Bernadette Pheifer is the global talent academy director at Futurestep.
Please tell us about Futurestep.
Created in 1998, Futurestep is a global industry leader in recruitment solutions. It has 1,200 employees working from 80 offices in 40 countries.
As a Korn Ferry Company, Futurestep meets a variety of workforce requirements – from RPO and project recruitment, to search and consulting.
What functions are involved in your role?
I oversee Futurestep’s global talent academy programme – our comprehensive learning, development and recruitment scheme that’s tailored graduates.
The talent academy programme is taught in Futurestep’s six Recruitment Centres of Excellence (RCOEs) in Dallas, Buenos Aires, Warsaw, Shanghai, Pune and Auckland.
Based in our Korn Ferry Chicago office, my role involves developing global talent, and designing and delivering the programme across each regions.
How many graduates do you recruit each year?
The number of graduates we recruit is largely dependent on business needs. We plan to run each programme several times a year in each region, with a maximum of 25 graduates per class.
How are you tapping into talent, while ensuring you're reaching out to all relevant genders, nationalities and age groups?
We’ve created a tailored strategy for each region. From robust social media initiatives to university recruitment, we work with our internal recruitment teams to leverage the desired talent capabilities of recent graduates and new individuals.
Whats your sorting process to select the best candidates for a shortlist?
We use Korn Ferry's ‘four dimensions of leadership and talent’ assessment tool – a talent intelligence engine – and behaviour based interviews to assess candidates. By evaluating the competencies, traits and drivers of talent, we can identify best-fit applicants and recruit faster.
How are you ensuring graduates know about your organisation and its values?
We let graduates know who Futurestep is and what opportunities are available at the talent academy through our relationships with universities and vvia our internal recruitment teams spreading the word.
How do you make Futurestep stand out to applicants, against competing businesses?
The talent academy brings in graduates and potential recruits. An attraction for applicants is that the talent academy is short – eight weeks. This allows them to get onto the career ladder as soon as possible.
We also communicate key messaging for the talent academy to highlight to graduates that by preparing for a career in talent acquisition and being surrounded by a network of like-minded professionals, they have a bright future ahead of them.
What are the best and worst aspects of your role?
It’s very exciting to bring new people into an industry that I’m so passionate about, and I love being part of an initiative which supports talent from within.
Do you have any advice for other in-house recruiters out there?
Engage graduates early and often. For many organisations, employing career-driven graduate talent is a top priority for their wider business objectives. With the economy continuing to pick up, graduates are increasingly finding themselves in a stronger position for the first time in a decade. Therefore, businesses need to work harder to make themselves stand out in a competitive job market.