One Small Step For Man. One Giant Leap For Gradkind
Traditionally smaller firms have tapped their junior candidate pool from the fountain of large investment banking team, pharma or consultancies.
The large firms you grew up in have created a machine that is perfect for their needs and resources, you can’t blame them.
But these needs are now very different for a boutique business or scale up.
Having seen this first hand with smaller asset managers, the small and medium businesses are missing a trick!
We have all experienced this first hand:
You meet a steady stream of cookie cutter CVs with all the right brands and the same education.
They sell themselves well in interview and even ace the modelling tests….
However, once through the door influencing skills are exposed, your ultra confident candidate struggles to build relationships, and the great modelling or design skills don’t materialize.
Where’s the problem??
It’s at source
Grads need proper help at university around the opportunities their study can open up, the scale of the marketplace and basic interview skills.
I have been working with an excellent undergrad searching for his sandwich year placement and have been amazed by his experiences so far:
His university provided a list of the largest firms around…………... That was it!!
No guidance with application processes.
Video Interview – No, not the one where you speak to a real human. The one where you speak to yourself, answering a set of questions.
This is probably going to be the hardest stage for someone who has limited experience in interviewing or selling themselves, unless they had been on the X factor or The Apprentice.
Being someone who is bright, engaging and high EQ my undergrad does well with humans but the initial stages of assessment screen high EQ people out.
Rather than producing academic robots colleges should prepare bright humans.
This is where the diversion needs to be.
The salesy, polished interviewer who is successful in the large grad rotations is not always the person who will be the right choice for an SME.
This is a great opportunity for other hiring teams. They need bright, high EQ people who are motivated and self starters.
The hole in the big firms talent funnel is leaking great candidates more suited to a smaller more nimble team.
Also, the access to the market means there are now a lot of firms where, as a talented undergrad, you can gain the right level of experience while adding real value to an organisation and a great culture.
