Member Article

How to build a university presence for small business owners

Believe it or not the Higher Education sector is now fully engaged with supporting SMEs to access some of its best graduate talent. Sir Andrew Witty’s review of 2013 highlighted the role which universities play in supporting growth in the UK by providing local economies and business the opportunity to tap into their vast knowledge resources. Universities are coming out fighting and are desperate to show their support. Although opening the formal channels may take some time, Higher Education is now well and truly switched on when it comes to supporting SMEs.

What can SME owners do to tap into the University resources and help recruit top quality students?

Brand is key on a campus. The Guardian Top 300 Graduate Employers have huge budgets to spend on trying to attract the very best candidates. Like any business, universities need to generate income. Although it’s difficult, there are ways in which SMEs can engage with students at early stages for free or at relatively low cost.

Mentoring

Universities recognise the power of mentoring relationships. For students, the opportunity to have someone to contact on an impartial basis who has already been down the path they are interested in is of huge value. Universities welcome business owners from most backgrounds to provide this type of support. From a SME point of view this could be a great way of identifying like-minded undergraduates who could become employees of the future, as well as showing a commitment to corporate social responsibility.

Guest Lectures

Again real life case studies highlighting success are a great way to inspire students and raise aspirations. Guest lectures provide a great platform to show students what can be achieved with an entrepreneurial approach to work, whilst providing a great opportunity to plug your company to potential future employees.

Networking

There are numerous events throughout the calendar year, many of which are sector specific. Recently at Lancaster we held Flux, a business competition which required the input of 20 volunteer mentors from the SME community. Opportunities like this are regular and are a great way to meet students.

Work Experience

Providing work experience opportunities are a wonderful way in which to generate early engagement with undergraduate students. Work experience is vital to future employability. If you are a small but growing company why not engage with an undergraduate now for the part-time/temporary vacancies with a view to future recruitment upon graduation.

Funded Business Support Projects

The likelihood is that your local university is well connected to your Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and therefore playing a significant part in the economic performance of your region. To this end there are likely to be SME support projects with allocations of funding running through your local University. Take the opportunity to identify these and find out how you use these to connect with students.

Job Vacancy Advertising

Most universities have jobs noticeboards which tend to be free to use. Take advantage of this.

In an age of social media it’s never been easier to identify and connect with Undergraduate students, then keep an ongoing dialogue. Although not the finished article recent graduates tend to be excited, enthusiastic and ready to take on the world as their careers start. By developing strong two way relationships there will be every opportunity to build your brand with high quality graduate talent. Take the opportunity to contact your local university to see how you can engage with the next batch.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Daniel Knowles .