In May, 1.9 million college students will join the workforce, creating an even more competitive labor market. However, there are many companies still in need of entry-level employees. To ensure organizations are capturing the best and brightest new grads, the HR department must prepare their recruiting strategy today.
Is your company unprepared for an influx of recently graduated employees or applicants? There’s no need to stress out — we have you covered. Let’s take a look at some of the challenges that accompany hiring new graduates and some of the key ways your company can ensure a smooth hiring process for all involved.
Strategically time hiring efforts with graduation dates
If hiring new college grads is a priority for your company, your recruitment efforts should work in tandem with the typical academic calendar. College graduations typically occur twice a year, once in the spring — when most students graduate — and once in the winter. However, larger schools may have a third graduation during the summer months. Be sure to check with top schools and local universities to ensure your hiring calendar aligns accordingly. Otherwise, you may face crickets when the position drops. Alternatively, a potential hire could be unavailable to start for four months due to school.
Hiring managers seeking to recruit new grads for entry-level positions should work back from their expected hiring date to determine the optimal time to begin scouting. The typical hiring timeline falls between one month and six weeks. Pair this with about a month of lead time to ensure there are several quality applicants for the job. For example, if an entry-level position needs to be filled by the first week of June, the job should be posted in early March. In this example timeline, interviews would start the second week of April.
Of course, this is not a guaranteed timeline. The bottom line is hiring managers should have a good idea of their hiring process and use their organization’s specific recruitment timeline to determine the best season to begin searching for applicants.
Revamp — and publicize — your employer brand
A 2022 Gartner survey found modern employees expect more opportunities for growth on the job, both personal and professional, than ever before. While many companies have made great strides in the past few years to meet that expectation, finding a way to publicize those accomplishments takes a lot of work. This is where building a strong employer brand comes in handy.
Here are a few simple tips to ensure your employer messaging is seen by potential candidates.
Including employee quotes on the company website about employee benefits
Posting content on social media that fits with company values
Adding a section to the job description that includes benefits and other perks
Although being the ‘coolest employer’ is a lofty and unnecessary goal, HR leaders should still emphasize what makes their company great for employees. Keeping this information accessible and top-of-mind for applicants will increase the probability that they ultimately accept a position. Additionally, ease of access to information about company culture can set your company apart from others that are trying to hire new college graduates this spring.
Update hiring requirements to be realistic
Imagine you’re fresh out of college and searching for a job, and you have stumbled on a company that looks like a perfect fit. Their values align with yours and they have a cool product — but for an entry-level position, there’s a five-year work requirement. Many companies may unknowingly have this requirement on their job descriptions without realizing it. Yet it can be extremely defeating for upcoming college graduates to see this over and over again.
Changing the tenure requirements of a job can make a huge difference in the number of applications your company receives, especially when filling entry-level positions. Furthermore, it may be time to reconsider whether certain positions truly require years of experience. Tenacious young applicants may make up for their lack of experience with ingenuity.
Broaden your hiring horizon
The common work adage is, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” While that line can stand true for some work functions, it’s certainly not the case when it comes to hiring pools. When sourcing recently graduated candidates, it’s easy to reach for the same few universities. But this can leave your company with a lack of diversity in thought processes.
When many HR professionals think of college recruiting, their first thought is a career fair or recruitment event hosted locally or in-office. While these options definitely have their place and will not be going away anytime soon, college graduates aren’t always interested in seeing the same handful of companies advertise their positions repeatedly. As such, it’s important for hiring managers to visit a mix of local, state, private and out-of-state universities to ensure a good mix of potential candidates. This can help ensure your positions are seen by upcoming graduates who come from diverse backgrounds with unique perspectives on life, education and work.
Every company will differ in its approach to hiring new graduates. And some years, hiring will be far easier than others. While every hiring manager strives for perfection the first time, it’s okay to have growing pains, especially when building out a great entry-level hiring program.
The important thing is to take steps to ensure your hiring program is built out in advance of college graduation. That means ensuring that entry-level positions are opened when graduation rolls around, your employee brand is polished and job requirements are updated. Finally, remember to go outside of your company’s comfort zone schools to help ensure you’re getting top talent. Doing so will provide leaders with confidence that new hires will want to grow alongside your organization for years to come.
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