Choosing your employer - there is a choice

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There can be several problems with some organisational promotional material. Organisations want to present a positive image but the high rates of staff turnover and the disillusionment of many graduate entrants is sufficient to be wary.

In assessing promotional material apply the following 4 tests:

1. Origin of material/authorship
Ask who wrote the material and why. The majority of graduate recruitment literature is written to attract you. View this as the organisational equivalent of a CV. The same rule applies when you read material in professional journals and in some newspapers. How objective is the information you are reading?

2. Accuracy
Some promotional material can quickly be out-of-date; circumstances can change inside organisation following take-overs and mergers that radically change prospects. Some organisations are so large and complex that general descriptions cannot do justice to enormous differences between parts.

3. Depth
How much detail are you being given, does the brochure talk generally of training or does it set out exactly what is on offer?

4. Omissions
There is probably a lot going on inside organisations that you are not told. There may be worries or concerns about commercial success, re-structuring or ongoing problems of morale or high staff turnover.