Enterprise Rent-A-Car
Graduate Recruitment

Description and aims
Enterprise Rent-A-Car was looking for a way to promote their opportunities to Open University students and graduates in an easy and cost effective way. The Open University offers a diverse student body, and as an employer wanting to recruit from a wide pool of talent, the link was made.
About Enterprise Rent-A-Car
Enterprise Rent-A-Car is a worldwide rental car company with more than 66,000 employees in more than 7,000 locations, including the United Kingdom, Germany, Ireland, Canada, Puerto Rico and the US. In the UK, they have 3,300 employees at more than 330 locations. Enterprise Rent-A Car has been in the Times Top 50 ‘Where Women Want to Work’ listings for the past four years.
How the project is being undertaken
There are a number of projects run by the OU Careers Advisory Service that Enterprise Rent-A-Car has taken part in:
- participation in an online forum for employers
- the employer showcase
- an article in Sesame – the quarterly staff, student and alumni magazine.
The forum took place over 2 weeks in 2008, and was a good way to bring together students and employers in a distance learning setting. As our online forums do not take place in ‘real time’, this allowed staff from Enterprise to take part without having to commit a whole day out of the office. The employers generally went in 3 or 4 times a week for 15-20 minutes to briefly answer questions. A careers adviser moderated the whole forum, and answered careers queries. 1452 students entered the forum while it was on, and it proved to be an excellent way to allow OU students to question employers about a range of topics and get the benefit of their knowledge and experience. As it was so successful, having an online forum with employers has been adopted as a standard feature of our work with employers. We had a very successful ‘Public Sector Employers forum in 2009, and are planning a ‘Graduate Opportunities’ forum for 2010. Any employers who are interested in taking part in our online forums can contact us for more information.
We have established our Employer Showcase on our website for employers interested in recruiting OU students, and raising their profile with the OU community. The process is simple: the employer provides details about their organisation and the schemes they offer, plus their logo, which we then put on our site. Enterprise Rent-a-Car enhanced their entry with more information, key facts, and case studies from graduates, which was a real bonus to help students distinguish between employers and what they have to offer.
Donna Miller has had two feature articles in ‘Sesame’, our student magazine – one in 2007 and one in 2009. Enterprise Rent-a-Car’s work with the Careers Advisory Service on a filming project was also featured in a staff magazine in 2008. Sesame which is issued four times a year, is available to all OU students, staff and alumni, and as such, an article in it means a potential readership of over 500,000 people. Alongside other things, such as advertising vacancies with the Careers Advisory Service, this has proved to be a good way to promote a company and its graduate opportunities to the OU community. The process is very simple: answer a number of questions, and send us a photograph. The article is written by the Careers Advisory Service with the Editor of Sesame, but you get to see it and can make changes before it goes to print. For more information, please contact us.
Impacts and benefits
Here are some quotes from Donna Miller, European HR Director for Enterprise Rent-A-Car:
“We would love to be in the next online forum – we had a good time with the last one.”
“It’s been a very beneficial relationship for both Enterprise and the students involved. As a result, we have seen an increase in the number of OU students and graduates who have applied to us. Enterprise is an employer that has always recruited from a more diverse pool of talent, and the OU is a good source of talented and experienced people. We have also participated in some filming which will go on the OU website and will help students more fully understand what we require of them from applications and interviews.”
“The OU video looks great – thanks for all of your support!!”
For more information about the project
For more information about how employers can work with the Open University Careers Advisory Service please contact the Careers Service Development & Leadership Team on 0115 9715519 or at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
For more information about Enterprise Rent-A-Car, go to www.enterprisealive.co.uk or contact Donna Miller on 01784 221367.
University
Open University In The East Midlands
Contact
Careers Service Development & Leadership Team
0115 9715519