•  Wide range of WIL programs with differences across universities presents challenges for employers

•  Draft a consistent WIL agreement between academics and employers

•  There are also a number of geographical challenges particularly the regional unis

•  Develop voluntary projects which could operate as mini WIL programs

•  Need more consistency regarding who the key university contacts are for WIL programs

•  Unis invoice employers rather than putting students on their payroll, means less paperwork for employers and may therefore be more appealing

•  Need more employer input into competencies and greater consistency in employer assessments

•  National workers comp scheme for students in work experience

•  How do you contact first year students, provide career guidance and practical work experience?

•  Increase employer mentoring €“ eg, have an employer linked to a vacation student throughout the year

•  As an industry we need greater involvement in setting of government policies

•  Greater use of extra curricular activities

•  Need to increase sharing of information between AAGE / NAGCAS particularly where we may be able to work collaboratively on projects being undertaken, eg an employer may have an idea that works in with something a university is currently trialling

•  AAGE / NAGCAS subcommittee to provide comment on policy papers

•  Monthly communication on key projects or an AAGE blog on which projects can be reported and updated

•  Managing the level and volume of information provided to students

•  Increase the focus on long term relationships and quality interactions with students (more face to face)

• Greater definition and understanding of the role of careers service staff

•  Use the careers service as a conduit between students and employers

•  Managing issues around regional universities particularly regarding employer representation

•  Hold information sessions at company sites

•  Constant changing of names of core subjects can be confusing for employers when identifying which groups of students to target

•  Increase use of technology €“ chat rooms, blogs, video conferences, 2 nd life etc (eg IBM ), career hub

•  Employers to sponsor a careers service initiative eg HEWSO

•  Pigeon holing students into categories such as international, mature aged etc rather than just viewing them all as students

•  AAGE to consider liaison with Department of Immigration to identify issues and possible solutions to increase employment of international students

•  International student needs (jobs) versus employer needs (visas, communication skills etc)

•  AAGE to host immigration workshops to raise awareness amongst employers of how they can employ international students, the types of visas available etc (similar to the conference workshop)

•  Generic degree students €“ need a better balance between student skills and employer needs

•  Short term placements for students with generic degrees to allow them to demonstrate their abilities

•  Regional students €“ actually connecting them with potential employers outside their immediate location

•  HR to increase promotion of these groups of students to the rest of the organisation

•  Increase use of technology as a means to communicate with students from regional universities

•  Improve the attraction of employer offerings, ie, highlight what the students from these various groups are seeking

•  More international than local students attending careers fairs

•  Employers should see careers fairs as one of many options for promoting themselves to students

•  Careers service staff need a contact person with employers so they can answer students questions

•  Is there scope for an international careers fair? (eg similar to those which run in the UK)

•  High turnover amongst grad recruiters means that relationships are often lost or overlooked when the new grad recruiter begins

•  NAGCAS to provide a guide for employers attending careers fairs so that they know how best to promote themselves

•  Lack of understanding amongst employers as to role careers service staff can play

•  Market to wider range of students than just those attending careers fairs. Eg regional, 1 st and 2 nd years, hold information sessions, send direct texts, emails, advertise in regional papers, more personal contacts

•  Employer information sessions increasing in popularity and now not meeting demand €“ facilities too small or insufficient time to allow all employers who want to attend to do so

•  Deakin take video of employers and their offerings to show to their regional students

•  Use video conferencing facilities

•  Use careers staff to gather student queries about a particular organisation; they can then contact the right person in the organisation with all the queries at once and feed back to the students

•  Employers to ensure, wherever possible, that handover to new grad recruiters includes details of all relationships with university staff

•  Invite a NAGCAS rep to the AAGE "how to" workshops, to present a session on how they operate in order to increase employer understanding

•  Employers to book information sessions early!! Consider running info sessions on company premises

•  Insufficient grads choosing careers in core occupations such as engineering, accounting etc

•  Offer courses that will generate more flexible grads. Eg RMIT degree of 2 Foundation years followed by a more specialised year

•  Can international students be used to fill the gap? Issues include communication, awareness of our business culture etc

•  Mentoring program for international students, provide business culture training, increase awareness amongst employers of 457 visa option

•  What happens to those students who are not employed within the first 3 €“ 6 months of finishing their degrees?

•  Open government recruitment options

•  Need to increase interest in occupations earlier ie school age

•  Apprenticeship program for those not employed within the first few months of leaving uni, focussing on skills required to find a job

•  Employers team up with uni recruitment teams and do school visits together; employers attend parent information evenings held by universities

•  Greater industry collaboration to attract students from an earlier age (eg ICAA school info night)

•  Attrition €“ graduate mobility

•  Keep messages consistent

•  Ethics around application and recruitment process for both employers and students

•  Deliver on what was promised during recruitment

•  Ensuring that students are making informed choices

•  Ensure students are aware of employer response times during recruitment process. Ensure employer response times are appropriate

•  Increased competition in the market results in greater expectations among students, leading to increased frustration when their expectations are not met

•  Find out what the student expectations are

•  Grad recruitment managers should be focussed on development, not just recruitment, and titles should therefore be graduate manager, not graduate recruiter

•  Use alumni networks to connect with students

•  Promote benefits to students

•  Highlight career lattice versus career ladder

•  Use relevant survey information when building attraction and retention strategies eg AAGE student survey, GCA student survey

•  Move industry focus away from simply recruitment to more encompassing arena of development

•  Lack of understanding amongst grads as to what development actually entails

•  Define development €“ both universities and employers €“ so that graduates have a better understanding of what's involved

•  Unrealistic expectation amongst grads of certain level of responsibility as soon as they join an organisation

•  Increase understanding of graduate expectations so that they can be managed

•  Use alumni networks

•  AAGE / NAGCAS to work together to identify ways of educating students, particularly around realistic expectations

•  Employers to ensure line managers buy-in to managing graduates and their development expectations

•  Make sure individual rather than collective expectations are being met

•  Utilise €œe-portfolio€ as a means for graduates to highlight skills they are developing at uni beyond core skills being taught in their subjects

•  Scope for €œcareer development' staff in organisations?

•  Need to highlight the ethical practices of both students and employers

•  AAGE draft to be circulated prior to next Forum for comment and then included as topic for discussion at next Forum

•  Needs high level agreement, not just AAGE and NAGCAS. Ie, needs buy-in from Business Council of Australia, industry bodies and universities, etc

•  Include both employer and student behaviour in draft

•  Contact Rosemary Sainty for input into ethical practices due to previous work on this