Betfair recrutiment double the intake of Student Graduates

Stand by for a lots of gushing BF-is-wonderful posts on here from people who have only recently joined..




Ah, a degree in marketing...

I've got a resourcing strategy I'd deliver to Nicky alright

There maybe some of those self same students who don't know how to C & P yet.....Soooooooo



By: Nicky Brocklehurst


Against the grain? Graduate recruitment now more important than ever
It seems not a week goes by without an article in a newspaper saying that post university life for today’s UK students is set to be a bleak prospect, with an uncertain employment market and competition for graduate opportunities fiercer than ever.

Here at Betfair, the graduate story is very different – we have almost doubled our intake of grads this year with the numbers set to increase again  in 2012- and for the first time we will have every area of the business involved in our Graduate programme.

So, why the apparent disconnect here with the current job market?

Essentially, it’s down to one reason. Betfair is a growing company with what we like to think is a unique culture. The people we want on board  have to be innovative and entrepreneurial and able to make the right calls from an early stage in their careers and it is because of this that we have always approached the graduate arena slightly differently.

At Betfair we want our grads to be a different calibre to those attracted by  companies that take a ‘conveyor belt’ approach to their graduate schemes.

So, how in practice do we identify and recruit the best talent?

Well, we offer a tailored approach according to the innovative executives we want to create. We give accountability and responsibility from day one and combine this with  a great programme of structured development and mentoring that is led by our Organisational Development function.


Being first choice for Graduates is important for growing companies like Betfair
The Talent Acquisition leads the hiring aspect of bringing graduates into Betfair, working with sponsors and business leads from each functional area to identify their requirements for each programme and to create a hiring plan.  The selection process begins in October and culminates in 2 weeks of assessment centres in March. Between October and March, applications are screened, telephone interviews take place and a number of psychometric assessments conducted. Once hired, a bespoke induction plan is laid on for the Grads, followed by a range of events and training days across the two year programme (three years for Finance graduates).

For the 17 grads who have just joined us, it is an exciting time for them as they settle into their functional areas and adjust to working life at Betfair. But, just as importantly, it is an exciting time for us because we know that each one of them has a real chance to make a real difference within our business.

To show our system in action we will be following some of our new graduates through their first six months with us on Betfair Views. Watch this space

How many of them like a bet or have any understanding of betting at all?

They don't need an understanding of betting. As long as they can operate a squirting flower they'll be able to join the betfair think tank.

Betfair's insistence in recruiting young people with no or little knowledge or love of poker or horseracing is maybe why they are just useless in so many ways.

Feck...

"Betfair's insistence in recruiting young people with no or little knowledge or love of poker or horseracing is maybe why they are just useless in so many ways."

And unless they've improved it in the last few years, the salary on offer is laughable if they were intending on recruiting talent.

"Betfair's insistence in recruiting young people with no or little knowledge or love of poker or horseracing is maybe why they are just useless in so many ways."


If you were starting from scratch, it would be easier to teach someone Marketing, PR, Human Resources etc etc than teach them the intricacies of racing, betting and gambling, imo...

They will have to be high quality to get a full grasp of the correct way to ignore an e-mail, and I should think only the best of the best will ever manage to suspend a horse race while it's still being run.

That was funny feck

  tuckyboy

And sooooooooo true 

fast tracking graduates with no experience or no affinity to the job is a road to disaster,just look at the state of the Police Forces of this land.Actually just look at the state of Betfair,it was once a truly great innovation whereas now it doesn't aspire to be of use nor ornament.

Every grad I know might have the qualifications but lack any brains at all......no life skills at all and are worse than the job centre misfits as they think they are better than everyone else.

does this mean they are no longer hiring from Walmart for their future management ?

Almost every time I phone betfair I ask to speak to a supervisor.  The person answering always says he can deal with it.  Then I have to spend ages of my valuable time explaining the problem and then he says the magic words, hold on and I will speak to my supervisor    I know from experience that the rank and file of betfair staff do not understand anything unless it is a question such as what day is it?  They are very polite and helpful, but not only do they not know anything, but worse than that they give out the WRONG information as gospel.

I could go on and on, but like others, I have said all this before and they do not take any notice

Lol Feck 'n Tucky