A record number of entries, nearly 150, were received from employers for the following six awards: the best graduate recruitment website; the best internship/vacation programme; the innovation on campus award; the best marketing campaign for employers recruiting more than 50 graduates a year; the best marketing campaign for employers recruiting fewer than 50 graduates a year and the diversity recruitment award.
As media partner, it was fitting that the Guardian hosted the first-ever student judging day for the fifth annual TARGETjobs Awards which will take place at the Grosvenor House in London on May 21, 2009.
The student judges are all members of the student business association, AIESEC, and were selected after completing a written application form and telephone interview. They were helped throughout the day by experienced recruitment professionals acting as mentors. The TARGETjobs Awards are unique in allowing the target market – students – to decide the winners of the various categories.
The judging day was facilitated by Dr Paul Redmond, director of the Careers Service at Liverpool University and expert on Generation Y, which may have helped the process along.
Earlier in the year, through a huge national survey organised by leading market research firm trendence, the shortlists for a further 20 awards were decided. Nearly 90,000 student votes were received this year, more than twice as many as last year, and students voted on the employers that they would most like to work for in 20 major sectors of work.
This is the largest student careers survey in the UK and the level of interest and engagement from students is very welcome especially in a difficult recruitment market.
All of the awards except one will go to organisations, the exception being the brand new Engineering Undergraduate of the Year Award, sponsored by npower. This award is open to engineering undergraduates from top universities and seeks to identify outstanding undergraduates who are above-average both academically and in their personal skills.
Candidates have to complete an online engineering knowledge test and if they pass, undertake an interview with an HR specialist from the sponsor npower. The shortlisted students will attend the TARGETjobs Awards in May and the winner will be announced on the night and receive a hefty cash prize. This award is still open, so if you are an engineering undergraduate, click here
The winners of the 30 awards that make up the TARGETjobs Awards will appear on the website after May 21 and additionally in features in TARGETjobs careers publications in the autumn.
