As a business owner, you must make sure that your investment is paying off well. The return on investment (ROI) of any business is sometimes the most critical factor for success. As the marketplace evolves, business managers from all over the place are choosing to change their strategies.
Human Resources Matters
In any business environment, the human resources part of the organization carries a huge role. Your employees are the wheels of the vehicle that we can call your business. If they’re efficient, the results of your company will follow. That is why it’s important to manage your employees properly.
In some cases, your available budget might not be enough to afford the necessary staff. You don’t want to hire an unskilled workforce, so the professional workforce is the obvious choice. But if that option is not available, what do you do? You could be looking for different alternatives for your human resources.
Graduate college students happen to be one of the best choices. There are plenty of reasons for which graduates could prove to be a great fit for your business, and we’re going to explore them in this article, along with how to go about attracting recent graduates to your company.
Lower Salaries
First and most importantly, the salaries that you’ll provide to your employees will be lower. That increases your chances of obtaining a positive return on investment. If you have extra money in your budget, you can then focus on the marketing side of the business. More dollars are always welcome when it comes to marketing campaigns.
Possibility of Finding Uncovered Talents
Graduate students often represent a risk.
Elaine B., HR manager at Careers Booster, suggests that, “Students may prove to be sort of useless, or they can become a goldmine for your business. Natural talents exist; you just have to find them.”
Tech-Savvy
Having grown up with spartphones and virtual reality headsets, the younger generation is more capable of managing the current technology than the previous generations. The majority of graduates happen to possess technical skills that are highly valued in today’s marketplace.
Innovative
Many revolutionary innovations happened inside younger people’s minds. Then, with much effort, the thoughts and ideas were transformed into revolutionary breakthroughs.
Hiring young individuals will improve your chances of finding innovative solutions and strategies for your business. After all, it makes sense to work hard and try to do something great while you’re still young.
‘Fresh’ Learners
Here’s a great benefit of hiring graduates: you don’t have to change their ways of working. You can teach them your own ways. They don’t have to “unlearn” previous methods of working.
Energy and Good Vibes
Your workplace environment should be filled with good vibes and a positive atmosphere. Graduates, being young, are often quite energetic and positive. They can spread the good vibes around; therefore, your other employees that aren’t that enthusiastic can beneficiate from some of that energy.
Long-term Assets
When you decide to hire a graduate student right when they’re done with college, they might remain forever grateful.
Moreover, if they stay for a while and benefit from your training and company benefits, they can often choose to stay with you longer and constantly improve your business.
How to Find and Hire Recent Grads
Recent college graduates can offer a lot to your business, but if you want to recruit them, you have to do things a little differently. Here’s how you can attract new graduates to your company.
You’ve heard the stats. There are massive amounts of recent college graduates that are looking for a job. They’re talented, they’re driven, and they’re waiting to make an outstanding impact on your company.
If you’re new to hiring or your employees have been with you a while, you might not know that hiring the youngest and brightest in the workforce requires you to play by a different set of rules.
How to Craft the Position
Before advertising the position, think about the type of person that will fill the role. Next, create a job description attractive to that personality type. Job descriptions used to read like your mortgage documents, but to attract a college graduate, make it clear and simple.
Use easy-to-read language and don’t use industry lingo. From the Generation Xers to today, nobody wants to read boilerplate language. Asking somebody to have “strong people skills” means nothing. “Building a sales force” is more likely to resonate with a young worker.
SEE ALSO: How to Write a Job Description
Young workers want a get-to-the-point, specific job posting. You have to lay out the position in detail on your end.
How to Post Your Ad
It’s time to change your thinking. It’s true that there are plenty of graduates looking for work, but to find the best of the best you have to sell yourself to them as much as they try to impress you. That starts with your advertisement.
No longer do you place a help wanted sign in your front window or run an ad in the local newspaper.
You have to go online.
1. Think hard about your wording. If you’re a tech startup or ad agency, you’re probably looking for the creative, edgy person. They live inside their head, constantly looking for a new way to solve a familiar problem.
How will your ad read? Ultra-professional, stuffy, and pure business or conversational and informal? If you want edgy and relevant, make your ad edgy and relevant.
If you’re an accounting or law firm, ultra-professional is probably the right tone. Think about the type of person you want to attract and tailor your ad accordingly.
2. Post outside of your company website. Certainly, you should post the open position on your company website, but one study found that 49% of college graduates searched for jobs on job boards. Popular job posting sites as well as industry niche websites are a great place to start.
3. Use social media. If you don’t consider yourself social media savvy, find somebody to help because you may have to use the power of social media to find quality candidates. LinkedIn is a giant talent pool of candidates that you can tap. Advertise on your company and personal Facebook pages, and, if you’re a tweeter, link to the job posting from your account.
Sorting the Good from the Bad
The applications you receive might fall into three basic and general categories: “no way,” “maybe,” and “I have to meet this person.”
The “no way” pile consists of people clearly not suited for the job. Maybe the job requires licenses and certifications the person doesn’t have, or some other objective reason they aren’t a fit.
SEE ALSO: Questions You Should and Shouldn’t Ask in Job Interviews
The “maybe” pile will likely be your largest. These are the people who have at least one quality that strikes your interest. Here’s where you might have to change your thinking. In the past, formal education and experience were primary considerations. They should still be high on the list, but what about somebody with no experience but clearly full of passion and drive?
Anybody who graduated in the past six years could be insanely qualified but, as a victim of the recession, was unable to find a job.
Or how about the web designer who didn’t go to school but has a portfolio of work that shows a clear proficiency for building smart and beautiful websites?
The Internet has opened up a whole host of ways to learn without sitting in a classroom. Don’t put them in the “no way” pile only because of lack of formal schooling.
The “I have to meet this person” pile might hold your winning candidate, but go into it with an open mind. Just because they look good on paper doesn’t mean they’re a team player, for example.
Understand the culture
Today’s young workers are willing to work hard but they grew up hearing that a healthy work-life balance is crucial to performing well in all areas of their life. When they ask about time off and their daily schedule, don’t consider that a sign of laziness. Instead, understand the world they live in.
They’re likely to ask about company culture, if they can work from home on occasion, and the dress code. Don’t pass up a great employee because of old paradigms. Understand how they view the world and create a job that caters to them.
SEE ALSO: How to Avoid Hiring Bad Employees
Bottom Line
There are plenty of outstanding college graduates looking to start a career. They value hard work but put a high value on the culture of your company. Set out to impress them as much as they should impress you.
Disclaimer: The content on this page is for informational purposes only, and does not constitute legal, tax, or accounting advice. If you have specific questions about any of these topics, seek the counsel of a licensed professional.
