Traditionally peak graduate hiring season spans the start of the year from February to April, but if the last couple of years have taught us anything it’s that it may be time to shake up the old way of doing things! Going out again later in the year could have a host of benefits for your grad recruitment strategy.
High traffic, low competition
Our GradConnection site traffic shows that grads are actively job searching all year round. Looking at the graph below we can see there is a period later in the year around July/August that has high volumes of search traffic. Traditionally there are also less campaigns active around this time than at the start of the year.
This could be the perfect opportunity to be more visible to students and see a higher rate of applications.
Shorter keep warm time
Recruiting grads later in the year means less time to worry about reneging as there are only a few short months before their start date. In fact, some companies (including some tech companies) have switched to a quarterly intake model with immediate starts!
Mad March doesn’t have to be mad
We know the beginning of the year is a challenge. Not only are you trying to wrangle an answer out of the business about how many grads to hire for the following year, you’re also onboarding the current grad intake. Inductions and hiring at the same time! Hiring later in the year can give you a bit of breathing space to concentrate on inductions, as well as giving the business time to make a properly informed decision about hiring numbers.
But won’t all the best talent be taken by then?
Our database numbers throughout the year show that 1st time users are also registering later in the year – potentially starting their job search later or keeping their options open.
Shifting your recruiting timeline might not be an immediate change, a good way to start could be looking at a smaller top up campaign later in the year (a lot of our clients are already taking this approach). This will also provide some data to help inform the right decision for your company. We’re already seeing Careers Fairs and Internships shift to being all year round and predict this trend to continue with hiring.