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Notions of graduate career success: do SMEs figure?

It’s labour market focus week on Bdaily. Recently we spoke to Dr Tracy Scurry, a lecturer at Newcastle University Business School with interests in graduate careers.

Tracy’s work has involved analysis of graduate perceptions of career success, and how SMEs interact with the graduate labour market.

Her most recent research has informed a research report for BIS on graduate recruitment to SMEs, and has looked at graduate “underemployment.”

Tracy explains: “There are three market failures really: one is information failure, that is the awareness and perceived value of small businesses and the opportunities for careers within them; another is the awareness among small businesses of the skills and abilities that graduates can bring to them; and then there’s the capacity constraints, the ability to recruit the graduates but then also the resource to develop their careers and enhance their contributions.

“There are structural problems in how we can link very large numbers of dispersed graduates with diverse and dispersed SMEs.”

Segmentation of the SME community is also tricky ground, as Tracy notes that a microbusiness with 10 employees is very different to a medium sized operation with over 100 employees.

The answer? One component might be a web-based platform to support graduate recruitment into SMEs, underpinned by a range of wider activities that would education graduates about working in an SME; support in engaging with SMEs, and provide graduates with experience in SMEs.

Similarly, there would need to similar activity aimed at SME understanding of graduates, suggests Tracy.

Perception of career success is also a key influencer of the dynamic between small businesses and university leavers.

Tracy adds: “With the likes of PwC on campus promoting their graduate schemes - what are people thinking when they pay X thousand a year, in terms of return on investment? It might be that their notions of career success are in not in line with the trajectory of an SME.

“Career success is both objective and subjective. The objective markers are the structure of career, salary, branding and so on. However, there’s an argument that the subjective side is more important - the feeling of satisfaction and identity that you get.

“It’s quite difficult to move away from those more objective elements. Now, as people invest more financially in university education, their expectations are influenced. It’s more of a societal change.”

Labour market statistics provide little insight into graduate recruitment patterns as numbers are based on workplace size, therefore a Tesco local store might masquerade as a local employer with a workforce of 20. Consequently, it’s difficult to demonstrate an under-representation of graduates in SMEs.

Tracy has also worked with Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services (AGAS), collecting members views on possible strategies to overcome barriers to SME recruitment of graduates.

Top national strategies suggested as part of this report include subsidised paid internships in SMEs; tax incentives for SMEs to employ graduates; and ring-fenced funding for HE careers services.

Models of degree course that run in partnership with corporates and offer professional qualifications alongside a graduate job offer, are not uncommon now, and are difficult for SMEs to compete with.

However, Tracy argues: “There are mechanisms by which you can emulate that in a different way. For instance, that might be to get SMEs involved in consultancy projects attached to degree modules, or live case studies and dissertations.

“Such examples tend to be down to individuals and quite localised. The challenge is in developing this more coherently and in a holistic way.”

Tracy’s research highlights a number of projects from across the UK that aim to address the blockage, but points out that finding them can be difficult.

“I’ve got PHD students who are used to looking for things, and even for them it is difficult to route out these schemes, so it’s going to be difficult for graduates,” she adds.

“There is an increase in private sector provision, that is agencies that focus on SMEs. With this market it tends to be quite informal and ad-hoc, and often jobs aren’t advertised. Some people refer to it as the hidden jobs market, where you have to get in and network.”

For more from Labour Market Week, check out; Focus on STEM subjects will drive innovation; overcoming the UK skills gap; why recruiters need to search for the x-factor; recruitment among growing industries; Bdaily meets the labour market advisor; Adzuna’s market perceptions; the ripple affect: the need to invest in skills; the growing number of unemployed over 50s; have we got the right skills; Bdaily meets recruit Lawrence Mallinson and early technology education will drive digital economy.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .