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Today’s Talent Acquisition landscape. Barely a day goes by without an announcement on AI, machine learning or Digital First Proprietary Tech Stacks, among much else. But amid all this (admittedly seductive) innovation and noise, we risk forgetting something crucial. Our job is to help real people start or progress real careers. Careers that, with any luck, become the foundation of fulfilling lives.
Nowhere is this more evident than in Early Careers. Often, though not exclusively, newly qualified school leavers or university graduates taking their first tentative steps into the world of work.
Opening Doors
I recently visited my son in Newcastle where he’s six months into his first placement as part of the HR graduate scheme for a large construction/infrastructure business. After completing his Master’s in HR at Kings College, he secured a place on the programme. After one week in London, he was sent to the North East. I had concerns about how he’d settle. A school friend also moved there, and they managed to sort out a flat above a pub (not ideal!). Said hostelry was just two minutes’ walk from St James’s Park in the centre of the city (again questionable!).
Expanding Horizons
I should have had more faith. Over dinner on the Saturday, he spent the next five hours talking about his experiences in the job and his life in the city. He was no longer the same person who’d left London. He was much more confident, full of ideas, questions and challenges. He regaled me with stories of the work he was doing, and of nights out in Newcastle with the other graduates and apprentices.
Leading the Change
As TA professionals, this is what we really do. We help people like my son to get started. He was lucky. He has had lots of opportunity for which I am very grateful. But to see the change in him has been so heartwarming. And this coming from a cynical, 35 years+ branding/recruitment veteran, who has seen the world evolve from block and metal newspaper advertisement setting through to VR, AR, AI, predictive analytics and deserted office space that cost hundreds of thousands of pounds a year in rent! (I’m really quite chilled about it, honest 😊).
Ultimately, at its best, this industry can help improve lives. With this in mind, we’ve recently opened the TMPW Graduate Pathway Programme in memory of our late, great colleague Simon Wright. It’s a two-year programme full of strategy, data, media, research, creative content and commercial management. If you, or someone you know, would love to take first steps into a sector that never stops changing, and is challenging and surprising, please apply at https://www.tmpw.co.uk/graduates/
