Creative and marketing/communications recruitment company Aquent has decided to tackle the shortage of experienced recruitment industry staff by launching its own graduate traineeship program. The company also announced it will continue its expansion into Asia.

Starting in March this year, Aquent will employ up to 15 university graduates across its Asia Pacific operations under its "Step Up" program, which provides 47 weeks of structured training and development.

The aim is that by the end of the program the graduates will be trained in all aspects of the business and be mobile enough to relocate either temporarily or permanently to any Aquent office in the region, said Aquent regional ceo Greg Savage.

"We feel that this initiative is a great way of developing industry talent and is certainly worth the investment in young professionals across the region," said Savage.

"By having an available group of mobile recruiters, it provides Aquent with recruiter strength prior to us actually having specific needs for them. This means that we will become less reliant on knee-jerk hiring which may sometimes lead to a drop of standards."

He said ideally, Aquent would look for graduates with about one or two years' experience in the workforce. The program had been developed by Aquent staff with experience in continuing education and each graduate would be assigned a mentor and a weekly program including a combination of theoretical and practical training.

Savage told Shortlist that the program could cost up to $500,000 per year across the region but he was certain the investment would provide long and short term returns for the company.

Not only would it provide Aquent with a flow of trained people, it would demonstrate to its existing staff and clients that the company was prepared to invest in its people, said Savage. He said in the long term it would also help develop recruitment industry talent across the board.