Graduates will desert companies unless promises made to them in the
recruitment process are met.
Inadequate training and development, poor career management and boring work
were found to be the main reasons for turnover among graduates, said Jane
Sturges, lecturer in management at the Open University Business School, quoting
a study by OUBS.
Graduates were also increasingly likely to want a balance between work and
home life, although despite this most said they work long hours.
Pay was far less important than other factors, the study of 50 graduates at
five major employers found.
"I am not saying the employers are dishonest, but sometimes they can be
a little flexible with the truth," said Sturges. "It is almost what
they do not say that is most deluding."
But graduates still had a traditional idea of what their career would
entail, despite reduction in job security, flatter organisational structures
and employee loyalty in the past decade.
"They still expect help with managing their careers, they have a high
expectation of training and development and want challenging work," said
Sturges.
"They understand the rhetoric of the ‘new career’, but they do not seem
to know how it applies to them."
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Lack of career progression was also found to be a major threat to graduate
commitment.
Sturges said HR departments have a big role to play in training line
managers to offer career advice to graduates. Most of the respondents reported
that they did not receive sufficient support from their line manager.
