Talent turns its back on food

Even lousy publicity for the finance sector hasn’t encouraged Britain’s best graduates to consider working in food and drink. The industry risks being starved of talent unless it sexes itself up for ‘Generation Y’, warns Nick Hughes


When the time comes for Simon Cowell to unveil his latest talent show concept, it's a safe bet that Demand Forecasting Idol won't be coming to a TV screen near you. In TV parlance, the food and drink industry has seen its ratings slide as the most talented graduates have their heads turned by the slick, big-budget productions from finance and banking.

The news Marc Bolland is to receive a £15m 'golden handshake' on assuming the M&S hotseat in May no doubt provoked jealousy in the under-fire banking community. But the failure of businesses to use the financial crisis to persuade top graduates to trade the glamorous yet volatile world of financial services for the relative security of food and drink has raised serious questions about where the next generation of Bollands (a former Heineken graduate trainee) is coming from.

There are myriad reasons why food and drink has lost its allure for students. At its most simplistic level, the problem is hard cash. Graduate salaries in retail and fmcg are among the lowest. In its annual report on the graduate jobs market, High Fliers Research lists retail as having the lowest average starting salary for graduates, at £24,000. Graduates joining an fmcg company can earn £27,500 but this is dwarfed by the £38,000 on offer in investment banking, and considerably less than starting salaries in law (£37,400), consulting (£31,000) and banking and finance (£29,500).

"In the past five years graduates have decided to go down the track of the financial services industry where they can earn more money," says Mark Smith, executive at fmcg recruitment agency SmithCarey. "The food industry is a very tough market and people have been able to earn better livings with better prospects elsewhere."

The superior prospects in finance are reflected in The Times' latest ranking of the Top 100 Graduate Employers. Aldi is the highest-placed grocery business, at number three, but whereas five financial institutions make the top 10, you have to go as far as 13th place and P&G to find the next food industry representative.

Smith believes the trouble that engulfed financial services in 2008 should have played to the advantage of grocery. But data suggests that, rather than opt for a career in what PepsiCo's HR director Louise Patterson describes as "one of the more stable sectors", graduates have simply deferred job-seeking. When asked how recession would impact their plans after leaving university, 36% said they had been intending to start a job but would now take time off or study. Just 7% said they had planned to do a postgraduate course but would now look for a job instead.

Grocery businesses are arguably paying the price for being over-cautious with recruitment in the downturn. While jobs in investment banking fell by half at the peak of the credit crunch, graduate vacancies in retailing and consumer goods fell 15.7% and 26.2% respectively, according to High Fliers. Unilever vice president of human resources Alan Walters admits there's been "risk aversion" in the industry.

Now the recession is technically over, businesses are back on the lookout for talent. Sainsbury's is increasing its graduate intake 30% in 2010/11, the largest increase of any of the big four, while Tesco has upped the number of schemes it offers from 15 to 17. But with graduate numbers increasing all the time, and the financial services industry back on the recruitment trail too, the challenge to find diamonds in the rough has never been greater. "The number of graduates has massively increased so finding good ones is harder," admits Madalyn Brooks, P&G HR director.

Coca-Cola is a case in point. It is offering 20 graduate places in sales and marketing this year, for which it expects applications in the thousands. Sainsbury's is stipulating candidates achieve at least a 2:1 this year to be considered for its graduate scheme. But even with a 2:1, a graduate may still lack a lot of the basics. Sir Terry Leahy's attack on woeful standards in British schools at last year's IGD Convention was testament to the fact that employers are increasingly frustrated at having to "pick up the pieces" and fill in gaps in students' knowledge.

"We see a lot of academic people but they can't tie their own shoelaces," says Brookes. Despite the proliferation of degree courses in retail management and logistics, P&G still tends to take candidates from traditional courses and train them on the job, she says. "We don't need them to have the skills, we just need them to be bright," she explains.

The brightest and best, of course, are the hardest to attract. "The top candidates are much smarter about what they want from the company they are joining," says Walters. They belong to what academics have defined as Generation Y. "Generation Ys are very impressionable and like glamour and instant fame," says Gill Maxwell, reader at Glasgow Caledonian University. "It's tougher and tougher to get young people into retail. Some technical and distribution aspects are just not very sexy."

One recruitment expert suggests the media's negative portrayal of the retailer-supplier dynamic has also made graduates think twice about signing up to a career in fmcg sales "just to get beaten up by retailers called Tesco".

Even owners of hip brands such as Coca-Cola are having to give top graduate talent compelling reasons to sign up. "We previously relied on the brand to attract people, now we're going to them to say why they should come to us," says Catherine Heaton, talent acquisition manager at Coca-Cola.

There is particular concern among manufacturers about where the next generation of food scientists is coming from. The government wrote in its 2030 Food Vision report that R&D would be increasingly important in helping to feed the world sustainably, but the industry is facing an uphill battle to recruit young scientists.

"It is challenging to attract people who have done nutrition and food technology," said IGD chief executive Joanne Denney-Finch at a food security conference. "We are hugely dependent on food science. All of us recognise the need to raise our profile."

Improving the image of the industry will be key to attracting talent. Sainsbury's is significantly upping its presence on university campuses in a bid to communicate the benefits of a grocery career. "We try to break down some of the stereotypes around retail," says graduate programme manager Kate Hollis. "There's nothing more valuable than talking to someone who works in a role you're interested in."

Candidates who impress are invited into the business for eight weeks. "We try to work with students early on," says ­Hollis. "They get to see the business but at the same time you get to see what they expect of you."

More graduate recruitment is happening on students' own terms. As well as introductory placements, businesses are increasingly using the internet to pitch. "Getting enough candidates is no longer the issue, getting good candidates through targeting is," says Giles Smith, MD of Enhance Media. Traditional channels remain a vital part of the recruitment mix, but businesses should not ignore the new opportunities offered by social media.

P&G is one company using sites such as Facebook to communicate with graduates, although Brooks warns there's a long way to go before social media becomes the primary means of recruiting talent. "We do it with caution because it's a social network. I don't want to be bombarded with employer information and cold calling."

This week, P&G hosted a virtual careers fair on its website where prospective applicants had the opportunity to meet P&G recruiting leaders from the comfort of their own home. It's another example of the shift in power in recruitment. As Walters attests: "The really talented ones have real choice and they're much more discerning about what they're demanding."

Put simply, grocery businesses will need to get better at selling themselves if they're to convince graduates to swap the trading floor for the shop floor.