Shortlist unveiled for the best graduate employers

The awards, which are organised by Graduates Yorkshire, aim to celebrate the commitment shown to the personal and professional development of graduates by employers across Yorkshire and the Humber.

Others in the shortlist include cloud computing firm virtualDCS, charity Teach First, which addresses the problem of educational disadvantage, public relations firm Approach PR and search marketing agency Epiphany.

Martin Edmondson, Graduates Yorkshire chief executive, said: “We wanted to create an award that recognises the vital role that graduate employers play in the economic growth of the region, both in terms of employment and business growth.“

Graduates Yorkshire said each of the shortlisted companies showed a clear commitment to the recruitment of graduates by partnering with universities, offering open days, webinars and advice blogs. They also sought to equip their recruits with skills above and beyond their immediate job role.

Many of the shortlisted companies offered tailored training programmes, one-to-one mentoring and supported their staff to complete externally accredited professional qualifications.

Graduate recruiters were asked to nominate themselves for the awards in one of the three categories: micro, medium and large scale organisations.

For the category of Micro Graduate Employer of the Year, for which entries are by organisations with 10 or less employees, the shortlist is as follows: HR180, Merlin Software, Approach PR, virtualDCS, and SLM Search & Selection.

In the Medium-sized Graduate Employer of the Year category, for organisations with between 11 and 250 employees, the shortlisted firms are: Epiphany, Trustmarque Solutions, Sagar Wright Search & Selection, Avoca Systems, and New Chapter Consulting.

In the category for Large Graduate Employer of the Year, which is for organisations with more than 250 employees, the shortlist is: Morrisons, Tribal, Asda, Teach First, and Cameron.

The winners will be announced at the awards ceremony held on September 6 in Leeds.

An overall winner will also be decided from the winners of each category.

Graduates Yorkshire, which was originally set up with public money, won the university spin-out category in the Yorkshire Post Excellence in Business Awards in 2008.

It was co-founded by Yorkshire Universities to provide a service for the region’s graduate job seekers and employers looking for graduate talent.