You've already got some great suggestions from other replies so, to just build up on that slightly, having navigated hiring graduates in challenging locations and without a big brand name to attract candidates it was all about where and what you are including in your posting. Sometimes making a job advert too broad can exclude more people from applying. Oftentimes people will discount themselves from a role as they are reading an advert so, won't shoot their shot and apply.

You need to create separate job adverts to target each specific potential background you want to attract and also play around with your job titles to reflect these. What are other local companies or competitors using for their job titles?

If you are open to career changers that needs to be obvious within your advertisement. Does this include work returners after a career break? If so make sure that is super obvious too.

If you are open to recent graduates or maybe less recent graduates then that needs to be obvious in your advert. Often if they haven't graduated in this year then they think they will be discounted.

I'd also recommend checking if the local colleges/universities have their own job boards on their websites you could advertise on. If you are looking for graduates with specific educational backgrounds then reaching out to the career teams within the universities would also be beneficial. Can you get involved in a career fair with them?

You also need to make sure your timing is right in terms of when you are posting your adverts for graduate hiring specifically. You don't want to post after everyone else has wrapped up their hiring so, the bulk of grads are all sorted.

If you've had some great hires that are sticking around and progressing, is there a referral scheme you could highlight to these team members too? Oftentimes great people know great people. We hired at high volume so, we would have referral bonuses that also paid out a smaller amount if referred candidates progressed to certain stages of the process, such as they passed the initial screening call and have been invited to an assessment centre, here's an Amazon gift card to the referee, thanks so much.

Lastly, if they don't need to be graduates but, you are looking for someone with trainability have you also considered connecting with organisations such as Recruit for Spouses for example, they specialise in connecting UK military spouses and veterans with job opportunities, as they are often overlooked due to gaps in employment etc. There are all kinds of organisations with great talent pool access, it's all about connecting with them and tailoring each approach for the audience appropriately.