Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • Maternity & Paternity
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • Maternity & Paternity
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Careers in HRCoaching and mentoringLearning & developmentThe HR profession

Spotlight on… buddy schemes

by Nadia Williams 6 Jun 2006
by Nadia Williams 6 Jun 2006

Buddy schemes – where new recruits are provided with an informal mentor – are an increasingly common feature of the recruitment and induction process.

Many organisations, from investment banks to retail stores, have cottoned on to their benefits. One such example is consulting firm Accenture. It has been running buddy schemes for more than a decade, giving candidates a unique insight into life at the company before they join.

“For graduates, where they work is probably the biggest decision they’ve made up until that point,” says Susy Style, head of graduate recruitment at Accenture. “Buddy schemes provide them with a chance to talk openly with somebody who actually does the job that they’ve applied to do.”

Sharing experience

Graduates are assigned to someone who has worked at the organisation for about a year, and Accenture also tries to provide a buddy with a similar background, such as someone who studied the same course.

Initial contact is usually made by phone or e-mail, and later they may meet up to chat over coffee or lunch. It is left to the participants to determine their relationship, but it is casual and confidential. “The feedback that we’ve had is that this is the main attraction,” says Style. “They didn’t feel that it was part of the recruitment process, or that they were being assessed.”

Brand booster

It can also boost an employer’s brand in a competitive market, adds Style.

“Graduate recruitment is very competitive,” she says. “It’s a way of maintaining contact with students while they are still at university, so that even if they are going through the interview process with other organisations, we remain confident that we can talk to them and keep them interested.”

And feedback shows that it works. “We proactively ask graduates about the things that made them decide to join and have kept them here, and the buddy programme is something that always features,” says Style.

Creating a confidante

The benefits of buddy schemes don’t end with recruitment. A number of City institutions, including financial services companies Citigroup and CSFB, operate buddy schemes for mothers returning to work after maternity leave and among minority ethnic groups.

In addition, a report published by the Adult Learning Inspectorate in 2003 concluded that buddy schemes also improved employees’ chances of attaining work-based qualifications.

Either way, it can help staff and potential recruits to discuss issues they might not wish to with a line manager or future employer.

Jimmy Bastock was given a buddy a year before joining management consultancy Deloitte as an associate.

“I had a lot of questions. It was good to be able to ask someone before I joined, rather than on my first day,” he says.

In fact, Bastock’s experience was so positive that he volunteered to get involved with this year’s scheme. “If you have any queries that you wouldn’t want to discuss with your manager, you’ve always got your buddy to turn to,” he says.

Buddying is:



  • an effective recruitment and retention tool

  • a means to provide a contact within the organisation for new recruits

  • an informal forum for confidential discussion

  • a way of improving recruits’ chances of attaining work-based qualifications

How to find a mentor www.personneltoday.com/33398.article




 

Avatar
Nadia Williams

previous post
Peugeot employees vote not to take strike action
next post
Devil of a job is too hot to handle

You may also like

NHS should upskill admin staff to reduce waiting...

23 May 2022

‘It’s International HR Day – wait, you didn’t...

20 May 2022

Squishy, flabby, foggy HR? Andrew Bartlow talks to...

20 May 2022

Movers and shakers May 2022: John Lewis and...

20 May 2022

Young people’s skills don’t match employer needs, finds...

11 May 2022

How flexible learning can close the digital skills...

9 May 2022

Productivity blighted by users’ tech problems, research reveals

6 May 2022

Movers and shakers April 2022: Santander UK appoints...

22 Apr 2022

Time to kill off the HR business partner?...

8 Apr 2022

Half of employers want to replace apprenticeship levy...

7 Apr 2022
  • The Search for Talent: Six Major Employer Pitfalls PROMOTED | The Great Resignation continues unabated...Read more
  • Navigating the widening “Skills Confidence Gap” in 2022, and beyond PROMOTED | Cornerstone OnDemand conducted a global study...Read more
  • Apprenticeships are the solution to your recruitment problems PROMOTED | Apprenticeships have the pulling power...Read more
  • What it really means to be mentally fit PROMOTED | What is mental fitness...Read more
  • How music can help to ease anxiety at work PROMOTED | A lot has happened since March 2020, hasn’t it?...Read more
  • Why now is the time to plug the unhealthy gap PROMOTED | We’ve all heard the term ‘health is wealth’...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2022

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2022 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • Maternity & Paternity
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+