A large part of what we do at ABL involves helping international businesses both in London and abroad attract the best graduate talent from the best universities in the world. Most international companies have an unquenchable thirst for this type of individual but unfortunately not every business has the capital necessary to mount huge campus recruitment campaigns, particularly in these tough economic times.

This is obviously a huge challenge for the businesses themselves as they are unable to easily attract the calibre of applicants they require, but it is also a huge problem for the universities themselves. University rankings are based on tens and tens of factors nowadays, but one that is present in almost every ranking is a measure of the employability of each university’s candidates. This is a basic indicator of just how many of each year’s  graduates have managed to find paid and gainful employment during the twelve months since leaving their alma mater. The higher the employability score, the higher the university popularity therefore meaning increased revenue for the institution.

To that end, pretty much every UK university has put into place a dedicated careers service that aims to ensure that, after three or four years of luxuriantly-applied student life, each student finds a job minutes after having handed their graduation gowns back in to the hire company.

It may therefore surprise you that the Careers Service of several top universities refuse to refer or recommend third parties, such as specialist recruitment agencies, to their students. This means that all of the fantastic businesses that either do not have the manpower or infrastructure to mount  an all-encompassing, on-campus recruitment scheme miss out on the best grads and vice versa.

Within the top 10 universities on the Times Good University Guide, not a single one would allow us to leave details on who we are and what we do with their Careers and Employability Office. With many graduates unsure as to how recruitment consultancies work or the benefits of the help a good recruitment consultant can provide you with, several students are missing out on a whole range of opportunities that could be just right for them.

Instead these Careers Service book in seminars and events with big corporations. These presentations, normally relating to a grad scheme of some variety, are great for those that manage to get on them. But that’s the thing; the ratio between those that attend these events and those that actually go on to find employment with these companies is ludicrous and sadly often means that graduates are loaded with information about companies that are not really of interest to them but that they feel like they should apply for.

Whilst we understand why Careers Advisors might not want to work with the large, high street recruitment agencies, we hope that soon they will see that working with specialists such as ABL is not only a fantastic thing for employers and by extension the economy, but also for them and ultimately for their students.