO we got assisted growth where we couldn’t have afforded to invest in more staff on our own.

We’ve found with the two graduates we employed they have a hunger for newknowledge and experience - so training is easy.

If you support a graduate in their career then you also get a great deal of loyaltyfrom them. The graduates have grown with the business and feel a sense of belonging. They feel an integral part of the business and its success.

Through support and training employing a graduate means you can build the team to your own specifications – no bad habits are brought in.

In turn as a growing business we can offer graduates great opportunities for career advancement.

We’ve found that Teesside University understands the specific job roles available in the local and marketplace and adapt teaching modules accordingly for specificsectors.

They liaise with local businesses to really understand what skills are required forworking in the marketplace. The two graduates we have employed have played a huge role in our growth and success and we simply wouldn’t be where we are today without Teesside University and would highly recommend their graduate scheme placements.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Integrity SEO Experts Ltd .