1. Graduate Recruitment Best Practice and HEAR
Building awareness

2. Project Overview Background Objective
The Government has made a commitment to supporting partners to implement the range of Wilson recommendations. This grant provides BIS support for a joint project delivered by Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR) and Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services (AGCAS) to implement Wilson Review recommendations on diversity in graduate recruitment and raise awareness of the Higher Education Achievement Record. The project will identify the factors in successful graduate transition to the labour market to inform promotion of graduate recruitment good practice and awareness raising for HEAR.
Objective
The objective of this project is to raise awareness of the Higher Education Achievement Report (HEAR) amongst the graduate recruitment industry and share graduate recruitment best practice mainly:
To encourage employers to make best use of the HEAR in recruitment and selection
To persuade employers to review their selection criteria to ensure that they are not restricting access to student internships and graduate level jobs of those from disadvantaged backgrounds with a special focus on social mobility

3. Stakeholder – Engagement Matrix
Employers
Interest level high
Adoption level
Concerns around application and cost
Level of uptake will be interrelated with University engagement 5
Universities
Target Universities not as engaged, need to understand drivers and benefit to them
Administration involved
Certification 3
Students
Engaged through pilots
Acceptance interrelated with Universities application and acceptance
Scope of what is included in HEAR report
Engaged as recognised for extra curricular efforts 3 3 3 2 3
Assessment Suppliers
Little engagement to do
Will need to amend screening approach and ATS capabilities and processes
Risk that costs for employers may go up so essential that this group is engaged
HEA & Supporting agencies
Driver of the initiative
Fully supportive as creators
Holds key relationship with Government 3
Professional Bodies
Limited engagement to date due to lack of awareness
Potential for adapting current approach to suit HEAR requirements 3 3
Creative Agencies
Potential to support awareness campaign
Will be involved in promotion of putting hear into practice
Potential to gain awareness of social mobility project via agency’s diversity strand 2 3 5
Barclays
Limited engagement due to lack of awareness of initiative other then key stakeholders who have been involved in approving resource
Application of HEAR report key in success of project
Potential resource and internal piloting
Graduate Bodies (AGR/AGCAS)
Fully engaged and bought into initiative
Dedicated resource and budget secured to help initiative become a success
See TOR for further information
HTS HR Review

4. The Value of the HEAR report
The value of the HEAR is to :
Provide students with an accredited university record of their achievements, both academic and extracurricular during their time at university
Give visibility to employers of students ability to demonstrate academic and non-academic skills learnt at university
Provide clear, reliable and verifiable information
Distinguish candidates beyond the degree classification
Provide a basis for examples or questions in interview process, and could form the basis of further training and development
A framework for 1st generation graduates to work to

5. Themes: Social Mobility and potential barriers
Employers
Unpaid internships – students may be unable to afford to work for free and therefore unable to gain the experience provided, which can hinder further employment
UCAS points - some students will have taken alternative routes into university, other than A- Levels and should not be excluded from applying to jobs because of this
Degrees from less prestigious universities – candidates may have attended universities closer to home because of financial constraints, and these may be the non target universities for employers
Other barriers include employer discrimination, psychometric testing, online applications and the lack of role models.
Employers need to address and bridge the gap regarding non-academic capabilities that undergraduates from less-privileged backgrounds tend to lack and struggle to build.

6. Feedback and Recurring Themes - Surveys
AGR Winter Survey Highlights – Hot Topic – HEAR – January 2013
Only 45.1% of AGR employers had heard of the HEAR.
58.6% of AGR employers stated that they did not plan to use it because:
46.9% said they were happy with the recruitment tools they already use
22.4% said it is new and untried
16.3% said it contains too much information
14.3% didn’t know how to access it
12.2% didn’t understand what it was
AGCAS Careers Services Survey Results – HEAR – December 2012
40.5% of careers services agreed that the HEAR will benefit some students and graduates % of careers services thought that the HEAR would help employers to understand better what students and graduates have to offer, and 32.4% are talking to employers about the HEAR.
54.5% of employers are generally responding quite positively to the HEAR. However, only 36.1% in the careers/employability service hold the same positive view, with 28% feeling quite negative about the HEAR.

7. Feedback and Recurring Themes - Employers
Feedback from employers:
Whilst employers were aware of the HEAR, more information was required to really understand its merits.
It was felt the HEAR would not be of great use during the sifting process due to the number of applications received and the amount of information there is to read. There was a misconception that the HEAR will make all students look the same.
The potential of the HEAR seem to focus in the interview process and on-going training and development. There was also an agreement that the HEAR would be useful tool in reference checking activity and would deter graduates from inflating grades.
Many employers are hoping that more non-participating institutions will adopt the HEAR in the future as it was seen a good framework for students from disadvantages backgrounds in terms of promoting employability.
In terms of removing barriers to recruitment and selection process, over 81.3% of AGR employers use a 2.1 degree classification as a screening cut-off. There was evidence of best practice, including anonymised application forms being used. However, the biggest internal barrier was senior stakeholders and potential increased volume of applications.