Courtenay HR

Grim reading for HR graduates

The Association of Graduate Recruiters’ (AGR) annual look at the state of recruitment made difficult reading for the next generation of HR professionals.

The Graduate Recruitment Survey 2004 shows that graduate places are rising across almost all industries. But in the HR sector, the AGR is predicting an 8.2 per cent drop in vacancies. The report stated that ‘the smallest number of vacancies in 2004 are for graduate positions in marketing and human resources, both of which remain extremely popular with student and graduate applicants’.

Mike Hill, chief executive of Graduate Prospects, which helps university leavers find jobs, said the figures were not of concern. He said that markets were cyclical, and HR had expanded rapidly in recent years, with businesses increasingly looking to take on more HR staff. But there are concerns that as well as cutting back on graduate positions, the profession is also failing to look after those whose quality will ensure HR’s successful future.

Alison Hodgson, UK and Ireland resourcing manager for catering giant Sodexho, said the evidence seemed overwhelming, and that HR was letting the next generation down. “You don’t hear much talk of HR graduate training schemes these days,” she said. “As a profession we are very good at sorting out others. But we should start looking at our own house.”

Others have made accusations that the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) is letting the HR leaders of tomorrow down. Simon Howard, founder of recruitment and internal communications company Workcomms, said that a lack of business acumen among university graduates was one of the biggest gripes among employers. “There is a lack of business and commercial awareness among students,” he said, “but this is more true in HR than any other discipline.” Howard said the CIPD operated like an old-fashioned, ‘closed-shop’ trade union. He said that it should be much more open and embracing.

This is borne out by HR graduates who said that joining the CIPD was necessary to get a job, but that the association offered little practical help. Kyra Worsley recently graduated with an MA in HR management, which included the graduate CIPD qualification. She said her course was very good, but the CIPD offered little information about entering the sector. “There was little in the way of support from the CIPD and the service did not seem accessible,” she said. “Most of the stuff sent to me was aimed at senior members. When I went into the CIPD library, I felt like a member, just not a proper one.”

Like most aspiring post-graduate HR professionals, Worsley paid more than £4,000 for her course, and £138 a year for her student CIPD membership. Stephen Dunn, a lecturer in employment relations at the London School of Economics, said that when it came to moving into an HR job, students didn’t know where to look. “It’s not that the CIPD is distant, nor is it unresponsive,” he said. “But students need to know there is life beyond blue-chip companies, and the CIPD should offer more information.”

Cheryl King, membership and development executive for the CIPD, said the organisation tried to cater for everybody and puts a lot of work into looking after younger people. “An important part of our role is getting young people into the profession,” she said. “But when we do career events we try to be honest - there are no guarantees and graduates need to have perseverance.”

Jane Robson, director of Courtenay HR Consulting, believes the HR industry is changing and the traditional HR graduate route is disappearing. “There is a lot more outsourcing, and the traditional route of going into the profession and learning the nitty gritty is disappearing,” she said. “Business wants a different kind of HR now, and in the past three years the industry has been turned on its head.” She said the CIPD would now have to work quickly and extensively if it is to catch up.

This might make painful reading for the industry and the CIPD, but the profession must realise a new focus is needed on HR graduates if it is to maintain a successful, strategic business. After all, you reap what you sow.