Swann Group helping grads find jobs

Geoff Shaw (centre) with Professor Rod Brodie (left) and Associate Professor Richard Brookes.

A lot happened at the end of the 1980s. The Berlin Wall came down, the Exxon Valdez caused a catastrophic oil spill after running aground in Alaska and, closer to home, Professor Rod Brodie and Associate Professor Richard Brookes joined The University of Auckland while Senior Lecturer Tom Agee began a column in NZ Marketing Magazine. The Department of Marketing also started a long-standing partnership with Geoff Shaw and his Swann Group recruitment consultancy.

Two decades later, Rod, Richard, Tom and Geoff are all highly regarded by the Department of Marketing for their contributions over the years. They were presented with certificates at a special celebration hosted by the department and their 20 years of service to the Business School are being recognised in this four-part series on LINK.

Part Four: Swann Group helping grads find jobs

Business School marketing graduates are continuing to get a foot in the door at leading New Zealand companies, despite the difficult times and tight job market, thanks in part to a 20-year affiliation with Swann Group recruitment consultancy.

Department of Marketing programmes such as the Marketing Graduate Placement Service, run in conjunction with Swann Group, each year help some of the Business School’s Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Business Information students find jobs at the likes of Johnson & Johnson, Red Bull, Mars and Cerebos Greggs.

The added-value programmes offer students CV preparation, interviewing skills and career planning advice and give Swann Group access to some of the Business School’s most talented students at the very start of their careers.

Geoff Shaw, Director of Swann Group, says participation in the programme is a long-term investment in developing relationships with graduates from The University of Auckland and a key focus is to make it easier for companies to develop a good talent pipeline.

“While we charge clients for the programme, for many years this was very much a loss leader and we have multiple examples of the return on that strategy in graduate programme clients who have become long-term executive recruitment clients of ours.”

Geoff says the programme aims to identify opportunities in companies where perhaps only one or two roles a year might be available for graduates. Even many large multinational businesses no longer have a scale in New Zealand where they can justify large on-campus recruitment programmes, and some of those that do are more about employment and product brand promotion than providing many job opportunities.

The Business School’s Department of Marketing Deputy Head, Professor Margo Buchanan-Oliver, says added-value programmes such as the Graduate Placement Programme with Swann Group are critical to achieving a successful transition from the academic to the business world.

2 March 2010