9 Sensational Things You Should Do To Get The New

Talent Before Everyone ElseDavid Edmundson-Bird

Principal Lecturer in Digital MarketingCourse Director for MMC MSc Digital Marketing

Associate Director for Digital InnovationManchester Metropolitan University

1. Find your key lecturer

• They are awash with offers to ‘tell students about our experiences in the industry’• Give them a key lecture or workshop into a

specific practitioner skill• Become embedded (and therefore permanent)

in the curriculum• Get involved in curriculum design• Find ways to help them – ask them what they

need• Find the right lecturer, find the course leader,

don’t find the manager or researcher• You will be first on their list when students

ask

2. Be constantly on campus

• Make sure you find a way to be involved in Freshers/ Enrolement/ Orientation Week• Sponsor a new joiners/returners social event

and be at it with your brightest and freshest staff

• Sponsor a student society related to your sector• And be actively involved in its running• Teach the members how to network

• Students will remember you if you are actively involved from the outset in their education

3. Start early• Don’t wait till the final year – start

on the first years• Offer part-time work (see point 4)

or summer work• Become a coach or a mentor• Run a legal, in-curriculum

internship• Students will remember you if you

are actively involved from the outset in their education

4. Make friends• Encourage students to become your ‘brand

ambassadors’ on campus• Consider this as a role with a pay cheque - set

performance criteria• Set up networking events for students to

attend• Show them how to do it - have a few quid for a

few drinks • Use your network of ambassadors to work

out who the talent is• Students will remember you if you are

actively involved from the outset in their education

5. Offer a part-time job

• Offering an unpaid internship gets you• Only candidates who don’t have to work

part-time• Only candidates who don’t value themselves• A reputation for thinking you’re too good to

pay staff• A paid part-time job gets a student the

experience you demand in the industry they are interested in• Students will remember you if you are

actively involved in helping them out at their time of need

6. Offer a sandwich year placement

• Giving a student a 9 – 12 month full-time paid placement gives them exposure and experience to your organization AND the role• They’ll be a brand ambassador in their

final year• They will recruit the next placement

student for you• Chances are – they will return after

graduation into a role above the entry-level

7. Sponsor a final year student

• Final year is tough – students who have to work still dial their hours down and the financial pressure is huge• Help reduce the pressure• Provide a financial incentive to study

hard rather than work too many part-time hours

• Combine this with a project for dissertation• You might get something solved as well

as a potentially great employee

8. Run a sponsorship deal

• Look at sponsoring students over the period of their studies• Run a competition at the end of the first

year• Look for great applicants• Combine real drive with real need

• Combine a sponsorship deal with part-time work and sandwich year placement• Build an individual to your spec• Create loyalty

• You might get a graduate who is way, way beyond the entry-level junior

9. Don’t leave it too late

• If you ring after Easter you’ll miss the boat• Don’t wait until you think you have a

vacancy• Don’t say “Send me your very best

graduates.” They only go to the very best companies – is that you?• You are good enough for them and they

are good enough for you• It’s no longer enough to wait for them

to arrive – you have to get out and attract them

One piece of advice

• Stop calling them ’Millenials’ like they are some kind of alien species

Thanks for listening

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