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Early talent trends

Why recruiting early talent is key to your company’s success

Employers that continue to strategically invest in talent in a cost-efficient, future-focused way will achieve growth, despite volatile market conditions.

According to a recent survey of CNBC’s Technology Executive Council, 55% of tech leaders view labor market churn as a way to attract top talent. When other companies are slowing or stopping hiring, leading employers can make use of this time to attract the highest quality candidates and differentiate themselves from the competition.

With 4M+ college graduates entering the workforce each year, attaining long term competitive advantage starts by engaging early talent.

Planning for the future during uncertain times

Workforce planning is challenging: how do you anticipate the shift between the roles you’ll need today and the roles you’ll need in the future? Economic change and civil unpredictability are “new normal” factors, but whether or not we enter a true recession, it’s still a job seekers’ market. Unemployment is historically low, with ~2 openings for every job seeker.

To ensure your competitive advantage and long-term success, a downturn is prime time for investing in talent—your most important resource. Because the economy is cyclical, you can anticipate the next phase to be one of growth and prosperity. And the strongest organizations with the most talented workforces are the ones that reap the benefits.

With the forward-thinking skills required to lead employers through digital transformation, Gen Z talent is increasingly valuable to modern businesses. Interns and young professionals that you hire today have the potential to make an enormous impact—they just need that open door.

Mindy Kaling, the keynote speaker at Handshake Access 2022, shared how her wildly successful career started with an internship on “The Late Show With Conan O’Brien”.

Don’t just focus on juniors and seniors or students in traditional learning programs, either. Engaging students throughout their education journey without focusing on a specific job opening creates brand affinity and fosters relationships. Keeping your hiring funnel filled with candidates who are eager to learn, adaptable, and have cutting-edge skills and knowledge is a workforce planning strategy to stand by.

The benefits of hiring early talent

Early talent are career starters with 0-5 years of professional experience. This includes students who are about to graduate from college and recent graduates, as well as learners upskilling at bootcamps, through certificate programs, and other skilling avenues. Many employers miss out on this cohort with job reqs that, often unnecessarily, specify 5-7 years of experience. But this screens out career starters who can be trained, developed, and grown into those mid-level positions.

Successfully recruiting today’s generation of early career talent requires an understanding of their attributes, an empathy for their values, and a recruiting process that engages their interests and preferences.

What does Gen Z want in the workplace? Find out at the Handshake Network Trends hub.

All early talent today are also Gen Zers, who are uniquely positioned to help businesses grow. They are:

  • Digital natives: Having grown up with technology, this group can provide invaluable skills and experience to companies looking to innovate and stay ahead. They also have less of a learning curve when it comes to flexible, remote work using technology platforms.
  • Autonomous: Gen Z grew up with quick access to infinite knowledge, so they’re generally proactive and scrappy. From creating online videos to crowd-sourcing communities, Gen Zers know when to ask questions—but also how to find answers on their own. Give them a task and watch them uncover new, creative ways to solve the problem.
  • Career-driven: Much of Gen Z can recall loved ones struggling during the 2008 recession. Career development and job stability is important to them. Digital upskilling comes naturally to them on platforms like YouTube, bootcamps, and Duolingo. They hustle their way through school so they can make an impact with a meaningful job.
  • Diverse: Not only is Gen Z the most diverse generation, they want to work for employers where diversity, equity, and inclusion are not afterthoughts. Around 80% of Gen Zers think it’s important for brands to demonstrate diversity and inclusion.
  • Values-driven: From making buying decisions to deciding where to work, Gen Z values human rights, DEI, environmental sustainability, and transparency, among other things.

According to Handshake data, there has been an almost 17x increase in jobs mentioning TikTok since 2019-2020. Hire early talent to build your social media strategy and reach your consumers where they are.

Why you need to recruit early talent—especially now

In the next 10 years, 1 in 5 baby boomers will retire. And by 2025, Gen Z is expected to make up ~27% of the global workforce. The math is obvious. Those skills will need to be replaced. Have you set up your internal workforce to replace those skill gaps?

Regardless of industry, all businesses need innovation, efficiency, and adaptability to evolve. And all types of employers are competing for specialists with certain technical backgrounds, like data science, computer programming, and engineering. For early talent who may need just a few more hard or soft skills to fill your vacancies, this is also an opportunity to develop your workforce and build the exact skills you need through apprenticeship, internship, or rotational programs. Since career starters crave professional development and skill building, your investment in them is also likely to retain them.

How companies respond with their talent strategy during a recession has far reaching consequences. Among the many considerations to make and middle paths to take, think big picture: loss of market position, time to innovation, brand reputation. All things that are needed to attract the best talent.

Companies that stop investing in talent during recessions face far-reaching consequences to their market positions, brands, reputations, and innovation potential. Those that continue to strategically invest in talent in a cost-efficient, future-focused way will achieve growth, despite volatile market conditions.

To plan for workforce continuity, don’t get left behind in the competition for early talent. The business case for recruiting early talent is a strong one.

Gain competitive advantage, and diversify your workforce

Regardless of what’s happening in the world, hiring early talent is fundamental to your recruiting strategy.

10 Ways to Recruit Gen Z Into Your Multi-Gen Workforce

Handshake is the only all-in-one early talent recruiting platform with access to 15+ million active students and alumni. Unlike social networks, job boards, and point solutions, Handshake powers 90% of top college and university career centers—offering easy access to qualified early talent and engagement tools at scale. Learn more.

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