iknow-uk bucks trend and champions graduate recruitment
The difficulties facing this year’s graduates have been well documented but one online company has seen the potential in growing a young team.
With nearly one in ten recent graduates out of work, the highest rate in 14 years according to statistics released this week from the Higher Education Careers Services Unit, online accommodation specialist iknow-uk is bucking the trend with its commitment to employing university leavers.
iknow-uk champions graduate recruitment
Almost 40 per cent of the iknow team are currently graduates following a recent recruitment drive which has seen 21 graduates secure employment with the company in the last 12 months.
The company, which operates 12 regional websites for leisure and accommodation providers, has pledged an ongoing commitment to graduate recruitment to support the future development of the business.
Marcus Simmons, managing director of iknow-uk believes that the enthusiasm and motivation of its young team has been a significant contributing factor to the company’s rapid growth.
He explained: “It’s disappointing that so many businesses have cut back on their entry level positions in recent years to the point where the number of graduate level jobs has fallen to that of 2005 levels.
“We recruit graduates for departments across the iknow-uk team, with the majority working in our sales team.
“In our experience graduates have exactly the right skill set that we need in our business including a strong teamwork ethic and real drive to succeed.
“We rely on these skills to such an extent that we now only employ graduates in the sales team and thanks to the whole team’s hard work we have been able to maintain a customer renewal rate of 90 per cent for five years, allowing the company to expand into new regions.”
Marcus credits his young team with much of the past year’s success which has seen the company double its turnover in the face of the recession allowing it to expand from a team of 20 to 55 employees.
He continued: “The past year has seen huge growth for iknow-uk in an economic climate which has seen many other businesses struggle.
“Many of our graduates are recruited locally as I feel its essential to support young people in the North West who have a lot to offer businesses like ours.”
Adam, a recent graduate in the sales team, said: “I was lucky enough to begin my career with iknow-uk, just a week after I’d handed in my dissertation for my master’s degree, after attending a graduate opening day.
“I got the job of telemarketer, calling accommodation owners that would potentially be interested in listing their properties on one of iknow-uk’s regional websites.
“Although I’d never considered a career in sales I found that my skill set really suited the role and I was soon given the opportunity to become an account manager before being put in charge of a team of account managers.
“Working at iknow-uk has been a fantastic move for me both career-wise and personally. With the team all being of a similar age we are all really sociable and I’ve met some fantastic people in my time here.
“The pace at which the company has grown in the last year has been tremendous and with ambitious growth plans for next year I can see already that there will be plenty of room for further progression.
“It’s great that there are companies such as iknow-uk out there that are dedicated to recruiting and nurturing the careers of graduates.
“I know from the experience of my peers that getting a job after university can be incredibly hard and I feel lucky to have found a job with such great prospects.”
Matt, another recent graduate, agrees that students are feeling under pressure with fewer jobs available. He said: “I completed my degree in June 2009, when the recession was in full swing.
“ I was constantly being reminded about the number of jobs being cut, which put an unsavoury end to my degree at a time when I should have been celebrating.
“I’ve always had a strong focus on marketing and to know that so many companies were cutting jobs in this area was worrying and I left university feeling apprehensive about the future.
“To my delight I’ve been lucky enough to start my career with iknow-uk as a marketing assistant. I’ve been here a little over a month now and I already feel like an integrated part of the team.
“It’s been a fantastic experience so far and I’m glad to be part of such a refreshing and forward thinking organisation.”
Tags: graduate
