Employers that continue to strategically invest in talent in a cost-efficient, future-focused way will achieve growth, despite volatile market conditions.
When other companies are considering 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 more than 500,000 university 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 over 1.2 million job vacancies in the last quarter.
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 organisations 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 students who are about to graduate, 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 0-3 years of professional experience. This includes students who are about to graduate from university and recent graduates, as well as learners upskilling through online providers, FE college students, 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:
Why you need to recruit early talent—especially now
By 2025, Gen Z is expected to make up ~27% of the global workforce. With 3% (approximately 384k) of Baby Boomers either retiring early or taking redundancy during the pandemic, coupled with an aging workforce, early talent will help to fill the generational gap and provide a steady supply of resilient, change-tolerant workers for years to come. 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 programmes. Since career starters crave professional development and skills development, your investment in them is also likely to retain them.
How companies respond with their talent strategy during a recession has far reaching consequences. Think big picture: by stopping investing in talent during a recession, organisations face loss of market position, time to innovation and brand reputation. All things that are needed to attract the best talent.
How you can engage with Gen Z
To plan for workforce continuity, don’t get left behind in the competition for early talent. In summary:
Those that continue to strategically invest in talent in a cost-efficient, future-focused way will achieve growth, despite volatile market conditions.
Find out more about how Handshake can help you hire early talent and register for our upcoming webinar on Thursday 20th October: Reimagining relationships with Gen Z