Graduate recruitment over the Internet has doubled since last year, according to a report from the Association of Graduate Recruiters.
Two-thirds of the employers hoping to lure graduates are using the Internet to do so – twice as many as last year – with half saying they receive better quality applications on-line than in traditional hard copy formats.
The report, published yesterday (3 July) as the annual AGR conference kicked off in Warwick, also found that nine out of 10 of this year’s final-year students who are seeking work are using the Internet. Just less than half had applied on-line to more than one company.
AGR chief executive Carl Gilleard said, “Today’s graduates are Web-aware and regard the Internet as the obvious place to look for information and services. The report shows that employers need to consider the importance of the Internet as a recruitment tool and the implications of ignoring it when developing their graduate recruitment strategy.”
The report, Going to Work on the Web, found that use of the Internet has slashed the time taken from application to acceptance of a formal offer to just a few weeks. It has also opened up access to a global pool of graduates and offered the potential of significant cost savings on traditional recruitment techniques.
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Report author Allayne Amos said companies using the Net are “making a very public statement about their values, aspirations and working style”.
