Did you know that a lot of graduate roles are never filled? The main reason is the lack of “first-hand” work experience to partner with their degree. With one of our offices being based in Cambridge, we are in a fortunate position to have access to a diverse, highly-skilled market of students, and we often tell our clients that by utilising a student within your business, you could be helping to upskill candidates, making them more attractive for graduate schemes and employers moving forward.
Many students look for part-time work that will not only fit around their studies but, allow them to further their pre-existing skills and build a CV which will benefit them when looking for work after their studies.
Many of our clients often temporarily need candidates who can offer flexibility in hours and roles - students are a great resource for covering maternity leave, sick leave, job sharing etc.
Skills?
At The ONE Group, we frequently work with students looking for temporary work. Often, these students have prior work experience in areas such as; administration, customer service, retail, finance, marketing, and general office roles.
An example profile of a student looking for work could be;
2nd-year law undergraduate
Previous experience working in an office environment
Administration
Secretarial
Customer service positions
Fluent in Italian
Looking for circa 20 hours per week
Able to work 2 full days and 3 part-time days
Proactiveness
We feel that students can truly add value to a business, especially a business that can counter-offer flexibility. Maybe you require someone to support two days per week or on a certain project that requires more manpower, perhaps this workload will fluctuate, and you need a candidate who can be flexible around this.
By offering flexibility on days to be worked, students can offer the same flexibility on hours worked per week as they require fewer hours than a worker looking for a permanent placement.
Capture upcoming talent
Cambridge attracts some of the best minds in the Country, it can only benefit organisations to utilise this talent.
We are always seeing reported skills shortages in the various markets, by engaging with the student talent pool to assist in some of the lower level duties, not only does it relieve the pressure of more senior members of a team but, it also helps train the next working generation!
Length?
A student can interact with your business for as long, or as short as necessary. If there is a set cover time, such as a project, then this can be put to the student, if it’s just on an ad-hoc basis, then depending on the student’s prior engagements, it is likely they can cover at extremely short notice.
However, we have known many students interact with the same company throughout their studies, working across various divisions and, due to their understanding of the business they are often a much more cost-effective solution than hiring someone new as they will require limited training.