An innovative new London recruitment firm will disrupt the status quo and level the playing field for graduates who can’t afford to do endless work experience or internships just to stand a chance of landing their dream job.
London based Direct Placements was set up to help graduates break free from a cycle which sees them forced into taking jobs they don’t want in order to be able to afford to live, meaning they are not available to take internships or work experience in order to stand a chance of getting a job in the field they want to work in.
Over a quarter (27 per cent) of graduates are concerned they will miss out on job opportunities to those who can afford to do unpaid internships. The study by graduate jobs board Milkround also found more than half (55 per cent) of the almost 6,000 recent graduates interviewed believed an internship would help them secure a job.
Direct Placements are unique in their approach – they hold interviews to select the best candidates they believe they can place and support, specialising in accountancy, HR & digital marketing sectors. Candidates who are successful are guaranteed work experience placements, as well as sector-focused training as needed. The beauty of the scheme is the placements and training all take place online, as and when the candidate is free, so although it isn’t paid it is flexible, which means they don’t have to give up their existing job.
With this experience under their hats as well as coaching and support from Direct Placements, which is based in Victoria Street, Westminster, many graduates go on to secure a job offer in accountancy, HR and digital marketing.
Alex from Direct Placements explains: “A degree in accountancy for example is all well and good, but without any experience in that area it can be hard to land your first job. In the meantime, you must be able to afford to live, which usually means getting any job you can, often in areas such as retail or food services.
“However, once you are working full-time you aren’t in a position to go on daytime training courses or accept an internship or work experience in the sort of career you actually want to pursue. You find yourself stuck in a vicious cycle – unless of course you are independently wealthy or have wealthy family to support you”.
The longer graduates stay working in jobs just to pay the bills, the harder it is for them to ever break into the career they want, and the situation is made more complicated for those with dependents who may have extra potential barriers into employment due to disability.
Direct Placements work by allowing their candidates to gain real experience with professional HR, accountancy and digital marketing firms without having to leave their homes and they have some great partner firms signed up.
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“That means having a full-time job, transport costs and access problems will not stop people and it also means working long on split shifts or to arrange around childcare is not problematic, as you can organise your work experience to fit in with your life.
“For too many careers there is an unwritten but near-compulsory expectation that successful applicants for graduate entry jobs will have undertaken a considerable number of unpaid placements beforehand and many simply cannot afford to do that. Direct Placements is the solution to this problem.”
