It’s always encouraging when two surveys, conducted at the same time in the economic cycle, produce results that are complementary.

The AGR Winter Survey 2009 launched last night and although there will be many headlines around a reduction in the amount of graduate vacancies available in 2009, there are other, equally interesting stories in the data.

One of the key messages is that, despite the downturn, 37.8% of employers still struggled to find graduate recruits of a sufficiently high calibre to make job offers to.

When asked about the recruitment challenges for 2009, the top two responses were “not the right skills” 53.6% and “graduates’ perceptions of the industry” 50%.

Although the opportunity to ask MP David Lammy about the Government's response to the first point was missed at the launch, the latter point leads on precisely from the wider ACE research amongst candidates which showed quite clearly that job seekers who do best are those that understand industries and roles better than others.

Their industriousness is one reason for this, but employers must make sure that they are helping candidates.  The very idea that 50% of applicants to graduate jobs in particular, a sector that is well-versed in marketing using channels as diverse as fairs, brochures, websites and search marketing, do not know enough about organisations is a real concern.

A second story to emerge is that on-campus promotion is expected to rise in 2009 (by around 11%) whereas spend on online promotions and websites together is expected to fall by something in the region of 12%.

Again, this correlates with the ACE findings which show that jobseekers use of search is fully predicated on their understanding of what to search on.  Increased use of eyeline media to generate responses has a huge impact on candidates, and in this case students’, ability to use search effectively.

There is, of course, another point in that physical presence allows for myths to be dispelled.  Although many students have been reported as sceptical of employers’ attempts to reassure them that they are hiring, there is nothing quite like having somebody reassure you face to face to drive that message home.

In the brave new world of blogging, social networking, job boards and collaboration, what role does the employing organisation have in coordinating marketing and resourcing with a view to managing reputation?

Phill Lane explains how emotional engagement and a developed employer reputation can help ensure candidates choose the right job, not just the first job, in a declining market.

Dean Shoesmith explains how candidate communication is key during lengthy and rigorous public sector recruitment processes.

Matt Alder describes how technological developments, including virtual inductions, can improve the experience and the relationship.

Dean Shoesmith, Joint Executive Head of Human Resources for the London Boroughs of Sutton and Merton, talks about the risks involved in getting too many applications over the coming months, Carolyn Gray, Guardian Media Group, urges employers to focus on their reputation and Matt Alder tracks job seeking in real time on Facebook.

Is the key to successful job hunting all about luck or, as Ian Wylie reports in The Guardian, more a case of skill and perseverance?

Ian chaired the launch event at the end of January and gave his take on the findings in last weekend's work section:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2009/jan/24/work-careers-unempolyment.

Well over a hundred people turned up at The Guardian's Kings Cross offices on January 22nd to hear Barkers, Head of Digital Matt Alder and Guardian Jobs' Sales Director Helen Bird launch a comprehensive new study into the attitudes and experiences of job seekers, and how the more successful are different to the rest.

The research looks at every stage of the job seekers journey, it is then divided into two distinct groups: those who got a new job with relative ease (ACES) and those who had more difficulty (Chasers). One surprising finding was that, even after starting a new job, a proportion of Aces maintain their job search routines, just in case things don't work out.

The research provides many useful insights into how high quality, well thought out communications and media work can pay dividends on many different fronts. In short, organisations providing clear, honest, thorough information, multi-platform communications and feedback, and effective induction are likely to end up with more Aces.

Check out the photos below to see what happened on the day.

Jobhunters who are optimistic stand a better change of getting a job, as do those who are proactive and decisive.

But is there a way of becoming more optimistic in a gloomy market?  Phill Lane, a co-author of the research discussing the issue on Chris Evans' BBC Radio 2 Drivetime show.

Click below to hear the interview.

radio2.mp3 (2.86 mb)

In theory, that should be an easy question.   Once they've started a new job.

Sure, there’ll always be people that drop out during the process and employers have long been aware that recruitment is as much about candidates reviewing the employer as the other way round. 

And, of course, many candidates (62%) will turn down job offers even having run the whole gauntlet.  

But surely offer accepted, job started, deal done.  

Or is it? 

Actually, it seems that many strong candidates spend their first few months in a new role actively looking for another.  That their probation period is not just about settling in, but already about looking for a way out! 

Alarming as it seems, under investigation this makes a lot of sense. 

People usually leave an employer that they are unhappy with only when the risks of staying outweigh the risks of leaving.  And even outside the current climate, leaving a job for another does involve taking a leap of faith. 

However, having taken that leap once, it is not so much of a risk to change again very quickly.  There is less emotional attachment and few people to yet call friends. 

In fact, there is very little risk in taking a better job within the first few weeks of starting a new one. 

Over and above the mitigated risk, there is a host of additional reasons for changing jobs within the first few weeks.   

• The notice period is typically just a week until probation is served, giving candidates more flexibility on start dates
• Inboxes are still full of offers of second interviews and roles that have been well-filtered
• Candidates are in peak form – they have practised (typically for four months) so have their interview and application techniques honed to a fine art
• They have little/nothing to lose by seeing through the balls they had in play to a natural conclusion
• Confidence and self-worth are at an all time high – since they have just been offered a job, they have no reason to doubt themselves 

But for an employer the risk of an employee moving at this point is huge. 

Just when the right candidate has been found, and actually started, all of the others let down gently, the whole process has to start again, from scratch. 

All in all, it seems that for all the effort put in to find the right employees, just as much is needed during the first few weeks and months if organisations are to convert a new joiner into a productive employee.

As you’d expect, the survey respondents had a number of frustrations with the job hunting process as it stands and one of the most common was when they received misleading/incomplete/deliberately false information. 

This is a concern if only because we know that the ability to make decisions is something that sets the better candidates apart and because there is a clear correlation between decision making and availability of information with which to make them. 

And whilst there is a trend towards those that are able to find more information for themselves by way of asking and reading more widely, there is also a question to ask of employers who are not publishing clearly enough some relatively simple information. 

Salary is a good example.   

It’s what many people search on first and, not necessarily because they are mercenary but, in fact, because how people judge whether a role is suitable/appropriate for them is often based on how similar the salary level is to the job that they are doing now.  A little higher, for most people, is about right. 

In industries where new jobs with new job titles have been common, such as the environmental sector, the salary level stated is often of paramount importance in helping candidates determine suitability before any further investigation can take place.  This is also true for organisations that are not well known.  The size of the salary is a very good indicator of the size of the challenge. 

What this means for those that withhold salary details is that they lose out in a number of ways: 

• candidates cannot tell if they are at a suitable level, so overlook these roles
• the chances of a candidate applying anyway but declining later in the process are heightened
• some candidates read “£Competitive” as meaning “they’ll work you really hard to earn your money” – not as having a salary comparable to the industry
• candidates are less able to make a decision early and commit emotionally to that application
• job alerts are often set up on salary criteria, so without it in your advertisement you are unlikely to benefit from these alerts sent out on a daily basis

 In the current climate any new roles are unlikely to be sanctioned without a business case – that will inevitably include the proposed salary. 

So when 51% candidates who turned down jobs do so due to “unattractive terms and conditions”, it makes you wonder who exactly benefits from withholding such a simple piece of information?