KPMG and independent market research company High Fliers Research surveyed over 400 of this summer’s new graduates and asked them about their experience of applying for a graduate job at UK businesses.
The results make for grim reading, with millennials frustrated by lengthy recruitment processes (34%) and poor communication from their potential employer (43%), with over half complaining they never received any feedback when applying for a role.
This frustration could impact big businesses’ future ability to attract talent, with graduates opting out of traditional job schemes in favour of roles in smaller companies, which are more in line with their personal passions and interests and offer a faster and simpler recruitment process.
Charles le Strange Meakin, audit partner at KPMG in the East of England, said: “Millennials don’t want to navigate a cumbersome and convoluted recruitment process when applying for a job and this is something we as business leaders need to understand and address.
“Our own graduates have given us some hard hitting, but really useful feedback and we’re using this to overhaul how we recruit. From now on a candidate’s final interviews and assessments will take place over the course of just one day and we will make them an offer or give feedback explaining why they were not successful within two working days.”
KPMG has introduced Launch Pad, a new streamlined approach which combines the traditional three stages of first interview, assessment centre and final interview into a single day. Students will also get the chance to gain new skills, network with existing KPMG staff and partners, as well as their peers. KPMG is the only Big Four professional services firm to offer this type of graduate recruitment process, which was introduced following in depth discussions with its current and prospective graduates.
Charles added: “Millennials no longer feel the need to play it safe and most are now equally happy to work for a start up or tech firm as they are a large traditional employer. We are competing with the full gamut for the best brains and talent leaving university: getting our graduate recruitment right is crucial to the long term success of our business.”
KPMG is recruiting for 1,000 graduate positions across the UK. KPMG’s graduate scheme is one of the most popular in the UK: the firm received 28,000 applications for c.1,000 positions in 2015.
The top 5 things graduates found most frustrating about applying for a graduate job were:
- Not being offered any feedback if they were unsuccessful (55%)
- Delayed or poor communication from the employer (43%)
- The length of time they had to wait to hear the outcome of the interview (34%)
- The length of time the recruitment process takes from start to finish (34%)
- Too many stages in the recruitment process (28%)
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For press enquiries please contact:
Zoe Sheppard, Senior PR Manager, KPMG
07770 737 994 or zoe.sheppard@kpmg.co.uk
Angela Pink, Communications Executive, KPMG
0207 694 2679 / 07500100257 or angela.pink@kpmg.co.uk
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