Graduate Development Program as an Interventional Strategy for Talent Management

Introduction

Organizations have been dedicating enormous amounts of resources, time, and effort to the recruit high-quality young graduates (McDermott, Mangan, & O'Connor, 2006). This is not only done to raise the organization’s intellectual capital but also to enable the organization’s growth and constant innovation through the management of the graduates’ talent. Talent management (TM) has become a genuine consideration for many organizations, especially during times of uncertain and competitive business environments (Oppong, 2013). Thus, it has been receiving enormous attention from the industry as well as academics in recent years (Collings & Mellahi, 2009). Hejase, Mikdashi, and Bazeih (2016) note that organizations must rethink their TM approaches best control their human capital as these organizations will be positioned positively to succeed in the ever-changing and highly competitive markets. However, how the various TM approaches are adopted depends on the organization and the target group (McCracken, Currie, & Harrison, 2016). Exclusive and subjective approaches ensure that appropriate development strategies are put in place for the correct skills and competencies to be developed within the “talent pipeline”, thereby ensuring that relevant and strategic positions are filled by capable and competent personnel. On the contrary, exclusive objective approaches attract, recruit and retain talented individuals, thereby assisting the organization in gaining a competitive advantage (Baporikar, 2017a). There are many TM tools and practices that like career planning; competency management; high potential employee management, learning, and development; performance management; leadership development; succession planning; recruitment, professional development, retention, and GDP (Baporikar, 2013; 2016; 2017b). Further today, the 21^st century needs young intellectual graduates due to the changing competitive landscape. However, key challenges with any recruitment and more so with graduate recruitment is whether the expectations of the graduates are met, the satisfaction of the graduates with regards to the job features, and especially the role of the graduate development strategies within the organization (McDermott, Mangan, & O'Connor, 2006). Hence, many organizations introduce GDP to develop graduate competencies, enhance commitment, and achieve high levels of managerial competency as well as to increase the progression of such graduates within the organization (Garavan, 2003). GDP is one tool in the TM kit for any organization. GDP is a special program where organizations recruit high academic achievers and graduates from university to develop their potential and make them organization-fit for critical, specialized, technical and key leadership positions. Employers like graduates who are ready for work, possess good communication skills, share skills and appreciate the nature of the business and organization (Pearson, 2001). McDermott, Mangan, and O'Connor (2006) reveal that graduates consider salary levels, career planning, mentoring/counselling as crucial and above all prioritize challenging and interesting work when joining an organization. Therefore, it is vital that organizations analyze the gap between their expectations and the graduate expectations, before adopting GDP if they are to retain this bright young talent and remain competitive in the current market.