CASE STUDY – Graduate Prospects – Out of the ashes.

Note: The following case study has been excerpted from the 2008 Gilbane Report.

Graduate Prospects is the commercial subsidiary of the Higher Education Careers Services Unit (HECSU). HECSU is a registered charity that supports the work of higher education careers services in the UK and Republic of Ireland and funds major research projects that benefit the higher education careers sector. HECSU is jointly owned by Universities UK and the Guild HE. Graduate Prospects works in partnership with the Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services (AGCAS) to maximize the opportunities and support available to all students and graduates throughout their career search.

Graduate Prospects is a fully interactive digital magazine offering the speed and accountability of online recruitment with impact and branding of traditional printed publications.

The Challenge
Graduate Prospects was the first of several publications in the UK devoted to jobhunting for new college grads. When universities started offering email distribution lists for campus recruiting, Graduate Prospects circulation dwindled and advertisers dropped out. Graduate Prospects needed a technology solution that would reduce production and distribution costs, yet retain the character of the previous print magazine and reach the new generation of digital readers.

Meeting the Challenge
For many years, Graduate Prospects had an enduring franchise and very profitable business in providing a printed publication — Immediate Vacancies — that alerted new graduates to positions that had recently become available within their chosen career track. The publication was distributed by mail and via delivery to university placement offices. Unfortunately, the service provided by this publication was replaced by technology as placement offices started to send out new job openings via email. This change caused circulation to drop and advertising revenues to diminish. The ad rates for Web sites alone were too low to sustain the business and the search metaphor of the Web was not ideal for novice job seekers who had limited contexts for their career
exploration.

The management team took this dilemma very seriously and turned to technology to solve their problem. After doing 18 months of research, they took the bold step of launching one of the UK’s first digital-only publications when Prospects Graduate replaced the previous print publication — Immediate Vacancies — that was shut down. Prospects Graduate is an advertorial digital publication that features employer profiles that enable graduates to get a sense of what it would be like to work for certain companies , as well as to learn about their vacant entry-level positions. The editorial team adds content on topics pertinent to securing the best new position.

They chose Nxtbook because:

• There was no viewer download required.
• The compression technology is excellent and makes downloads easy for customers.
• The rendering is very sharp and very fast.
• The Nxtbook management team was very experienced and served as a valuable resource during the transition process.
• Their business model is flexible and fair.
• They have been very pleased with Nxtbook throughout their relationship. The quality of the tech support is excellent and Nxtbook’s designers have worked alongside the Graduate Prospects team to help meet the needs of even the most difficult client.

Results

• The combination of the Graduate Prospects digital magazine and the Web site that includes directories of employers, more advice for job seekers, forums, etc., is very powerful and has reinvigorated revenues and profits.
• The rich media capabilities of digital publications and the opportunity to list new jobs more expediently are appealing to employers/advertisers.
• The traditional magazine format could be browsed in a fashion similar to the previous publication.
• The digital profiles of employers migrate from the magazine to the Web site and are popular with graduates.

Lessons Learned

• Graduate Prospects and the Web site are completely complementary. Together, they make a very attractive offering to employer/advertisers.
• The graduates like the traditional magazine browsing experience when it comes to looking for jobs. The Web site has some of the same content but is very search oriented. Search works well for graduates who know exactly what type of job and which employers they are seeking. However, for many graduates, browsing exposes them to a wider range of opportunities and helps them find jobs that are interesting and often exceed their expectations.
• A traditional print magazine is not necessary to launch a successful digital magazine.

Gilbane Group Conclusions:

• Graduate Prospects’ previous franchise product was killed by technology, yet it was technology that helped them rebuild the product mix in a fashion that is even more appealing to advertisers
• While rich media isn’t yet fully deployed, the potential upgrade for serving today’s visual graduates is outstanding and will provide new opportunities for Graduate Prospects and their customer for many more years to come.