A study into the impact of a graduate brokerage service for small and medium sized firms

This article explores the outcome of a research programme examining linkages between graduates and small/medium enterprises and which adopted the use of the internet to facilitate a brokerage service. It explores graduate impact on SMEs by relating types of firms and examines which are most likely to employ graduates. This paper also discusses the training and development needs of both graduates and the firms. A model - Graduate Employment Accelerators - is presented showing how graduate impact can be enhanced, namely by deploying three specific "accelerators" - work experience, mentoring and underpinning basics.