Graduate brands – will the old order be resumed?

While there's no shortage of graduates in the current market, competition for the brightest and best graduate talent remains as intense as ever.  With the next graduate recruitment season fast approaching, Ri5 looks at the likely impact of global economic turmoil on employer brands - particularly on campus.  Was last year just a blip, with normal service likely to be speedily resumed in terms of sector and brand popularity, or will employers have to work a little harder to ensure they're still seen as preferred options?

Different organisations have reacted to the downturn in different ways regarding their attitudes to graduate recruitment.  While few organisations have taken the much-publicised BT option of turning the recruitment tap off altogether - at least pro tem - others have seen fit to reduce their intakes by a greater or lesser extent, while others still - arguably the most perceptive, at least in terms of brand impact - have found ways to maintain or even slightly increase their programmes.

More encouragingly, the recently-published Times Top 100 Graduate Employers list suggests that the UK's major employers intend to recruit around 5% more graduates next year.  Interestingly, the much maligned banking sector is anticipating increases on a somewhat larger scale: City investment banks are planning to boost their graduate intakes by around 20%, with the rest of the financial sector (including other banks) looking at an 8% rise.

The banks in particular have suffered a torrid year, although in some respects - notably annual bonuses - you could be forgiven for thinking that little has changed.  But what of their attractiveness to potential high-calibre graduate recruits - has the sector taken a sustained hit, and will its major players have to work harder in marketing terms to regain their former pre-eminence?

We know that, last autumn, many careers advisers were actively discouraging graduates from applying for jobs in the finance sector.  But despite the recession, some banks' employer brands - even those hit hardest by negative press coverage - appeared to have remained relatively unaffected in terms of their graduate appeal.  When the consultancy Freshminds conducted two identical surveys in 2008 and 2009 (i.e. pre- and post-credit crunch, two of the most negatively-reported investment banks (Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley) managed to retain their top-three positions as companies that graduates wanted to work for.

There is a view that self-interest still prevails, of course.  However dented their image may be, the banks haven't lost their reputation for providing high salaries, good benefits and attractive training and development prospects.  And, ironically, those that have weathered the financial storms best may actually see their reputations enhanced.  (In the latest Universum UK student survey, published during the first half of this year, several banks had increased their popularity among business students, while others saw their rankings decline.)

But although the banks will be actively recruiting again, there's still evidence that undergraduates' career interest in the sector - influenced by parental opinions and media among other things - hasn't returned to pre-recession levels.  (Gordon Chesterman, head of Cambridge University Careers Service, reports a fall of around 15% in the number of students visiting banking events on campus.)

At the same time, it's worth noting that if the decline in banks' popularity is successfully arrested - or even reversed - it will mean that things are no less competitive for graduate recruiters in other sectors, who might otherwise have been looking forward to a slightly easier life in the short term.

Reviewing students' preferred employers in this year's Universum UK survey, Western Europe market unit manager Anne Margrethe Mannerfelt hit the nail on the head.  "What seems to matter is their overall image," she said.  "What we have also seen this year is that companies make employer branding a priority through tough times - wise from experiences from the last recession.  They know they have to continue to be active in order not to lose out when we come to the end of the crisis."

And when we do come to the end of the crisis - if we're not already there - the competition for top graduates will start to intensify once again, as employers are reminded that the war for talent never actually went away.  That will leave those organisations which have continued to market hard throughout the downturn in a very strong position, while others will be playing catch-up.

As Hugh Young, managing director of Graduate Promotions, says, "Some employers are clearly seeing the current environment as a massive opportunity, focusing on year-round, on-campus brand presences and on improving their student perception rankings at the expense of their competitors."

The one thing that's certain is that we can expect to see some substantive changes in brand strength across the UK's university campuses, which means there's absolutely no room for complacency.  Let the jousting commence!