Future workforce

Employers

Tips and trends for modern recruiting

Find the talent you’re looking for

Recruiters, leaders, and others involved in workforce planning are still navigating the confusing world of work brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. One lesson we’ve all had to learn: we can be more proactive about anticipating and mitigating risk in advance of inevitable shifts.

One shift we know is coming: the Baby Boomer retirement wave.


But a generational shift doesn’t have to be a threat to your business—it can be an opportunity, if you seize it now. 

How? With a dedicated strategy to attract and retain early career professionals.

The retirement wave is coming

Currently, around one third of Baby Boomers are already retired. Very soon—by 2030—every Baby Boomer will be over age 65. Although the number of people continuing to work into their later years is expected to increase, this number will not even begin to compensate for the millions of Americans who will soon enter full retirement.

This demographic shift will cause a great deal of churn, and the global economy is already at risk from an impending shortage of workers. By 2030, as many as 85 million jobs could go unfilled worldwide due to a lack of skilled talent.

Some industries will be more impacted than others. In the US, many industries with a high concentration of older workers—like government, insurance, manufacturing, and construction—are struggling to attract the next generation of talent, and are already facing labor shortages.


However, even industries with comparatively young workforces are feeling the effects—the median worker age is now above 40 in almost every industry.



How are you planning ahead?


Every industry needs a succession plan. Getting early talent in the door before the retirement wave hits is critical for multiple reasons, like:

Cost efficiency: Trying to backfill senior employees as they retire is far more expensive than building a bench of future leaders through early-career hiring and development. It’s estimated that backfilling a seasoned employee costs up to 150% of the employee's salary, while hiring an entry-level employee can cost as little as 20% of their salary.


Knowledge transfer: Research shows that when employee departures result in knowledge loss, the negative consequences are far-reaching, from reduced productivity to lower morale. Hiring early career professionals now can reduce knowledge loss by ensuring overlap between junior employees and those nearing retirement. 


Upskilling: Pairing more experienced workers who have critical institutional knowledge, with early talent who are more familiar with newer technology like AI, can help you mitigate knowledge loss, modernize your tech stack, build morale, and train entry level employees.





An early talent hiring strategy can help you future-proof your workforce

With four million students graduating from college each year, you can future-proof your workforce with a steady strategy to hire recent graduates and early career professionals. If you think you’re already behind, you can get started with these suggestions.

Support the college-to-career journey

Finding a first job is stressful, and students are looking for employers who will support them as they take the initial steps in their careers. One way to do this? Offer internships that give students a chance to experience the day-to-day routine in your organization.


Update your employer brand to attract early talent

This generation of job seekers and workers want to see their values reflected in your brand—like diversity, equity, and inclusion, sustainability, stability, and purpose-driven work. Your website and especially the careers page, your Handshake company profile, and the overall candidate experience should be infused with your brand. Leverage qualitative content like testimonials and reviews, and experiential elements like swag or creative recruiting events.

Make sure your compensation packages are current

If you’re struggling to attract the newest generation to enter the workforce, consider what they’re looking for from employers. Do your job descriptions provide pay transparency? Have you considered offering benefits like student loan repayment or a tuition assistance program? These signal to early talent that you’re attentive to how they’re evaluating employers.

Expand your qualified applicant criteria to fill the funnel

It’s time to release old-fashioned notions about what makes a candidate qualified. For example, is a four year degree strictly necessary, or are you missing out on talent who have associate’s degrees? Can you use skills-based hiring to identify candidates who are ready to hit the ground running—especially when it comes to in-demand tech skills—regardless of their major or degree?

Invest in career pathing, training, and professional development to modernize your retention strategy

You can recruit and retain talent more effectively by making sure early career talent has a clear pathway for growth at your company, and by advertising professional development opportunities in your recruiting. If your industry is lagging behind, Gen Z wants the professional development it will take to embrace digital transformation.

Develop mentorship programs to reduce knowledge loss

The best way to reduce knowledge loss is to prevent it from occurring in the first place. Intergenerational mentorship programs are one way to create a more engaged and satisfied workforce, and some research shows they also help improve retention rates, further reducing costly turnover.

Early talent and the future of work

Whether or not you’re intentionally hiring Gen Z today, Gen Zers will make up 30% of the workforce by 2030. We may be able to anticipate population changes based on data, but future-proofing is still a work in progress that you can influence.


Contact us for a conversation to identify gaps in your early talent strategy today, and get more workforce planning guidance. 




Future-proofing your workforce with an early talent strategy

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.

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.

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.

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.

Handshake is the only all-in-one early talent recruiting platform with access to  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.

Future workforce

Future-proofing your workforce with an early talent strategy

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