WE INTRODUCE THE LATEST WAVE OF GREAT EMPLOYERS CHAMPIONING GOOD JOBS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
Five big-name employers have become new members of the Graduate Fog Employers Club, stepping up as champions for good jobs for the UK’s young people, alongside our existing members Royal Mail, Cancer Research UK and J. Walter Thompson.
The Club’s new members are professional services firm KPMG, Virgin Money bank, tech firm BAE Systems Applied Intelligence, the Civil Service Graduate Fast Stream, and recruitment giant Harvey Nash.
All say they love the concept of the UK’s biggest and best employers of young people collaborating to raise standards when it comes to recruiting, training and retaining young talent.
Here’s what each firm said about why they decided to join the Graduate Fog Employers Club: 
Of joining the Club, Charlotte Carter, head of student recruitment at KPMG, said:
“We’ve followed Graduate Fog for years, first crossing paths when KPMG supported the campaign for fair internships in 2015. The Graduate Fog Employers Club is a brilliant idea and we are proud to be the first professional services firm to join. We’ve worked hard for our reputation as one of the UK’s best graduate employers, but there is always more to learn, and change is rapid so it’s vital we keep looking ahead. We are also looking forward to getting to know the teams at other big employers, as there is so much we can learn from one another.”
Liz Liddle, strategic resourcing manager at Virgin Money, said:
“We are delighted to confirm that Virgin Money is the latest big employer – and the first big bank – to join the Graduate Fog Employers Club. We are often approached about new initiatives – but this Club really stood out for us.
“It is was immediately clear that the Club’s values of fairness, inclusiveness and transparency chime with our own. We were also struck by the style the Club’s approach, which we call ‘smart disruption’. We always love seeing old ways being challenged by stronger, fresher concepts.
“The Graduate Fog Employers Club’s member benefits are extremely attractive and valuable to us, as we are committed to staying ahead of the conversation on fair access and diversity – and attending the Club’s regular discussion events guarantees we will do that. We also look forward to being part of a community of other fantastic employers doing great work in this area, so we can all learn from one another and make more progress sooner.”
Philip Wilson, head of assessment and diversity at the Civil Service Graduate Fast Stream, who kindly hosted the Club’s launch event in March 2018, said:
“We are delighted to be one of the founder members of the Graduate Fog Employers Club, and are proud to have hosted the Club’s launch at the Treasury Building. In recent years, the Civil Service Graduate Fast Stream has made great strides to ensure access to our programme is fair and our intake is diverse, but this complex landscape is constantly shifting and there is always more to learn.
“Being a Club member gives us peace of mind that our knowledge is up-to-date. The discussion at the Club’s events is of a very high standard and gives us valuable, fresh ideas to consider implementing. It is also fascinating to meet our counterparts working in completely different sectors to see how they are all tackling these challenges and what we can learn from one another. It would be difficult to find this sort of insight anywhere else.”
Larry Ridges, head of talent acquisition at recruitment firm Harvey Nash said:
“As the first recruitment organisation to be awarded the National Equality Standard (NES), Harvey Nash have long been a champion of diversity, launching our Inspire network almost a decade ago to help our clients recruit a more diverse workforce. With this in mind, joining the Graduate Fog Employers Club was a no-brainer – we’re looking forward to working with, and learning from, like-minded organisations to ensure we are doing everything in our power to ensure we are an inclusive employer.”
And James Willingham, Head of Future Talent at BAE Systems Applied Intelligence, said:
“BAE Systems are really excited to be joining the Graduate Fog Employers Club. We are passionate about inspiring and developing talent to be the best they can be and look forward to working with other organisations to provide people with rewarding careers open to all ages, experiences and backgrounds.”
Tanya de Grunwald, founder of Graduate Fog and the Graduate Fog Employers Club, said:
“We are proud to have these five new members on board – their passion and enthusiasm for what we are doing is proof that this Club is the right initiative, at the right time. For so long, Graduate Fog was best known for highlighting bad recruitment practices among employers, but now we firmly believe that good employers have a vital role to play in raising standards across the board. They can do this by showing other firms what fair, modern recruitment looks like, and how it is possible to create and promote opportunities for young people that are genuinely open to all.
“This has been a phenomenal first year for the Graduate Fog Employers Club. We have been blown away by the interest in our initiative, and particularly by the appetite that big employers have shown for collaborating and sharing their challenges, experiences and ideas. It has been wonderful to discover they are so open and willing to admit that there is always more to learn. The Club has real momentum behind it now, and we are excited to build on that success in 2019 to make the Club a real force for change in the years to come.”
Representatives from all eight Club Member organisations will meet in January for our Members’ Winter Lunch, to discuss challenges, ideas and solutions relating to the recruitment of young people. We will shortly be announcing four additional new members (bringing the total to 12), so watch this space…
