Graduate Recruitment Process Step by Step: What DuluxGroup Publishes and What Employers Can Copy

DuluxGroup publishes its graduate selection steps in the open. According to DuluxGroup's graduate page, applicants complete an eligibility form, then a motivation application form, then online testing and a video interview, then a virtual engagement centre, and finally an in-person interview with a case study. That is a clear, published graduate recruitment process, and it sits beside a stated aim to reply within two weeks and a promise to tell every applicant the outcome.

DuluxGroup is a paints and consumer products business, home to Dulux, Selleys, Cabot's and Yates, so the lessons here are about process design rather than food manufacturing.

Key Takeaways

• DuluxGroup publishes its six selection stages, so applicants know the order before they apply.
• The page states an aim to reply within two weeks of an application being submitted, and says every applicant receives a written or verbal outcome.
• The virtual engagement centre lets candidates hear from graduates and senior leaders and ask questions, which puts the selling of the job at the right stage.
• A smaller employer can copy the shape: a form, a short test, one structured interview and a work-sample task, with a reply date it can actually keep.

The graduate recruitment process, one step at a time

The page describes the process as one designed specifically for early careers recruitment. Before anyone applies, it sets out who is eligible: full Australian or New Zealand working rights, a CV, and an academic transcript. The steps then run in this order.

1. An eligibility form, which decides who goes on.
2. A motivation application form for those who are eligible.
3. Online testing.
4. A video interview.
5. A virtual engagement centre, described on the page as a chance to find out more about the company.
6. An in-person interview, where candidates also complete a case study exercise.

The page does not say what the online tests measure or how the case study is scored, so if you copy this sequence you will design those parts yourself. It also gives applicants short, plain tips for online testing and the video interview, which is a habit worth copying.

The order also suits the employer, in our reading: a form takes minutes to read, while an in-person interview with a case study needs several people's time.

The graduate engagement centre idea

The step that may be new to you is the virtual engagement centre. The assessment centre is the familiar format, where candidates are observed. DuluxGroup's page describes this stage differently: candidates hear from graduates and senior leaders in their chosen stream about what it is like to work there, and can get all their questions answered at both the engagement centre and the interview.

The page does not describe the engagement centre as scored, so treat it as a two-way meeting. By the later stages a graduate may be weighing more than one offer, and meeting real graduates and leaders lets you sell the job when it matters.

A small employer can run a version for almost no cost. Book a thirty-minute video call with a recent graduate and the person the new hire would report to, and keep the time for questions. Keep it separate from assessment, so candidates can ask honest questions without feeling marked. If any part of your process runs online, read how to secure remote campus recruitment, which covers the integrity of online tests and virtual assessment.

Timeline and feedback commitments

The page gives three timing statements that are easy to quote and hard to keep. Initial applications open in July. DuluxGroup aims to get back to applicants within two weeks of an application being submitted. And every person who applies receives a written or verbal notification on the outcome. Dates move from year to year, so check the page for the current intake before you quote any of them.

Tell every graduate applicant the outcome

Two weeks is an aim, and the outcome notice is a commitment to everyone, including people who are not progressing. The second one is the harder to keep, because declines are the messages that get put off. A graduate recruitment timeline you publish becomes a promise, and a broken promise is visible to every applicant who waits.

To keep promises like these, a few things need to be in place before the ad goes live:

• One named person who owns each step and its reply date.
• A tracking list showing, for every applicant, the date they applied and the date they were told the outcome.
• Written templates for each stage, including a kind, specific decline.
• A rule for what happens when a step is running late, such as a short holding message.

Replying on time is hardest when applications arrive in bulk. The guide to high-volume applicant pipelines shows how to filter on job-related evidence early, which is what keeps a reply time realistic. For the wider case for answering graduates promptly, see the post on how to improve graduate candidate experience.

A smaller version you can run

You do not need a graduate program to borrow the shape. The version below suits an employer hiring one to five graduates a year, and each step maps to one on the DuluxGroup page.

Step 1: One form that does two jobs

Combine the eligibility form and the graduate motivation form into one short page. Ask whether the person has the right to work in Australia, when they could start, and two or three questions in their own words: why this role, and what they have done that shows it. Do not request a transcript you will not read.

Step 2: A short test

Use one online test that matches the job, rather than a long battery. On Righteo you can pick a role, difficulty and industry for an AI assessment, send it to several candidates at once by email and SMS, and download an auto-generated report as a PDF. If you already run an applicant tracking system, check whether you can keep assessments inside your ATS so each result stays with the candidate record.

Step 3: One structured interview

Replace the video interview and the in-person interview with a single conversation. Ask every candidate the same questions, take notes against the same criteria, and invite a recent graduate to sit in so you learn how the candidate speaks to a peer. Because there is only one interview, make the questions count: two about real past work, two about how they learn, one about how they handle feedback.

Step 4: A work-sample task

This is your graduate case study interview in miniature. Give each candidate a realistic task from your business, for example ordering twelve customer queries by urgency and explaining why, or choosing between two suppliers from a one-page summary. Allow sixty minutes and mark every response against the same short checklist.

Step 5: Promise a date you can keep

Write the reply date into the ad. If you can honestly deliver within ten working days, say ten working days, not two weeks because it sounds better. Then tell every applicant the outcome by that date, using a template for those who are not progressing. DuluxGroup's page also invites applicants to ask for reasonable adjustments to the process by email, so name a contact person in your ad as well.

Related Resources

• DuluxGroup's graduate page
• AI skill assessments for candidates
• Screening high-volume applicants
• Assessments inside your ATS
• Graduate candidate experience
• Remote campus recruitment integrity

Common Questions About the Graduate Recruitment Process

1. What steps does DuluxGroup's graduate recruitment process include?

According to the FAQ on DuluxGroup's graduate page, candidates submit an eligibility form and, if eligible, a motivation application form. They then complete online testing and a video interview, attend a virtual engagement centre, and finish with an in-person interview and a case study. The page also asks for a CV and an academic transcript with the application.

2. How quickly does DuluxGroup say it replies to graduate applicants?

The page says initial applications open in July and that DuluxGroup aims to get back to applicants within two weeks of an application being submitted. It also says every applicant receives a written or verbal notification on the outcome. Because intakes change, check the page for the current dates before you quote them in your own material.

3. Why use a paints company as the example in a graduate hiring guide?

DuluxGroup is a paints and consumer products business, not a food manufacturer, but its graduate page publishes the sequence, a timing aim and a feedback promise in one place. The design lessons carry across industries, so an employer in any sector can borrow the structure and apply it to their own roles.

4. What is the difference between an engagement centre and an assessment centre?

On DuluxGroup's page, the virtual engagement centre is where candidates hear from graduates and senior leaders and find out more about the business. The page does not describe it as a scored exercise. An assessment centre is usually built to observe candidates completing tasks, so if you borrow the engagement idea, decide up front whether you will score it.

5. Can a small employer run a process like this without a graduate program?

Yes, if you scale it down. A single form, one short online test, one structured interview and a work-sample task cover the same ground as the published sequence with far less admin. The part that matters most is the promise: pick a reply date you can keep and tell every applicant the outcome by then.

Set one reply promise this week

DuluxGroup's page shows that a graduate process can be published, timed and fair without being complicated. Choose one response-time promise you can honestly keep, put it in your next graduate ad with a named contact, and add a reminder to tell every applicant the outcome by that date.