Looking to hire a couple of grads with no IT experience

[2uk]

someone had an even smarter idea than you :

get those it graduates in india and let them come in UK (if you need numbers for UK : 70000 work visas), So you pay them even less. from what i have heard, the slaves work for free on week-ends (in business there is a golden rule : there is no free lunch)

this is not a myth : i just met hordes of indians this week. gives a bitter taste of things to come. they are looking after people to manage them.n

Good Luck hitting the news.

[KentPhilip]

This sound like another example of the abused becoming a serial abuser!

I bet you treat all contractors like dirt as well.

You may have a point there.
But firstly I havn't hardly got started yet - I'm still doing my permie job prior to the redundancy coming through, and secondly I will try to treat the contractors and graduates fairly, not like dirt.
Are there any web sites that describe a "code of conduct" as to how graduates and contractors ought to be treated - I would like to have a read of it if possible.

But nobody got rich without running a tight ship.

[KentPhilip]

Payback time on a bright graduate to cover support autonomously, in my experience is 6 months, getting them to think like an engineer not a student takes approx 20% of the time in the first 2 months. After that you can let them cope with most end user problems with only occasional guidance. To get a good all round support person takes a couple of years.
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Thanks for that Vetran. It is about getting them to think the right way isn't it.
Reminds me of when Clint Eastwood tried to fly the firefox and made a right hash of it until his mentor told him that he had to "think russian" (the language of the computer code that flew it) after which the plane flew with great ease and accuracy.