Written by Cathy James
Head of Design, Development – Fusion Graduate Consultancy
Program success doesn’t happen by chance.
But do you actually know what success looks like for your early talent program? Whether you’re launching a new program or reviewing a long-running initiative, defining success and measuring impact is critical. The right data helps you pivot quickly, track trends over time, and demonstrate true ROI to your business.
So … what should you be measuring?
You no doubt have success measures in place for your attraction and recruitment phases, including application numbers, conversion rates, time to offer, diversity stats, candidate experience feedback and employer brand awareness in the market. This is a valuable (and necessary) starting point.
However, your development program is often where the real impact is made. So, let’s dive into the world of ROI for graduate learning and development.
1. What is Your Nirvana?
Before you can measure success, you first need to define it.
As Fusion, we always say you should start with the end in mind. Why does your program exist? And what does a successful employee look like within your organisation?
You should have a clear understanding of your Learning Value Proposition (LVP), ensuring this aligns to your wider Early Talent Value Proposition (ETVP).
This becomes the promise you sell to your candidates to attract them to your organisation.
2. What are Your Development Program Objectives?
Within your LVP, you should define your key development objectives and have a graduate-specific competency framework in place.
This will allow you to identify the competencies you need to focus on, the activities that will support those competencies, and the specific structure of your development program.
3. Determine Your Success Measures
For each of your development objectives, be purposeful about key metrics and how you might collect that data. Understand what your key stakeholders want to see.
- Consider both qualitative and quantitative metrics. You’ll want hard data; but numbers only tell a part of the story. Don’t underestimate the value of anecdotal feedback, insights and observations from participants and leaders.
- You’ll want some metrics that provide immediate feedback, allowing you to quickly pivot the activities, touchpoints or development support required. You’ll also want some long-term metrics that track success over time, spots trends, and allow you to compare the experience and outcomes from cohort to cohort.
From there, we suggest looking at six key success measures.
Your defined success measures should be considered and intentional. Track what matters, and ensure it aligns with your LVP and key development program objectives.
