Square, a scheme from search engine Google whereby it would take in graduate staff from ad agencies for a few months work exchange, as reported by the London Evening Standard [http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard-business/article-24018889-google-woos-ad-agencies-staff-with-free-work-placements.do], has been welcomed by recruiters.

A statement from Google says: “The pilot aims to start addressing the talent shortage in the industry, and to work closely with agencies to transform and harness the very best talent Britain has to offer.”

Jack Gratton, chief executive of marketing, PR, advertising and creative recruiter Major Players, tells Recruiter: “A stint at Google is the best grounding in SEO [search engine optimisation] you could possibly get, so this is a fantastic programme for all concerned.

“We are seeing more and more Google focused roles come through so these graduates will be gaining invaluable skills for the future - not just for them personally but for the creative industry as a whole.”

Google has not released details of who will pay the wages of those on the scheme or details about how the placements will be allocated.

However Dan Grech, digital marketing co-ordinator at creative and digital recruiter Become, suggests to Recruiter that recruitment firms watch this space, saying: “Let’s look back at when Flash appeared on CVs 10 years ago and nobody really knew what it was. This was followed by Flash as a client requirement.

“Recruiters who disregarded these candidates as people who want to work for Adobe would have been terribly naive, missing out on new business and closed off from the future of their industry.”

A spokesperson from Google says: “As the programme is still in trial phase, we don’t have anything to announce on the official roll-out just yet, but do watch this space.”

Gratton adds: “Major Players definitely sees these training partnerships as a coming trend in the creative and marketing industries as there is a move to invest more in development of their talent. As usual Google is ahead of the game and initiatives like this will help further cement their dominance over search.”

Grech at Become concludes: “We recruit in a sector that has to be highly reactive and open-minded towards the direction in which the creative and digital industries move. Google is already a power-house; it wouldn’t surprise me if Facebook chose to host a similar scheme offering agencies training for employees to learn how to build apps.”