Alanna Harrington, Managing Consultant, Talogy on how research reveals why companies find it hard to attract early career professionals.
The competition for the best talent remains fierce with organisations citing they find it hard to fill vacancies with the right talent. At the same time, early career professionals are finding it more difficult to secure a role, experiencing long periods of job search and numerous unsuccessful applications. This is the dichotomy found in a recent research report by global talent management firm, Talogy.
The report, Hiring Future Ready Early Talent* surveyed 1200 early career seekers, recent employees, and managers across the world. It set out to identify the pressure points for organisations in their hiring process, as well as gain an insight into what it is like for early career professionals entering the job market, a job market that feels quite different to that of five years ago.
In many regions, the recruitment market has slowed, which, in some part, may be why early career professionals are finding it a little slower to find work. However, the march to earlier retirement seems to be continuing, leaving potentially large gaps in skills and leadership in an ageing workforce. If organisations are to avoid compounding the issue, they need to become more strategic in their approach, and that demands longer term thinking by organisations and those recruiting for them.
Attracting new talent
The research highlights a disconnect between the expectations of hiring managers, and what early career professionals are looking for from an employer.
Early career professionals are seeking higher salaries than many organisations are prepared to pay. With monetary incentives challenging, organisations may want to look at other incentives that will attract early career professionals, such as training and development and a structured career pathway. 63% of early career professionals put opportunities for development in the top five factors that would influence them when applying for a job.
However, this can prove challenging for those who are delivering training and mentoring, particularly alongside a full-time job. Managers frequently mentioned that the level of training required, compared to the time and resources available, is a constant struggle. Hiring based upon propensity to learn, may help to alleviate some of the pressure and frustration felt by managers in this respect.
Hit-the-ground-running
The research showed a desire by hiring managers for early career professionals to be able to hit-the-ground-running. Often favouring the skills and qualifications to do the job over other transferable and highly desirable qualities.
Research shows, not just in the Talogy study, but in others too, that the top three competencies required at work are: the ability to problem-solve; communication skills; and teamwork. These are transferrable skills, that can be found in a wide variety of applications, not just at work. The issue for many early career professionals is in having the opportunity to showcase them.
Mind the gap
Hiring managers felt that they are either not receiving sufficient applications, or they are receiving applications that don’t meet the requirements for the role. Early career professionals express frustration at not being given the opportunity to showcase what they bring to an organisation. This has created a gap between the expectations of hirers and what early career professionals can realistically bring to the table.
Many early career professionals looking for work have found it harder to gain relevant experience during lockdowns, both at work, and in university. Some found ways of gaining experience by working in essential sectors, or by developing online side-hustles, some of which they continue with while also looking for work in their chosen career. These may not be directly relevant to the role they are pursuing, but in many cases, they demonstrate agility, entrepreneurship, and some desirable and transferrable skills which are worth exploring and considering in the workplace.
An over-reliance on process
The seismic shift to online resources found during and after lockdowns has created, in some part, an over-reliance on process-oriented hiring. For the time-starved manager, it streamlines the recruitment process, but early career professionals often abandon applications if they appear too rigid, time consuming, or daunting to complete.
In the survey, 45% of early career professionals said they would stop an application if there were too many stages in the application process, and 33% said they would stop the application if information about the application process was unclear.
While assessments are very useful, the potential for assessment fatigue is high. Within the survey sample, 20% of job seekers had completed more than five online assessments. An over-reliance on assessment, can make the whole hiring process feel impersonal, irrelevant, and arduous and risks a high drop-out rate if not designed correctly.
Organisations should consider incorporating assessments that are directly relevant for early career, in order to provide a realistic job preview. Incorporating feedback and combining automated stages with interviews or exercises can help to bring the human element back into the assessment process. A one-size-fits-all approach to assessment can unintentionally create a barrier to the application process.
Competencies for the future
According to the World Economic Forum; Future of Jobs report, employers estimate that 44% of workers’ skills will be disrupted in the next five years – meaning the competencies and skills required could fundamentally change.
It can be difficult to predict the future or work, the pace of change is accelerating at a rapid rate and the skills taught at university or college may not always keep up. In this environment, how realistic is it to find fresh candidates with all the technical skills required? Might their ability to learn be more important for the long-term goals of the organisation?
Early career professionals certainly seem to think so.
The research set out to help organisations consider the skills and competencies that are most important for long-term success. Broadly, across all regions, the top ten competencies required by organisations were the same:
Teamwork, communication skills, problem-solving, building relationships, integrity, critical thinking, adaptability, accountability, quality focus, and strategic thinking.
However, early career professionals rated learning agility and professional development much higher in the list of competencies required for successful performance, and they may well be right. Given the changing nature of work and technology, and the many complex skills required, the ability to learn is an under-estimated competency, and a pre-cursor to many of the more desirable competencies for organisations.
Hiring managers and recruiters need to ensure that the competencies they are using in candidate selection measure the behaviours needed for success in an evolving world of work. It is equally important that early talent professionals understand what is expected of them as they start out in their career and navigate a complex job market.
There are many complexities in today’s early career landscape and some of the challenges involve a far wider scope in education, society, and opportunities to apply learning. However, it is possible to make the recruitment process for early career professionals more accessible, by taking a strategic approach to the talent pipeline. Consideration of the recruitment experience, as well as providing the opportunity to demonstrate transferrable skills, can unlock a bounty of human potential and help to secure continued growth as the Baby Boomers retire.
*Hiring Future Ready Early Talent (2024): Harrington, A., Goldsack, E.
