“We decided to get the 2016 graduate trainees to play a major role in hiring the 2017 cohorts,” says Kit Fan, corporate head of HR. “Who understands young people better than young people themselves?”
The new approach for its 35-year-old graduate trainee program entails that last year’s graduates devise a way to hire their successors for this year. The group designed posters and shot promotional videos. They also oversaw a Facebook page where they responded to questions and shared their experience and tips about working at the company.
“The trainees are very happy to know that despite having less than one year in the company, senior management has so much trust in them,” Fan says. “Instead of handing over a project to them and asking them to be part of it, I let them take the lead and myself and other senior managers play an advisory role.”