Female diversity in graduate recruitment: the message isn’t getting through

The Association of Graduate Recruiters has just revealed that fewer women put themselves forward for graduate schemes, meaning the numbers of women taking up graduate jobs is lower than men. Given all the recent efforts of employers to address this issue, why is the message not getting through on university campuses nationwide?

Sanctuary Graduates, the Graduate Recruitment agency with a network of 1000+ on-campus student headhunters (students themselves), talks to female candidates, student society leaders and student headhunters about their views on graduate recruitment from a female student’s perspective to discover what recommendations they would make to employers in order address the gender imbalance in graduate applications.

Insights from Kelly, President of the University of Exeter’s Women in Business Society

“I know there’s been a big focus amongst companies on implementing policies and strategies to improve female diversity, but students are still not fully aware that the change is happening now and that it will have a positive impact on their application. We try to update them and improve that awareness”.

Lack of confidence is an issue

“Personal discussions are important here, and we have lots of people coming to us for advice. For example, a girl recently asked about whether she should apply to a role in finance, as it’s traditionally quite male dominated and very competitive. We talked to her about how attitudes are changing, and that she shouldn’t feel like she’s not a great candidate.”

“I think it makes a big difference hearing it from a friend or committee member – it feels a bit more realistic and that you can trust them, as it’s coming from a real person.”

Girls respond well to personal discussions

Lavanya, who studies HSPS at Cambridge, is a Sanctuary Graduates headhunter who successfully found candidates for a recent diversity campaign we ran for a multinational financial services firm. She talks about one candidate who accepted an offer on the graduate scheme: “At first she was worried it wasn’t something she knew much about, but after talking to her about the training she applied and eventually got the job!”

“I talked to all my friends and encouraged them to apply – it makes everything more personal, and people seem more interested. One of my friends had seen an advert but not done anything until I happened to talk to her about the same job!”

Why should this make a difference?

When pressed on why this personal approach should make such a difference, Lavanya stressed how much of a confidence boost it is: “It really encourages women to apply. You can put up lots of adverts on the internet but if someone says to you ‘you’d be good’ it really makes a difference. I read that women are less likely than men to apply for jobs they don’t feel 100% qualified for, and I’ve found that talking to girls and explaining everything gives them the confidence they need.”

“As a woman I know that worked for me. Before applying to [my current employer] I thought I wouldn’t know anything but one of my friends encouraged me to apply, and I got the job!”

Girls are generally less confident

Princess, who studied Law at Warwick and recently accepted a place at one of the Big 4 accountancy firms, also highlights her initial lack of confidence: “I’ve found in my internships that boys are generally more confident than the girls. Not coming from a finance background, I was a bit nervous at first because I thought people might think ‘you’re really dumb’ ”.

What should employers do?

1)        The message isn’t coming through: Lots of students still aren’t fully aware that they are sought after. As Lavanya notes, this will have a significant impact on girls because their subsequent lack of confidence prevents them from applying – something which doesn’t affect males to such an extent. Ensuring that your campus marketing, website and events make it clear that skills are more important than previous knowledge will therefore improve not only academic but also gender diversity.

2)        Make it obvious: Princess highlights that she didn’t initially know her new employer was focusing on improving gender diversity. “It would have given me more confidence to apply because I would have thought that they would consider my application”, she says. This is especially true for firms looking for specific degree backgrounds (such as engineering & technology).

3)        Differentiated events: With lots of employers running diversity events, employers should try to stand out. “There are only so many talks you can go to about women in the work place, or women in finance” says Kelly from Exeter’s WiB Society, “and we’re very aware that lots of firms are running similar events. We try hard to have a different take on their subjects, and to make sure the events are varied and that we come at these topics from different angles”. She highlights how employers should look to offer informal events with a particular slant rather than generic ‘Women in the Workplace’ talks to ensure interest and make everything as accessible as possible.

4)      Any other tips? “Free food and drink are always winners!”, Kelly laughs.

Want to know more about these insights from our on-campus student headhunters? Need help with any aspect of your graduate attraction? Please get in touch!