The Junior Talent Development Programme at Fujitsu

Key Takeaways

so Nick you're very welcome thank you so much for agreeing to chat with us about the Fujitsu Junior Talent program um and Nick maybe you could tell us a bit about what you do at Fujitsu yeah absolutely thanks Joe so my role is is head of Junior Talent at Fujitsu so that means I'm responsible for everything to do with all of our graduates and apprentices um across all of Europe so I have a real vested interest in how we attract um how we recruit how we on board and more importantly as suppose how we develop um our graduates apprentices for their early careers at fitting sounds like a really big project or ongoing Ro yeah it's the best role in the company the um I think what I so so I think you know it is it's really really varied I think it's a role in HR which isn't just one specialism um it's it's a it's Talent Development it's L&D its recruitment its employer brand um but actually there's quite a lot of generalist stuff in there as well actually how do we ensure that you know they have high engagement how do we sure they have a good experience Etc so so um so it's a really I think it's one of the best jobs in the company actually it comes across definitely comes across I see um I see your your Communications around it and also the communications of the me the participants the people who are in the junior Talent program as well so you know clearly it's a it's an exciting area to be in what what has been the driver for fij Jitsu Junior Talent yeah so so we've always so we've always recruited early career talents and I think um the need and the purpose of it is probably been on a bit of a journey so I think a number of years ago you know 10 plus years ago when the graduate program was first set up it was very much around kind of developing high potential people to be the the leaders of our organization in the future um and that is still part of the reason that we recruit um graduates and apprentices we want to ensure that we do have a pipeline of leadership talent in our organization but I think um actually kind of we need to understand that actually if we recruit 150 people not all 150 people will be a leader um of our organization in 10 15 years some of them will leave um some of them will reach their potential um but actually some of them and we do have people on our leadership team who started as graduates and apprentices um I think what we've seen over the past number of years is um our industry has changed quite a lot um and actually we we we're in demand of real technical skill right now which we probably didn't you know 10 15 years ago we didn't get through graduate and Apprentice programs Apprentice programs in technical subjects just didn't exist you know apprenticeships were in the likes of Plumbing electricians um you know to do an apprenticeship in cyber 15 years ago um just didn't didn't exist and actually kind of over the past four or five years those opportunities have um have been made available which I think is is really really fantastic yeah so I think the demand from our business in terms of what they need in terms of early career um isn't just about we need some high potential people to fill our leadership pipeline it's also about we need some really really technical people um because you know we need to be um we need to be communicating with our customers and we need to be developing applications we need to be migrating our customers onto the cloud we need to be better understanding their data so we need those kind of really technical people but actually gone are the days where Tech technical people would sit in the basement and do coding and analyze data and never talk with the customer yeah actually there is that skill is super super important right now um so we actually need you know really really rounded people that we can develop with excellent communication skills excellent um stakeholder management skills um as well as the technical knowledge to do some of that stuff as well that's interesting so it's developed so your remit for junior Talent has kind of developed over the years based on how things have changed um yeah absolutely and I think we've seen just a fundamental shift in our industry yeah um you know we used to be an organization which was an IT infrastructure Outsourcing organization so you know if a company needed supports with you know their device had broken we provide them with the service task you know if they needed networks what we provide them with a network um but actually the skills that we require now that are customers need us to have as I say R the cyberspace how do we keep their state um uh secure how do we migrate a lot of their applications to the cloud so that they can be much more agile and much more hybrid um how do we better understand their data to drive real insight into their data and how can we bespoke their applications and develop new applications for them yeah and that so so the skills that you're looking for in your apprentices and graduates are more rounded but primarily technical as you said it is still a mix you know it absolutely is is still a mix you know we still need you know the type of roles which are around managing the customer relationship you know we need some of the roles which are Business Consultants to go in and consult with our customers and kind of understand some of their needs um kind of Drive some of the opportunities sales people to drive through sales so so so it is split but I have definitely seen more than uptake of actually we we need more technical early career Talent um rather than as I said previously we we'd buy that technical talent in at a professional level um which was just not sustainable for us yeah yeah so you're building it developing it internally then that's great yeah so would it be possible for you to describe some of the elements of the program yeah absolutely absolutely so so so we're kind of really conscious I suppose that um the skills to be successful in the world of work are very very different to the skills to be successful in the world of Education and I think that's kind of really shaped the the kind of the element right so you know when you're at school when you're at University you know you're told to be quiet and not talk to your neighbor right kind of put your head down and kind of get on yeah um actually in the world of work you can't do your job unless you're talking to to people to your neighbor and finding out information and collaborating together um so we put um so we're really really conscious of that trend transition um and we kind of wrap as well as kind of role specific training we wrap a two-year development program around all of our graduates and apprentices which um which kind of helps them in four different stages um the first stage is about getting helping them to understand the organization that they um found themselves in so fij Jitsu um you know we are a big complex organization even I don't understand every single thing that we do um you know so so I think it's you it's helping them to understand the organization that they're with and the industry in which we're working at because as I say that is that's changing exponentially um so I think it's important they understand the organization as well as the wider context in which we are operating in um and then we help them to understand themselves okay so actually kind of what drives my behavior and what impact am I having on other people and how can I start to adapt my style okay that has made me successful so far in the world of education but actually kind of recognizing I might need to deploy different skills what's my impact on other people and how might I um adapt my style and actually you can't do that until you understand yourself first of all um and then what's my role in a team um and what's my role as a leader and what's my impact on others in a team and what's my impact as a leader because you know we're not expecting these these guys to lead business areas um and develop strategy but we will be expecting them to lead small project teams to um lead small packets of customer work to lead workshops Etc so actually with that comes a different set of skills as well and then the last bit towards the end of their two years is very much around helping them to understand what has been my career so far what have I really enjoyed what have I not enjoyed what are some of my strengths what are some of my development areas but more importantly what does the next two three four years look like in fitsu when I might not have a program wrapped around me um and how do I kind of sustain some of that development that career trajectory and be a bit more independent with it areas yeah it's interesting there's a lot there I think about self-awareness and giving them the chance to reflect yeah absolutely so yeah so in all of those four different areas there are we generally kind of in for something to happen about once a month whether that's a webinar whether that an actual kind of event um whether that's an action learning set that that that we have yeah um but actually kind of throughout all of this um is is a good opportunity for reflection and feedback kind of as you said it plays a plays a big big part in in development yeah yeah and what effects have you seen then particularly adding the appren ship in because that's relatively new isn't it the idea of bringing apprentices in as part of your Junior Talent program have you seen any effects on the organization of of that coming through has yet or is that too soon to say um yeah so I think um it's really really interesting we um we used to recruit apprentices ad hotly within the organization so some one wanted an apprentice um they could they could get one we'd recruit one we'd recruit one in February in Manchester another two in April in tford another three in brachnell in April and May um whereas our graduate program was a once a year intake starting in September um and the feedback from our apprentices was very much around they kind of struggle yeah struggle might be too strong of a word but it's a challenge to build a network around them help to understand the business in which they operate um and we kind of thought well actually kind of why don't we all the same structure as our graduate program um a lot of apprentices are School levers so actually they'll be finishing school around about the same time as graduate finish University so it's great for recruitment we have a pool of talent that we can tap into um and then actually if we bring them all in together they benefit from the um the network um and and we can then wrap a program around them as well um so I think it's I think it's absolutely brilliant and it and it will help our it has helped our apprentices feel um feel connected to the organization um feel as if they get to know and understand the organization in which they are working in um and as say have got that support structure around them um I think what we have what we've seen a real difference is um so just pure and hard fast numbers our our Apprentice retention is far greater than a graduate retention which is really interesting um I think think what we what we've started to put some principles in place is well actually why would we start why would we select to recruit an apprentice for this type of role versus versus a graduate I think we've come up with a few few kind of rules and principles I suppose around that so so actually for a lot of our technical roles um we would we now prefer to recruit an apprentice and there's a few reasons for that so actually the role of technology is changing so quickly um that actually what a graduate might learn at University by the time they come to graduate three years later could be outd yeah um so and and and Technical stem skills are quite vocational so actually if you want to learn how to code you just need to go and cod um right you can you can sit in a lecture you know you kind of do all that stuff and that's valuable I'm not you know I'm not kind of saying you should do that but actually the best experience is then just getting on and actually doing it learning a bit and then actually going off and applying it yeah um so actually a lot of our technical roles um our preferen is now to recruit apprentices um for some of our business customer facing roles um we prefer to recruit gradu um and what that kind of means is we can we can very quickly put them in front of a customer quite early on um because some of those some of those more rounded skills they've learned at University you know the kind of some of the influencing and negotiation skills when living in a shared house for the first time about someone hasn't done their fair share of the cleaning or done the washing up um or they've done group work as part of their University course actually we kind of find that some of those skills and that um I suppose level of maturity is it's another three four years Advanced and actually kind of putting them in front of a customer within their first month of the first you know six months um is is a bit more palatable for the individual right kind of quite scary you know kind of facing off to a customer for the first time who might be a bit angry or kind of needs to give some constructive feedback um as well as the organization so um you know it's not it's not hard and fast real you know kind of there's always kind of exceptions to it but they're the principles in which we're operating to yeah yeah it sounds like you've really learned as you've gone along with the program as well yeah yeah yeah I think so I think you know we're always always looking to tweak to tweak it um we have um every year we have um Junior Talent ambassadors which kind of represent the views of the whole Community to to us kind of kind of you know to me the wise team um and actually it's a good source to kind say this didn't work quite well you know this is some of the feedback and they've been great so some of the things that they put in place you know they've introduced a well-being call kind of every two months where we'll get our Mental Health First Aid on and it's a free open space for people to talk about they want to talk about they wrote um a new starters welcome guide about you know kind of you know this is everything that we wish we'd known um and that kind of gets distributed out um they have set up an interestes and budy system for kind of people so actually so great feedback but also they work on projects which will help just to increase the overall experience of the new incoming cohort as well it sounds like you've got a great culture there I mean we know we've worked with you guys Fujitsu for a long time and there's definitely a as I see it a strong culture of feedback would is that has helped the program the junior Talent program in any way I I I think so and I think I you know I think there's there's always more that that that we can do right and I think it it is always quite difficult some sometimes to get views of the best part of kind of 300 people um and and do the right type of changes I think there's always more that we can do and I think anything we can do to listen more and act more upon feedback I think um I think you know it's something we could we could always do better um but I'd like to think that as the kind of the main bits of feedback and kind of have come up we've always reacted to them and changed things and um redesigned things and put new things in place yeah so they can see those changes H happening when they've given the feedback they can actually see that some of those outcomes have happened because of their feedback I'd like to think so yeah yeah sounds like it so what so what um what would you say would would be your main challenges or main challenge with the program yes I think interesting point I think there is so I think certainly over the last year you know so so I think one of the benefits of joining a graduate program and Apprentice program actually you all join at the same time you all benefit from a network um which is really really different from joining an organization as a professional hire right you might join you might be one person joining the HR function you might be one person joining the sales function and it's up to you to build your own network right kind of you'll get help and you'll get support but actually one of the real benefits of a graduate program and prce program is you'll join with 150 other people you know someone in every part of the organization and actually kind of our role is to kind of get them working together um and certainly over the last year that has um been a bit more difficult with everyone joining and working from home yes um and I'm just really conscious as we as restrictions are lifting how do we so so I think we've done a good job virtually we've had lots of networking sessions as I say we we try to do something once a month whether that's something developmental just something fun where actually get the group together so they can see each other they get to know each other yeah um but now that as see restrictions are lifting a bit and you know we can do more and fij Jitsu um although the UK wide restrictions have lifted fij Jitsu as a responsible organization still has um restriction which I think is is right you know we kind of we we look at National infrastructure um we're responsible for keeping you know the organization running and actually we need to be responsible to our Workforce and not um kind of be any type of catalyst for spread of the the virus as well um so so I think I'm really conscious about how do we how do we get that back together and I'm I'm starting to see a few early concerns I suppose about people are quite comfortable working from home now yeah and actually part of our um part of our standard work practice going forward will be um um work your way so actually what we are not going to demand people come back into the office full time we've we've carried on working for the best part of two years virtually um so actually we know we can do it yeah um and actually you know people will come back into offices and meet people when when there's a need or someone wants to and I think I think that's brilliant it's real flexible working kind of um now what I've done with our intake is I've organized just a social right kind of you know get people together um and actually what I've seen is uptake of people wanting to go is not as popular as I thought it would right um and I think um I'm yet to fully understand why but my kind of perception is actually people are quite comfortable working from home and they don't know any different especially the intake that that we've had um but actually the benefit of getting to know someone personally more so than it might be a bit more transactional kind of virtually you know someone getting to know someone on a deeper level and just build a more solid foundation for any type of relationship or any type of networking um so I think there there there's a challenge for me and how do we end ER how do we still maintain the benefits of virtual working um but still ensure that people get the opportunity to connect more so than virtually and build those relationships so I think so I think that's uh that's going to be a challenge and something we need to monitor kind of going going forward yeah um I think so another another challenge for me is actually kind of so you know recent news in the UK kind of news is um job vacancies is up right so it's a real candidate market right now um which you know a year ago you know no one was looking to leave right you were lucky if you were still in a role so actually the market is has just fundamentally changed in the past month so so I suppose another so whilst people get a great I'd like to think get a great experience doing their two years when we've got a fantastic program around them how do we ensure that post two years um there's actually a still a level of interest in the organization still a focus on development um still a focus on the right type of opportunities um so actually they still feel connected with fits to and I and I want to be really conscious and really monitored do we do we have a nutrition problem kind of two years after after program and and make sure that that doesn't dip yeah it's a challenge isn't it I think for a lot of organizations um at the moment yeah absolutely thought yeah after as you say this time last year or you know months ago was completely the other way around it was yeah it really really was you know people Clinging On to their Ro and then there's just been this boom as kind of you know we come out of restrictions and actually kind of a lot of other companies who might have held off doing stuff um and now kind of saying right actually we need to go Full Throttle um some people have made just real life choices over the pandemic of I don't you know I I want to do something fundamentally different with my life um so so yeah I think we've seen a real shift in the recruitment Market um and actually as employers we need to get really really um laser focused on what is our employee value proposition what's our employe and why why do people want to come and work for us and why do people should stay with us as well indeed yeah thanks Nick is there anything else any other observations about the program or any other things that you've learned personally from the role that you've been in with Junior Talent yeah so I think I think definitely so I think um I think definitely don't underestimate that kind of that transition from the world of Education to the world of work as say I think you know skills to be um successful are really different um you know so much so you know we've we kind of we we really redesigned our recruitment criteria so we used to have for our graduate program we used to um request academic achievements certain number of viewcast points and and at least a two one um and a few years ago we kind of said well actually buy that logic to people who have a first do they perform better than people who have a 2-1 um and we did the anal yeah and there's no correlation there's no correlation whatsoever right um which ended up us kind of dropping kind of academic um requirements into a graduate program um which I think is was kind of really really successful and we didn't see a drop in quality of the candidates we still have we had quite a rigorous recruitment process yeah um but actually academic requirements weren't um on part of that and then we've applied this same to our Apprentice positions um now where we do have academic requirements it's generally from The Apprentice training provider so actually they need a certain level to say actually you're still studying for something academic we need to understand you have the capability to do that now um where someone then hasn't achieved their grades um but actually they've gone through our recruitment process um we would then have a conversation with the provider the individual and their manager to say well actually can we still wrap the same amount of support to help them complete their academic studies because we think that they have a great opportunity to be successful in our organization and at 100% of the time that conversation's happened um and they've still got on to the course or the apprentiship that that that we like to go on to but I think certainly kind of not um underestimating that kind of that transition and the skills that that are important um and then as I say kind of whatever things you put in place to help them with their development um I think needs to be really interactive really fun and with a heavy emphasis on feedback and reflection as you as you said there um you know towards the end of that module um so so I so for me personally I think there are two highlights to our program one happens in year one one happens in year two um and in year one it is um something called leadership in action and it's very much you know before the pandemic it was a residential module we've converted all of that to be virtual but you're working in small teams um and you have a a number of problems and kind kind of situations and challenges that you have to solve in a bit of a time limit and someone's leading the group through that um but and then you get a load of feedback right kind of how did you lead that team you know was everyone involved um as a team member how did you contribute to success and you know every 45 minutes you know they're getting some really really rich feedback um and then actually the afternoon kind of of their last day is some really Hot Seat feedback you know so over the course of kind of two or three days let's kind of give you the gift of feedback around how you're doing it um and and it's it's fun it's kind of it's lighthearted the challenges are you know fun challenges ET people people love it um that's that's year one in year two um we do something called launch pad which is very much around helping them to understand where's their career going yeah and we use 36 degree feedback um through through yourselves and you know people have collected 360 degree feedback um from managers peers colleagues and they've self um rated themselves as well and the energy is much more reflective so it's not high energy like leadership in action um but it's much more reflective it's much more around what's your journey been for the past two years what have you really enjoyed Who's Your Role Model um um what are some of your gaps what has the 360 degree feedback given you um what are some of your gaps there what some of your strengths there it's it's much more reflective it's much more um I don't want to say serious but it's it's not as high energy yeah um and I would I would have always said people would have really preferred the high energy fun leadership and action and they do we get some fantastic feedback yeah but 90% of delegates I got so much from that Launchpad module and the 360 and the feedback and the opportunity reflection um you know I've you know it's really really opened my eyes and it's been the best thing on the program so far um so I think um so I think kind of what I'm trying to say is you know anything that you do with them shouldn't be a lecture right it shouldn't be chalk and talk it shouldn't be hear some information here a theory he's a model you need to give people that kind of time to reflect to experiment to play but more importantly get the feedback off it right so kind of some Theory some knowledge a bit of experimentation with behavior but then follow it up with feedback and reflection at at the end of it and that kind of pattern um just helps people to reinforce the right type of behaviors but then the right type of mindset as well um so so so so I think you know absolutely if you if you're putting together development programs don't make it boring right don't make it lecture driven don't make it Theory driven um building that experimentation with behaviors building some fun but massively importantly building that feedback y got it thank you Nick thank you so much for sharing your insights and you know all about the the junior Talent program I've learned Lots I've learned a lot from what you've been talking about is um yeah thank you again and I appreciate the time you've taken I know our Watchers and listeners will be really interested in in what you've talked about so many thanks no worries it's been great talking and yeah happy to connect with anyone who wants a conversation if anyone's listening to this so so yeah absolutely a fantastic thanks Nick great thanks Joe take care bye by