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In total, ten semi-structured interviews were conducted between April and September 2022 with employers from the digital, construction, engineering & manufacturing, and health and social care sectors. Questions were asked based on the recruitment experience of these employers, any challenges they may have faced and the areas in which they would like to see improvements.

In the second stage, semi-structured interviews took place with alumni to understand any potential challenges they face when looking for jobs. This stage was conducted simultaneously along with the first stage.

Alumni who are working outside the BCP area were selected, to understand their motivations behind moving away from area after completing their degrees at ³ÉÈËÖ±²¥. Twenty-five interviews were conducted with alumni exploring their current job role, their motivation behind their jobs and the key points they looked for in an employer. Questions were also asked about their reasons behind moving away from BCP area for their jobs.

Alumni cited a company’s culture as the most important factor in their work life. These participants wanted to know how their time will be spent at their job, if the company will take care of their wellbeing, whether there any social events for the employees etc. They looked for these factors while searching for their jobs. Their main source of information was LinkedIn, the company’s website, and YouTube. In contrast, when employers were asked about the same, some employers did not have a LinkedIn page or their own website and their main sources of advertising for their jobs were job advertisement websites. This was one of the biggest differences between the alumni and employers' perspectives.

Secondly, the BCP area was considered to be ‘too expensive to live for your first job’ - participants did not want to spend all their money on their accommodation and thus did not want to stay in the BCP area. To improve this situation, employers could offer a ‘relocation package’ or include financial incentives for their new employees.

Some alumni also found it hard to know about the jobs available in the local market; they did not know where to search for these jobs, the requirements, and how they could apply. This also links back to the lack of awareness about the work opportunities in the BCP area. This is one of the key factors which will be addressed through the Careers Expo - Love where you work event.

On the few occasions when some participants applied for these jobs, they were not successful due to lack of experience. These participants expressed the pressure they faced to find their ‘first job’ without any prior experience.

Further to this, some participants also emphasised on the importance of progressing in their careers, which for them was not clear with the careers options available locally. These findings can be linked to one of the themes which emerged from the employers' interviews, where they raised the challenge of employee retention.

The findings from the employers’ interviews were equally insightful, with several parallels with the alumni interviews. For example, most of the employers were looking for experienced candidates, which links with the pressure expressed by some alumni participants in finding their first jobs.

Employers were also not satisfied with the pool of technical skills these candidates were offering, stating that: 'It becomes difficult to train people at work as it comes with the risk of bigger challenges where things can go wrong.’ This can also be considered as a recommendation to improve the skills gap in the BCP area, not only to help the employers but also to improve the quality of workforce, which will ultimately bring economic benefit to the local economy.

Most of the employers were using web advertisements to publicise their job opportunities without focusing on their LinkedIn pages, their websites, or other creative methods to spread the word about vacant posts. Employers did suggest that they offered competitive salaries for the BCP area; however, the alumni participants did not agree with this. Thus, the financial package was also one of the main factors behind alumni moving away from the BCP area, as stated earlier.