Keeping the talent
The position
The client is a global real estate advisor with about 10,000 staff worldwide.
Each year they recruit about 40 graduates and over two years, develop them to chartered status. The company is very successful in attracting and recruiting high calibre graduates and supporting them to achieve chartered status. But, at the end of the two years the graduates can feel suddenly abandoned and unsupported, causing some of them to leave for competitor companies. We were called in to work with the client to develop a programme to provide the next step in their development.
How did we tackle it?
Working closely with the client, we designed a 3-day workshop to overcome the problems identified. The focus is to support the graduates as they complete the development programme and help them to think independently and take responsibility for their future development.
The workshops combine a number of activities including psychometric tools to identify career preferences and to enable delegates to understand how they approach career development. We use actors to role play scenarios, which helps them to effectively manage career discussions with their boss, and we give them information about career prospects. We also dedicate a large amount of time to discussing what’s involved in managing their careers and who’s responsible for what – where to draw the line between the role of manager, HR, and the individual. 1:1 coaching sessions at the end of the workshops provide an opportunity for the delegates to talk through specific concerns and aspirations.
Successful senior managers join us for dinner both evenings and are quizzed about their careers and opportunities within the business.
Throughout the programme, a professional film-making crew videos them and the activities; this is shown as the finale, which is a terrific way of helping them reflect on what they’d achieved and how they are going to put it into practice.
What did it achieve?
- Improved retention rates
- Increased awareness of how their behaviour affects others
- The graduates are taking more responsibility for developing themselves
- Better understanding of career prospects within the company
Email Jill Pennington or phone 0117 315 5243.
