Our Learning and Development Advisor has been working hard throughout the Covid-19 crisis to ensure that every one of our 2020 graduates has had the support and peace of mind knowing that their job offer here at Dalcour Maclaren has been unaffected by the pandemic. The lockdown has been challenging for all employers, but in DM fashion we have made it our mission to stick to our guns and make sure that we didn’t let these top candidates down!
What did you think when we went into lockdown and the furlough scheme was introduced?
When we issued offers for graduate roles back in January we were already aware that we’d ‘gone bold’ and were taking on a big cohort for 2020. But when we went into lockdown in March, we were certain straight away that retracting offers for those who had accepted a position would be an absolute last resort.
I can’t say that there was no uncertainty, but with some strategic planning and hard work we successfully placed every one of the graduates that we offered jobs to and even a few more.
Reaching out
We were really proactive about contacting our graduates when the pandemic hit and made sure they knew where they stood – it’s scary enough going into a new job under normal circumstances, let alone on the brink of recession. We reached out to everyone on 20th March to be completely transparent and let them know we were thinking of them and working hard to ensure we would still be able to take them on!
What next?
By June we had started to consider graduate allocation and issued teams and line managers for our new starters. We were thrilled to be able to bring forward a few start dates to keep up with demand from clients to get people out on site! Since then, every Monday we’ve had a fresh batch of new starters and it’s hard to believe we’re now at the end of September and we have 47 new graduates with us!
In addition to that, we were really pleased to be able to even offer 4 extra graduate roles to those who had either had offers retracted, found themselves out of work as a result of the pandemic, or as a result of the demand simply expanding due to DM contract wins.
We connected with everyone on Linkedin to make sure they were kept in the loop- we kept engaging and have been looking out for updates on exams results and announcements from them too!
Why is it so important to have a strong graduate workforce at DM?
There are several reasons that our grads are so highly regarded here at DM:
1. Grads have always been so important to DM. without them we would not have a business on a technical level as they’re such a key part of the team, but they also bring so much in terms of flesh blood, new ideas, new jokes, good team spirit.
2. It is no secret that DM is looking positively ahead to the future. It would have been easy to assume we were all doomed and bury our heads in the sand when it came to graduate recruitment. That goes against our whole ethos- we are a company that faces challenges head on as one team, and this is no exception.
3. The loyalty to our team is what sets us apart from our competition. We want all our staff, present and future to feel safe and valued at DM. We are one team and ultimately, we have our colleagues’ corner and best interests. This serves as a mark of solidarity to our existing team as well as for the new starters.
How will the pandemic influence recruitment going forward?
Our targets for recruitment in 2021 are still higher than originally planned- this process has strengthened the commitment that we’ve made and will make to graduates. It has also made us as an organisation want to do our bit for those leaving university by giving them an opportunity to flourish in an otherwise challenging environment.
We are eager to get started on recruiting graduates in 2021- we hope that for next year’s candidates this experience can demonstrate that working for DM is a great chance to get into professional work and we have a huge regard for the value that graduates add to the organisation.
We are working hard towards the launch of applications for next year, so watch this space for more information!
Written by
