Latest HESA graduate employment figures released
Data published on 2nd July by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) reveals the percentage of graduates who then move into employment or continue with full time studies.
Across all universities an average of 93% of graduates either find work or continue full time studies, but the HESA results also show the wide difference in results, with scorings varying from 86% up to 100%. Unsurprisingly the smaller, specialist institutions, such as the Royal College of Music, recorded some of the highest percentages.
London Metropolitan University, currently using the Keystone Talent Bank solution, recorded the highest increase in the proportion of its graduates finding work or staying in studies, with a 7.4% increase over the prior year’s figures.
Keystone attend SUPC launch event
Keystone Employment Group recently presented at the SUPC launch event held at Woburn House in London’s Tavistock Square, detailing their University Talent Bank offering.
A wide range of SUPC University members attended, many of whom have a clear interest in improving their student employability programmes whilst also exercising rigid cost controls on their use of temporary and permanent recruitment services.
Anup Mistry (pictured above) handles Business Development for the education sector and he welcomed delegates to the Keystone stand where the firm demonstrated their online Talent Bank solution.
Meanwhile, in the main hall, COO Malcolm Paice gave a well received presentation on how the Keystone Talent Bank can help Universities save on recruitment fees, which are usually subject to full VAT. With Universities unable to reclaim VAT, using an online solution to bring the recruitment services ‘inhouse’ can resolve that area of waste.
Keystone will next be presenting at the Conference On University Purchasing (COUP) on 8-10th September at the University of Kent.
Linking graduates with employers
Many Universities will nurture relationships with businesses and employers who have a clear interest in securing the best talented graduates for their organisations.
But how to tie up the right graduates with the right potential employers? Historically, much hinged on job-fairs: lots of employers crowded into a hall and a queue of students battling for a quick chat in busy surroundings. Sometimes this approach works very well, but for the employers it is not very efficient: they have to physically be on-site and try to afford enough time to the process. For students it may not be an attractive prospect either; piling into a hall to do battle with crowds and hope they get enough time with the firms they wish to see.
Increasingly employers prefer an approach that’s more direct, dynamic and inclusive, and this is where using a Talent Bank is dramatically more efficient. A University Talent Bank is precisely that; a showcase for your students, their skills and achievements, and all students get a rich and verified online profile that is safe, secure and online 24/7.
A University can allow its business partners and employers to access the Talent Bank, offer opportunities and assignments and seek out the talent they need. The businesses much prefer this approach to sending a number of their staff to sit in a hall for three days! With the whole process online, employers and students can link up wherever they are in the world, so those students who go overseas for the holidays remain available and can continue to interact with the employers.
For the University there are many benefits. Firstly, by having the whole process via a single portal you have full visibility of what is happening – which firms are offering which students which opportunities. The Talent Bank approach also allows the Universities to monetise the process, granting employers immediate access to the graduate talent pool, for a lot less money than they would waste at a job fair.
Cost control for temporary staffing
For an increasing number of educational institutions controlling spend on temporary staff is of increasing importance, with so many in the sector finding a huge disparity from one department to another, not to mention hefty agency fees sneaking in under the radar.
Without an automated system that can enforce spend limits and effectively manage the amount of usage of temporary staff, it is virtually impossible to keep any sort of control over multiple departments.
There’s also the issue of compliance and ensuring the various hiring managers are keeping proper tabs on their temporary workers and their ability to work legally in the UK.
The Keystone Talent Bank solution makes all these controls effortless as the amount of temp staff, their pay rates and spending caps are all controlled in a single portal, with reporting available drilled down by department, manager and cost centres.
Keystone Employment Group is an approved supplier to the SUPC and LUPC purchasing frameworks
Download the latest copy of the newsletter here: LINK-newsletter-July_August-2015.pdf
