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Finders Keepers: Diversity & Inclusion, Sustainability, Productivity

Finders Keepers, an annual conference run by Nottingham Trent University’s Employability team, is back for 2021. The event, which aims at supporting businesses in their talent attraction, selection, and retention strategies, will take place virtually this April.

Nottingham City Centre

Themes

This year's Finders Keepers conference is being held virtually, across three days, from Tuesday 27th -  Thursday 29th April 2021.

For this online event, the Employability Team have introduced three different themes; diversity and inclusion, productivity, and sustainability. Businesses are invited to a series of five interactive workshops to discuss their relation to employee engagement and early careers recruitment.

These workshops range from 60-90 minutes in length, making them easier to plug into your busy calendars.

Find out more about each workshop and book your space to attend the session(s) that of are significant interest to your business below.


Introduction: How are diversity and inclusion, sustainability, and productivity important considerations for businesses?

Tuesday 27 April, 11 am to 12 pm

This session provides an introduction to the three themes of the conference and how they intersect within the contexts of employee engagement and graduate recruitment.

Hear from an exclusive business panel showcase, who will share their own business journeys within the context of diversity and inclusion, sustainability, and productivity.

[Individual panellists TBC]

Book now


Sustainability Workshop: How does your job advert attract and empower new graduate hires?

Tuesday 27 April, 2 pm to 3 pm

Sustainability is a holistic strategy and must be fully embedded within a business to be effective – this includes early careers recruitment.

73% of UK students would like the opportunity to work in a business or organisation that makes a difference to social and environmental issues (SOS-UK), so should these values not be reflected in businesses hiring students and soon-to-be graduates ?

This workshop will look at ways in which businesses can align their approach to sustainability with talent attraction and retention strategies and will feature guest speaker: James Silverman, NTU alumni and founder of U&I Global.

  • Why is sustainability important from a talent acquisition perspective ?
  • Embedding sustainability from the ground up
  • Writing effective job advertisements and empowering job descriptions to attract new hires
  • Further undergraduate projects and initiatives

Book now


Diversity & Inclusion Workshop: How to embed diversity and inclusion into your recruitment of early careers talent.

Wednesday 28 April, 1 pm to 2.30 pm

Diversity and inclusion has never been more important to businesses. Research continually shows diverse organisations benefit from higher profits, greater employee retention and increased innovation and productivity.  

It is also a key factor to students and graduates when considering potential employers, with 95% of students saying they feel D&I in the workplace is important. So how do you ensure your recruitment process drives the diversity of hires? And how do you ensure your organisation effectively supports them to succeed?

  • Hear from D&I experts Geoffrey Williams (Global Head of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at Dr Martens) and Dawn Osborne (founder of Adobe’s Black Employee Network) on how they have turned Diversity & Inclusion strategies into action.
  • Explore practical tips for implementing inclusive recruitment practices to increase the attraction, selection, and retention of a more diverse talent pool.
  • Network with other employers who are passionate about diversifying their workforce, and hear perspectives of students from under-represented backgrounds.
  • Find out about new initiatives NTU are running to support employers with diverse recruitment and share your insights to help shape future programmes.

Productivity Workshop: Attract, Select, Keep

Thursday 29 April, 2 pm to 3 pm

Most people in business are aware of the multitude of business benefits to be gained from having more productive employees as well as from more efficient production lines. Productivity benefits are obvious and widely felt when implemented in a business environment.

Guest Speaker: Mark Onikoyi- Senior Global Campus Recruiter at SOTI

Hear from Mark who leads the Global Campus Recruitment Team, bringing new ideas to life, to guarantee Graduate & Internship recruitment.

Session content:

  • Understanding productivity issues and what new skillsets are needed - we will be exploring the new techniques of attracting graduate talent within the workplace, exploring and diving into the benefits of graduate recruitment and support the avenues through universities.
  • Selecting the right fit and direction for your business - innovation and creativity are critical in attaining success within your organisation. A lack of either will lead to stagnation. Therefore, the lack of progress will eventually lead to the demise of your business.
  • New starters vs upskilling
  • Competency framework around strengths
  • Harnessing innovation
  • Exploring the benefits of keeping graduate talent, while providing development and encouraging productivity – so you have recently hired a graduate and they are proving to be a valuable asset to your company; learning quickly, bringing in fresh ideas and they fit right in with the rest of the team. Next up is the ‘loyalty challenge’ – how can you encourage your new hire to stay?

Book now


If you have any questions about the Finders Keepers conference, please contact us at talent@ntu.ac.uk.

We look forward to welcoming you.

  • Notes for editors

Published on 8 March 2021
  • Category: Business