Hired from the degree show: why we take a punt on new talent

This summer, Seeper made The Sunday Times 100, and one of our own made it into the story. Here’s what Caitríona McAllister’s journey says about growth, talent and the next generation.

When The Sunday Times named Seeper No 77 in its list of Britain’s fastest-growing private companies, it also looked at how we hire. Its answer was Caitríona McAllister.

Cait was hired straight out of her degree show at the London College of Communication by our MD, Stuart McKenna, in the thick of the post-COVID graduate scramble. Her portfolio was outstanding. What caught The Sunday Times’s eye, though, was what she did next: a guerrilla marketing campaign for her own show, all across the London borough.

Making the work, then finding a way to get it seen. That’s the instinct that got her hired.

The system isn’t built for graduates

For every graduate like Cait, there are hundreds sending applications into a void, wondering if the system was ever built for them. Applications per role are up 111%, and applications per recruiter are up 412%. The bottleneck isn’t ambition. It’s the maths of getting seen.

Meanwhile, “entry-level” roles routinely ask for years of experience nobody entry-level actually has. In Cait’s words: “We’re not lazy. We’re locked out.” Graduates over-prepare and chase every scrap of proof because they’ve internalised how replaceable they’re told they are.

It’s not a talent problem. It’s an access problem dressed up as a standards problem.

Why fast-growing companies take the punt

Cait’s view is that the fastest-growing companies are often the ones most willing to take a punt on someone unproven. They hire the person without 10 years of polish and let them grow into the role. In return, they get someone hungry, adaptable and loyal.

Three years on, Cait is proof of that. She’s shaping her team, the client work and the wider industry, most recently pitching her directional audio concept, Metaxis, at NatWest Group’s London HQ. She’s also the returning alumna current students go to, giving her time and ideas back to the place she started. Full circle in the best way.

We all need just one chance

We still go back to the degree shows every year, because the talent there is extraordinary. If we don’t hire and nurture the next generation now, there won’t be a next generation of talent to draw on later. No fresh perspective, no new cultural read.

You never know which future leader you could be talking to.