How to Attract Recent Graduates to Your Job Openings

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Most motivated graduates want more than just a dead-end job; they’re looking for a career that’ll allow them to cultivate and expand their personal and professional goals with ample opportunity for upward mobility within their company. After all, the current market is oversaturated with job openings, but finding the right position for the right candidate is the real challenge. Here are a few factors you need to take into consideration when it comes to hiring recent graduates for your job openings.

Craft Engaging Job Posts

Job posts should not only be informative and detailed regarding the position you’re offering, but they should also be direct and to the point without requiring an overwhelming amount of deconstruction on behalf of your potential applicants. What this means is that candidates shouldn’t be left confused or scratching their heads trying to figure out what certain phrases you’ve incorporated in the job description mean. It should be clear, concise, and to the point without being misleading or overreaching. For instance, if a job description reads with vague undertones, this could create a lot of unnecessary and avoidable misconceptions about exactly what it is you’re offering.

Offer an Inclusive and Positive Company Culture

Modern candidates want to feel as if they’re accepted in their workplace and that their innovative ideas will be appreciated and thoroughly considered. This will make them feel more motivated to perform their absolute best along with the prospect of being able to move up within the company. It’s important and highly beneficial to the future of your business to make your prospective and current employees feel like they’re valuable members of your professional community and not just underappreciated workhorses. Prospective candidates need reassurance that they’re making the right decision in working for your company. Oftentimes, they’ll apply to numerous positions at other companies as well, some of which might be your competition, and that’s why you need to establish an intriguing and convincing platform to pull them in. Prove to them that you are the right company to allow them to harvest their talents and potential.

Accommodate Your Employees’ Academic Calendars

If certain candidates are serious about improving upon their acquired skills by furthering their education for the purpose of performing more efficiently within your company, then you should grant them the opportunity to do so. These are employees or potential candidates who’ve proven that they have the ability and work ethic to excel within their careers, but they simply need to follow official protocol and obtain more training in order to achieve their career objectives and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that at all. It’s a mutually beneficial endeavour for your company and your prospective employees.

Consider Their Work-Life Balance

Another major consideration recent graduates need to take into account is how the jobs they’re applying for fit into their current and evolving lifestyles. Not everyone’s schedule is the same. Some people have dependents that require their attention in the evenings and on weekends, whereas others prefer to work overnight if it means making slightly more money so that they can support themselves. Others might only be available on a part-time basis if they’re continuing their studies or taking online courses to expand their skillset. These are all factors that should be discussed during the interviewing process. As a hiring manager or recruitment agent, you need to make sure that the values of the candidates you’re considering match those of your company with a miniscule margin of error to minimize your turnover rate as much as possible and sustain a feasible work culture. Not everyone is available to work the same hours and to the same extent as others, which is why accommodating the needs of your employees demonstrates that you’re a compassionate and reasonable employer.

Offer a Competitive Salary

In these hard financial times, how well you pay your employees can make or break you when it comes to attracting recent graduates. Many of them have student loans to pay off and are looking to purchase permanent residences of their own and they need to know that they’ll have the financial security to accomplish these goals if they come and work for your company. Make sure to highlight in your job posting whether your company offers yearly bonuses, a comprehensive benefits package, health insurance, and/or other forms of compensation.

Work on Your Social Media Presence and Networking Skills

When it comes to hiring recent graduates, social media isn’t just your best friend, it’s also quite possibly one of your most useful assets. Granted, social media doesn’t always portray the whole truth about a person’s life, but it can certainly help you gain a clear understanding of certain aspects of their personality. For instance, you can find out where their loyalties lie in terms of the brands they support, what their world views are, what types of social events—if any—they participate in, and what types of hobbies they typically engage in. These are all valuable tidbits of information that can help you decipher whether certain candidates are worth pursuing as well as what the most effective recruitment tactics would be in each situation. On the flip side, you should also be very much aware of your company’s social media presence and how you’re being represented online to the rest of the world, allowing you to remain up-to-date with current trends.

Hire a Recruitment Agency to Find the Perfect Candidates for You

One of the best ways to ensure you find the right fit for your job opening is to work with a local recruitment agency that specializes in finding candidates in your industry. Resolve Recruit Inc. is one of the leading job recruitment agencies throughout Canada and we’ve helped countless companies and candidates find their ideal professional matches. Our carefully crafted employee recruitment strategies have proven to be highly effective and we can help your company learn how to apply them effectively to enhance your hiring process. To learn more about our recruitment process and how we can benefit you, please contact us today.