Graduate Diversity Jobs
DIVERSITY
The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) defines diversity as “valuing everyone as an individual – valuing people as employees, customers and clients.”
Diversity aims to take equality forward and evidence indicates that organisations that are serious about diversity show better overall financial performance. Employers who offer good working conditions, benefit from more positive and committed employees, who are less likely to leave. The CIPD believes employers who sit on the sidelines regarding diversity will quickly become less attractive to existing and prospective employees and that is not going to benefit anyone at all.
Patrick Johnson, head of diversity at Manchester University Careers Service, thinks that generally, more organisations nowadays are diverse. The top companies are welcoming a broader range of people, and the number of students from a minority background employed has increased slightly, although it is not by a huge amount. “The job market is generally looking good,” says Patrick. “However, I think part of the problem is that employers are fishing in the wrong pond. He adds: “The bulk of vacancies that are available for students are from smaller enterprises, which you do not hear much about. Students must start tapping into the larger companies.”Patrick advises applicants to be prepared: when initially making the application, speak to careers advisers and extensively research the company you are applying to. He says: “A company is looking for the best person at the end of the day, so make sure you have filled out your application correctly and are enthusiastic when being interviewed.”
Diversity means difference, and people's differences are many and varied:
- Disability
- Ethnicity
- Gender
- Sexual Orientation
- Race
- Age
- Culture
- Religion
- Socio-economic
- And more
Managing diversity is about harnessing these differences to create a productive environment in which everybody feels valued, where talents are fully utilised and in which organisational goals are met (Kandola and Fullerton authors of Diversity in Action: Managing the Mosaic).
A diversity policy can be meaningless unless supported by a strategic diversity programme. Diversity needs to be approached as a cultural change process and as a business-wide concern. By law, employers are required to monitor and publish specific diversity data for its workforce. But how many actually do is an unknown.
Recruitment issues such as tackling the under-representation of particular talent pools should always avoid tokenism and focus on attracting more applicants by ‘fishing in more pools.’
The Head of the Civil Service, Sir Gus O’Donnell has recently stressed that he wants to build a more diverse service. “To meet our future challenges we must continue to build a workforce that is representative of the public we serve, and that is passionate about making a difference to all parts of society, especially those hardest to reach. That is the kind of Civil Service that will be able to deliver excellent public services to all.”
PricewaterhouseCoopers' law firm services group has launched a new research project to investigate employee diversity within law firms. The Legal Services Board (LSB) has announced that it is stepping up its effort to improve access to the legal profession. Its chairman David Edmonds explained the importance of the profession opening to people of all backgrounds, providing they have the necessary capabilities.
A report by recruitment and HR consultancy Chess Executive published at the end of 2007 highlighted the difficulties faced by ethnic minorities in achieving career progression within the Hospitality sector. The report found that only 6% of ethnic minorities worked at middle or senior management level and that they were represented at board level in only 2% of companies.
Diversity should be cultural and embraced by all employees. The evaluation and measurement of a diversity policy should be transparent and regularly published both internally and externally. Organisations wishing to promote themselves as ‘employers of choice’ should see no reason to withhold such information.
Graduate Diversity Employers
| nucleargraduates | The UK’s nuclear industry is facing its biggest challenge in... | more |
| PwC | PwC is the one firm for all talented graduates. As one of the wor... | more |
| Cambridge City Council | Cambridge is a vibrant city and is a great place to live, work and... | more |
| DLA Piper | With more than 3,700 lawyers in 64 offices in 25 countries, we hel... | more |
| Enterprise Rent-A-Car | If you've ever had nightmares about spending years at university o... | more |
| CIPD (Chartered Institute of Perso... | The CIPD is Europe’s largest professional body for those inv... | more |
Graduate Diversity Case Studies
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NAFISA SHAFIQ - PR INTERNNafisa Shafiq studied for a BSc in marketing at Bradford University school of management. She’s now an intern with PR firm Northern Lights. ... more |
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LAURA WILKINSON - LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTLaura Wilkinson studied landscape architecture at the University of Sheffield. She’s now a Landscape Architect. ... more |
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AIMEE BROUGHTON-BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT ANALYSTAimmee Broughton completed her undergraduate and master’s degrees in physics at the University of Oxford. She is currently a business development analyst working for Centrica in the Netherlands. ... more |
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ALEXANDER VAN HOLK-ASSOCIATE INVESTMENT BANKERAlexander van Holk did a BA in International Economics & Business and MSc in Finance at the University of Groningen, The Netherlands. He’s now an associate in the investment banking division of Morgan Stanley. ... more |
Graduate Diversity Advice
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When it comes to religion in the workplace, know what you're entitled... more |
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Why your age might be the best thing about you.... more |
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The days of 'Don't ask, don't tell' are behind us. Employers are actively... more |
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Real World now publishes the largest "Diversity" issue on campus, having... more |
