Programme

In today’s fast-evolving recruitment landscape, early career teams face significant challenges, balancing efficiency and candidate experience while meeting the demands of the business. The surge in applications and the adoption of AI have sharpened the focus on optimising recruitment processes. Yet, the pressure to demonstrate return on investment and deliver work-ready hires remains at an all-time high.

This session brings together industry leaders Lauren McCafferty from Deloitte, Glen McGowan from HSBC, and Camila McBride from Sky, who collectively manage over 200,000 applications annually, hiring just 1–3% of those that apply to their programmes. In 2024/5, each has introduced innovations to their early career processes, driven by unique challenges and objectives. We will share the motivations behind these changes, the lessons learned so far, and the data underpinning their strategies.

Through these insights, attendees will gain actionable strategies to reconcile the dual pressures of delivering business outcomes and enhancing candidate experience, to ultimately ensure all applicants are strengthened through the recruitment experience and the highest calibre talent starts and stays, delivering value to the business. 

Early Careers recruitment is at the forefront of building tomorrow’s workforce. Yet as the global economy tightens, organisations are facing growing pressure to deliver measurable outcomes across all aspects of their talent strategies, and early careers recruitment is no exception.

However, a troubling gap is emerging between ambition and execution in this critical area: 74% of organisations admit they struggle to demonstrate ROI in early careers recruitment and development. Failure to bridge this gap could lead to reduced investment, talent shortages, and missed opportunities for underrepresented groups in the workforce.

In this accelerated and interactive session, join The Smarty Train’s data experts to explore why ROI measurement remains a persistent challenge in early careers recruitment, and what steps early careers teams can take to ensure its success.

Through interactive audience engagement and science-backed tools, this session will grant attendees actionable insights that they can use to better track success, build a compelling business case for investment, and align their recruitment strategies with broader organisational goals.

You’ll hear real-life tangible case studies and testimonials of how best practice organisations put these tools into practice in their own strategies to better demonstrate ROI in recruitment.

Take a step into the shoes of Eli and Josephine, a school leaver and a graduate looking to kickstart their careers with an employer of choice. Together with our panel of emerging talent and employer brand leaders, we’ll follow Eli & Josephine through their job hunting journeys, taking time at each stage to look at how strategies to engage these candidate personas are changing.

We’ll look at candidate data (from Connectr Talent Technology’s 2024 annual survey, with over 1000 responses from early careers candidates) and hear real stories and experiences from young people to bring to life not just the candidate experience, but the ‘rejection experience’ as well. Our panel will share their evolving strategies to humanise interactions with candidates whilst maintaining efficiency in a volume hiring space; we’ll discuss the role of employer brand and how employers can create an experience that lets candidates screen and exclude themselves, giving power back to candidates, reducing applications volumes and bringing forward only the best fitting candidates, without the detrimental impact on brand perception.

GSK and recruiters SRG share how working together on diversity programmes has led to changes which benefit everyone. They recognise when approaching DEI, it's crucial to balance the unique experiences of individuals with understanding the common human connections that unite us all.

In this session, we will explore how to harmonise these approaches, ensuring that we both recognise what connects us all and appreciate the unique contributions of each individual. This integrated strategy will help foster a more inclusive and thriving environment for everyone.

Working with the 10,000 Interns Foundation (which exists to transform the workplace, ensuring both equitable access to opportunity and equitable experience paid internships), GSK & SRG initially aimed to broaden the horizons of Black students and graduates and help to unlock access to opportunities for people with a disability, However, this initiative has not only benefited individuals by providing them with valuable experiences, but also added to the workplace culture, with the interns becoming agents for change, and contributing to a more inclusive environment for everyone involved. As a result (directly or indirectly) from GSK hiring diverse talent, we have learnt to view diversity through an intersectional lens which has led to unexpected changes and help foster a more inclusive workplace.

Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) efforts are facing unprecedented challenges. High-profile organisations such as Meta, Amazon, and McDonald’s have announced significant rollbacks in their D&I programmes, citing cost pressures, shareholder priorities, and cultural backlash against so-called “woke” agendas.

This session will unpack the implications of this trend for the UK, particularly in the realm of early careers, where D&I initiatives have become integral to attracting diverse, high-potential talent. We’ll explore whether UK businesses should follow this retreat or take a different path to ensure they continue to support underrepresented groups and achieve long-term success.

AI is revolutionising recruitment. Two in three students now use AI in the process — and Early Careers teams are under pressure to respond. But while AI offers efficiency gains, it also raises tough questions: can you identify quality candidates at scale without sacrificing inclusion? And with so much noise out there, what does responsible use of AI actually look like? In this session, we’ll share three practical steps to shape your AI strategy – without compromising ethics or candidate experience. Expect fresh data, real-world case studies, and unfiltered student insights, including: Where AI can help (and hinder) diversity What candidates want from an AI-enabled hiring process What a scalable but equitable sifting model looks like today Join us to hear how teams at Amazon, HMRC and University College London are embracing AI responsibly – and get your Early Careers strategy future-ready.

In this fireside chat with Georgina Sweeney (Deutsche Bank) and Nichola Robinson (AMS) hosted by Nic Sullivan (Meet & Engage) they will discuss their vision to improve student outcomes, student wellbeing and personal development, engagement and belonging via AMS' Coaching proposition.

Set the context of increasing applications and Deutsche Banks's number of applications rising to 140:1. Impacting on students wellbeing, resilience and ability to do their best in the recruitment process. Their aim is to support candidates with reasonable adjustment to start on day one and Provide students with group and personalised support as they move through the process due to real time sentiment and feedback.

AMS implemented their Candidate Coaching Proposition, a personalised engagement experience designed to support students between the point of application through to offer and onwards to day one in role.

Their proposition supports a number of key dynamics around students trying to get either work experience, an apprenticeship, internship or full time role. It also supports organisations through educating students to be more productive and add value from day one, focus on soft skills to link into the training they will get when they join.

Candidates register for their coaching journey on a virtual platform called Meet & Engage, a social-style portal where they will find content like wall messages, chatbot, videos, polls, infographics, and an automated helpdesk available 24/7. They receive relevant curated content at timely intervals all the way up until their start date with the aim of increasing engagement and readiness to begin their career, including live coaching webinars with very high uptake. 

Deutsche Bank have received nearly 140,000 applications globally to date for their early careers 2025 programme and have made just over 1500 offers so far – so that’s over 100,000 individuals who have access to live career coaching with AMS Talent Coaches whether they are successful with an offer at Deutsche Bank or not.

This truly embodies the vision the Bank seeks to realize, making sure that everyone's got the opportunity to have this kind of learning and development as part of their application journey, but also giving them something back so that even if they are rejected, they feel like they've had a good experience, the brand is positive, and most importantly they've learnt something that they can take to other interviews and other applications, hopefully supporting their sense of wellbeing and confidence and motivation as they move forward. 

UCAS’ latest Project Next Generation insights into 13-17 year-olds offer a fresh perspective on the motivations and barriers young people face when exploring early career pathways. This research highlights the experiences of underrepresented groups, including neurodiverse students, women aspiring to STEM careers, students from ethnic minority backgrounds, and those from lower socio-economic contexts.

This interactive panel session will explore both the successes and challenges of recruiting and supporting young people from diverse backgrounds. It features a leading employer recognised for their commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, alongside an apprentice and a graduate scheme participant—both from underrepresented groups. Together, the panel will delve into effective strategies for attracting diverse talent, fostering inclusive workplaces, and breaking down barriers to participation.

The employer panelist will share their proven strategies for recruiting and retaining diverse talent and offer practical recommendations for other organisations. Meanwhile, the apprentice and graduate scheme participant will provide powerful first-hand accounts of their journeys, highlighting the challenges they faced, the support that made a difference, and their advice for employers striving to build more inclusive and accessible opportunities.

This session offers actionable insights and strategies for employers and educators, equipping you with the tools to support young decision-makers, promote diversity in early career pathways, and build inclusive workplaces where all talent can thrive. 

We’re at a pivotal moment in the early careers world. While students and employers are benefitting from the positive developments of AI, there’s a risk we could lose the most crucial part of recruitment - the personal touch.

According to our comprehensive Student Research Survey to over 4,000 students, 63% said that meeting an employer in person made them feel more confident in applying for roles. For many, being present at every campus across the country is not always possible so how can employers remain human throughout their marketing with time and resource challenges?

In our session, we’ll take a deep dive into how to ensure employers aren’t losing personability in their early recruitment strategies. With a specific focus on how to maximise the benefits of content creation, social media and in person campus activations.

We often hear about how important authenticity is, and 80% of students told us they want to see more authentic content from employers. But what does ‘authentic content’ actually mean and how do we put this into practice? We will bring this to life by showcasing the type of content that resonates with the student audience, and how employers can harness this within their attraction and retention strategies. These insights will be underpinned by our recent student survey to 4,000 14-23 year olds who have shared their views on how they want to see real life people and experiences from employers they are applying to. Plus, what types of content and social media platforms they are using the most in their job search.

These insights will be brought to life through a student and employer panel where we will discuss what user-generated content (UGC) is, how to create it effortlessly and which social media platforms deliver the best results for employer branding and recruitment marketing. The session will share practical tips and advice on how employers can harness the people that work in their organisations to bring real experiences to life.

The recruitment process has become increasingly transactional, with candidates facing overwhelming rejection rates. This session will focus on reshaping recruitment to be more people-centric, balancing power between employers and candidates while empowering students to make informed decisions about their next steps.

Drawing on Unifrog‘s unique position as a careers platform used by over 4000 secondary schools and colleges globally and 30,000 daily student logins, we’ll share data-driven insights into student behaviour, career aspirations, and candidate experience. Attendees will gain early access to findings from our 2025 Career Insights Survey which received over 21,000 responses last year, highlighting key trends and actionable insights to inform your recruitment strategy.

We will conclude the session with a panel discussion featuring employers and careers leaders, providing insights on personalising recruitment strategies, engaging younger students, and supporting decision-making at the offer stage.

Join us to gain actionable insights and strategies for crafting a recruitment process which engages and empowers the next generation of talent. 
 

In today’s fast-paced recruitment environment, early talent professionals face the challenge of managing high application volumes while maintaining a positive and authentic candidate experience. With 140:1 application-to-job ratios and millions of automated rejection emails sent annually, it’s easy for the recruitment process to feel impersonal. This talk explores how principles of improv—such as "Yes, And", active listening, and storytelling—can be used to humanise candidate interactions, empower recruitment teams, and enhance employer branding.

Drawing on the Free Association’s expertise in delivering improv-based training for leading organisations like HSBC, this session will provide practical strategies to bring empathy and authenticity into the recruitment process. By focusing on personalised communication, meaningful interviews, and constructive rejections, attendees will learn how to create a people-centric approach that benefits both candidates and their organisations.

Attendees will leave with actionable insights to:

• Apply active listening and improv techniques to uncover and highlight candidates’ unique strengths during interviews.
• Craft personalised rejection communications that provide constructive feedback and maintain goodwill.
• Foster collaboration and creativity within recruitment teams to ensure a consistent and empathetic candidate experience.

This session will feature real-world examples and case studies to illustrate the tangible impact of applying improv principles in early careers recruitment, ensuring every candidate feels valued—whether hired or not. 

Recruiting disabled students and graduates should be straightforward however for many early careers professionals, it’s anything but. Despite good intentions, progress can be slow due to uncertainty, fear of saying the wrong thing, and a lack of confidence in handling disability-related queries. This workshop goes beyond policies to build practical confidence. It will help attendees shift their mindset - seeing disability as a natural part of talent, not a problem to solve. It will also offer clear guidance on how to handle conversations about adjustments, what’s legally appropriate, & when it's fair to push back on requests. Through real-life case studies, we’ll tackle the everyday challenges recruiters face, helping teams move from hesitation to action. Whether you’re new to disability inclusion or unsure where the boundaries lie, this session will leave you equipped to recruit more inclusively, confidently, and compliantly, ensuring disabled candidates are not just welcomed, but meaningfully supported.

For decades, and despite the best of intentions, conventional hiring process have systematically disadvantaged neurodiverse talent. In this session, we’ll explore the key drivers of bias, and how progressive organisations are breaking down systemic barriers to create genuinely inclusive end-to-end hiring processes for neurodiverse talent.

This session highlights common recruitment pitfalls and introduces innovative, practical solutions demonstrated through Virgin Media O2's successful transformation of their early careers hiring strategy through a truly neuro-inclusive lens. Attendees will gain insights into the transformative power of neuro-inclusivity in hiring, and how it enriches candidate experiences, boosts innovation, and ultimately enhances organisational success.

In today’s competitive job market, purpose-driven branding is often hailed as the key to attracting young talent. However, recent research suggests that attitudes are far more complex. For some, when decision time comes, financial security and career growth take precedence; for others, finding an organisation with purpose is a necessity.

This session explores the complexities behind Gen Z’s decision-making processes, highlighting the tensions between value-driven career aspirations and practical financial realities.

We will carry out bespoke primary research with 1,500 respondents aged 13-25 designed specifically for this session, revealing the factors that influence their career choices, including:

• The perceived importance of purpose in their career decisions.
• Their scepticism towards employer branding and ‘purpose-washing.’
• The privilege of seeing work as ‘just a job’ and how some disengage from purpose whilst others seek it out of necessity.
• The rising trend of side hustles and entrepreneurship as a means of balancing purpose and financial security.
•  How does purpose intersect with a diverse audience and how is privilege a factor in choosing purpose over practicalities?
• How employer values align with Gen Z’s expectations and whether they prioritise ethical companies over lucrative opportunities.

Through interactive discussions and case studies, we will uncover the contradictions between Gen Z's aspirations and their actions, offering insights into how employers can create authentic, purpose-driven employer brands without falling into the trap of overused buzzwords. The session will also feature gamified elements to engage participants and challenge common assumptions about what truly drives career decisions among young professionals. 

The Unseen Group this year published its first ever Impact Report. After 5+ years of acquiring leading brands, tools and services across the entire early careers industry, The Group has defied industry trends by growing year-on-year, expanding to a further 3 acquisitions in 2024 (with more planned in 2025). Unseen has facilitated over 1.3 million job applications, seen over 600,0000 candidates assessed, and partnered with over 300 education providers to improve their graduate outcomes.

With uncertainty and stories of doom and gloom casting a shadow across the whole sector, Zac Williams, CEO of the Unseen Group, questions this narrative and makes the case that the success of the industry is in our hands.

With a particularly unique insight into businesses and founders across ed-tech and rec-tech, Zac has seen it all: he knows what works, where people have gone wrong, and what’s holding the sector back.

Zac shares this insight to show how partnership, diversity, and tech efficiency can spell success in these so-called ‘challenging times’ in what will be a rallying cry for all attendees. We’re going to show people how to learn from each other in a way that can improve the outlook for HE and employers alike.

Pathway CTM will deep dive on why diverse young people find mentoring so useful in their decision-making process throughout school/college.

Over the last year, Pathway CTM have supported 538 young people into apprenticeships through their 1-1 Mentoring Offering. Of these students 62% were female, 78% from a minority ethnic group and 27% receiving free school meals.

We found that the students who were mentored were then 10x more likely to secure an apprenticeship offer. *National average stating that 1 in 66 candidates are successful to securing an apprenticeship compared to Pathway CTM at 1 in 6.

Our mentoring is tailored for every individual which builds confidence in young people during a time that is very unknown to them. Research shows that 46% of young people attend an assessment centre without knowing what it is. This marginalises students from social mobility backgrounds even more as they do not know what to expect in comparison to their peers who may have parents in the industry offering them advice and tips for how to be successful.

The power of mentoring is shown through our statistics. This session will be about showcasing best practice and the small things that can be done throughout the candidate journey to ensure that a young person is successful in receiving an offer.

The session will cover 3 key areas…

• Building strong school relationships
• Diversity of expertise
• Collaborative delivery

A key case study we will share throughout this session will be our partnership with AWE, where we had 34 offers for their cohort starting in August 2024 and are continuing this approach into 2025. As a STEM employer, females are a focus area for them and we will be sharing ways we have built confidence in young girls to submit a high level application to AWE. 

The way we attract young talent is broken. We flood them with options, yet they’re overwhelmed. We say we’re accessible, yet most don’t know where to start. Gen Z isn’t tuning out — we’re just not speaking their language. This session cuts through the noise. You’ll hear from a panel of teachers, apprentices, parents, and employers unpacking real insights from 6,000 Gen Z voices. Their fear isn’t failing — it’s choosing wrong. Their frustration isn’t too little information — it’s too much. We’ll go beyond the data to explore what actually works: how to be clear, human, and relevant in your early careers strategy. No corporate fluff. No box-ticking. Just a brutally honest conversation about what needs to change if we want to win the trust of the next generation. If you’re ready to move beyond business as usual, this is the session to be in.

This best practice session will provide data-driven strategies for ensuring equitable recruitment outcomes across early careers, featuring exclusive insights into how one of Rare’s employer partners has applied the Rare Fair Hiring Toolkit to drive EDI success.

The case study focuses on BCLP’s use of Rare’s adverse impact reporting to identify disparities in their 2021 assessment process. Analysis revealed statistically significant differences in outcomes for candidates from protected groups in two areas (including after controlling for prior academic attainment): a case study on the video game industry and a final-stage group exercise on an M&A transaction.

Based on these findings, BCLP revised their assessments to feature more universally accessible subject matter while maintaining evaluation of essential skills and competencies correlated with high on-the-job performance.

Having implemented these changes, BCLP's 2022/23 recruitment cycle showed no adverse impact or favourable impact for any protected group during the assessment centre stage. This improvement was directly attributable to the implementation of comprehensive adverse impact monitoring.

Rare will talk through how the employer achieved these outcomes and five steps to replicate EDI success.

The future world of work presents both uncertainty and opportunity. With only 20% of employees feeling equipped with the skills needed for their roles and future careers, and just 32% of students confident in their access to the right career information, the challenge for employers and educators is clear: How can we meet the unique expectations of Gen Z regarding employability and careers advice? And with Gen Alpha entering the pipeline, how can we ensure career education evolves to meet their needs?

To explore these challenges, Amberjack and Springpod conduct annual research, gathering insights from over 3,000 respondents. Our research examines key questions such as:

• When do Gen Z start thinking about careers, and where do they go for guidance?
• Do they seek inspiration, practical advice, or a mix of both?
• Do they prefer step-by-step guidance or the freedom to explore independently?
• Who influences their career decisions, and how can employers effectively connect with these influencers?
• What major societal trends—such as AI, climate change, and economic shifts—do they believe will shape their futures?

Following the survey, we hold a series of roundtable discussions with respondents to gain deeper insights. These conversations culminate in a practical checklist for employers to refine their attraction, engagement, and recruitment strategies which we will share and discuss in this session.

This case study presentation showcases a unique research study funded by Innovate UK through the Women in Innovation Award, granted to Dr Alison Callwood.

The study aims to explore whether, and how, we can provide evidence of levelling the playing field in candidate interviews, with a particular focus on the neurodivergent community, sharing the study's background, aims, design, results and key takeaways.

Many jurisdictions legally require 'reasonable adjustments’ in personnel selection to support individuals with disabilities, including neurodevelopmental conditions. These measures often depend on applicants having formal diagnoses or a willingness to disclose their needs, overlooking the natural heterogeneity in cognition, learning, and behaviour. Consequently, traditional selection methods may inadvertently disadvantage certain candidates, Thus, more inclusive personnel selection practices are needed.

We aimed to evaluate the effect of co-designed interview modifications on differential performance between neurodivergent and neurotypical participants in a process evaluation. A co-design approach was employed to enhance an existing online interview that utilised the Multiple Mini Interview (MMI) methodology in an asynchronous digital format. The interview was evaluated in two configurations: standard and modified. The modified version enhanced the standard version by incorporating a practice portal and accessibility features identified by neurodivergent volunteers.

A total of 292 individuals, comprising 148 neurotypical and 146 participants self-identifying as neurodivergent, took part in mock MMIs scored by independent assessors using a seven point Likert scale. Participants who self-identified as neurodivergent achieved significantly higher mean scores on the modified interview compared to the standard format. In contrast, no statistically significant inter-group differences were observed for neurotypical participants for those taking the standard or modified interview. Additionally, no statistically significant difference in mean scores was observed between neurodivergent and neurotypical groups taking the modified interview.

Furthermore, 92% of neurodivergent participants reported that the optimised features facilitated the interview process; 70% perceived the outcomes as ‘fair and objective’, and 70% reported experiencing reduced anxiety compared to the unmodified interview.

These findings provided evidence that the interview modifications substantially reduced the pre-existing disadvantages neurodivergent test-takers may face when participating in online, digital interviews. Such enhancements should be universally implemented to promote greater equity in these personnel selection processes.