Looking after graduates after rotation
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For many graduates on a rotational placement scheme, the move to a new placement is either coming up or happening right now. For some managers, this will either be a blessing or a burden. You may be losing a bright star who has packed in a lot of experience and just started producing excellent work; you may be gaining an ‘unknown quantity’ and trying to work out a project that will be challenging but achievable in a short timescale. Sometimes you are gaining a graduate who comes pre-packed with business savvy, great relationship building skills and organisational skills, whereas others are really struggling with the multiple demands of a turbulent organisation! But either way, when a graduate arrives you’ll want to take them under your wing and get the best out of them – even when the timing is not great for your workload, or you feel that your efforts go unseen.
I can reassure you that when I was a Head of Talent who placed gradates within their business, I was endlessly pleased – and relieved – when there were people focused managers who were willing to put every effort into helping these valuable (but occasionally clueless!) people to make a rapid transition from academic success to success in business.
Also, bear in mind that graduates who are struggling with their placements talk to other gradates, mentors, the graduate team and senior managers about it, but – more importantly than that – people talk to them, asking questions about how they are being utilised. I’ve seen the careers of many mangers benefit from people knowing how they have treated their graduate well.
So, how should you treat them?
- Seek first to understand.
I’ve always found it bizarre that I’ve had to facilitate meetings between the new placement manager and the old one to do a handover. In the space of a one-hour meeting, where you exchange information and feedback on who they are, what they’ve worked on, good and bad qualities, suddenly you see the quality of their next placement increase. Often the new manager was able to increase the complexity and challenge of the work the individual was given based on the information that was provided by the previous manager. Taking time to understand this, as well as their strengths, weaknesses and aspirations, is time well spent. - Meet them before their rotation starts.
Meeting up 4-6 weeks before they arrive will really help you to understand their background and interests, how they see their development journey progressing, and reduce their anxiety. With this and the meeting with their previous manager, it will be easier to work out what work to give them, and who they can learn from. It reduced the stress for the graduate greatly if they have met their manager, met some of the team and visited the team workspace so they have a picture in mind of where they’ll work. - Pay attention to them.
To thrive, graduates need someone to go to on a daily basis for advice, and at least an hour’s review meeting with you once a week. If you’re too busy to do this, work out who their supervisor will be. This is particularly important early on in their placement. Once they’re in the flow of work and on their way, you can step back a bit, but be aware that direction and support will still be required. Some won’t need much, particularly if this is their third or fourth rotation – it gets easier for them – but if this is an early rotation, you may need to meet them frequently. - Plan short term and long term.
What is in your mind when a new graduate joins your team – do you know what they are capable of doing? If not – how do you decide, and when do you decide, what to give them? I’ve seen so many placements go wrong because the graduate was either under or over challenged. Virtually without exception, where there is good support all graduates much prefer to be over challenged – but the nearer you can get it to the right level the better. The first thing to avoid is a slow first week. This is the time that the graduate needs work to keep them busy so that they can make relationships, feel they are productive, and work on delivery. Avoid having all work being of the ‘observe and learn’ variety. If they need to do this – give them outputs to produce – for example listing the jargon and acronyms and writing a glossary that will help all newcomers to the team. Or get them to write the actions list for a meeting they are attending. The worst-case scenario for the graduate is where the manager either says “work on this for a day or two and we’ll decide what to do with you” or where the graduate can tell that you’re just making up tasks as you go along. Long-term, you’ll need to assign them a substantial chunk of work with clear measures of success – so that at the end of the rotation, the graduate can prove that they added value to the business, team and customers in their time with you. It’s a great way to start to get some of your bucket list projects done. Before they start, take time to consider what they could do for you so you are ready with options or even a clear plan – at least for the first few weeks. - Help them to integrate.
You know your team and department best – how are the people around you likely to respond to this graduate? Think about your problem people – who’s going to help them, and who will give them a hard time? It’s a great thing to give them either a buddy or a supporter, and an early conversation with the graduate about the politics and etiquette within your team/area is time well spent, which will help the graduate to adjust their behaviour. - Be there.
Finally – you don’t need to micromanage, but make sure that they know you are available. Sort out one-to-ones proactively for them – plan in a series of meetings or a regular weekly time – and keep these appointments, so that they know you support them. You’d be amazed at the number of times that simple things like this don’t happen.
Having a graduate is a great opportunity to get some good work done and to build your reputation in the business. You want to make sure that your graduate has every opportunity to shine – when they do, their achievements and positive experience will reflect on your own reputation for leadership.