Oh, the places you’ll go. It is a classic Dr. Seuss book that walks us through the trials and tribulations of decision making. It is commonly used as the basis we instill in our children to dream and plan for the future. It is also widely associated with graduation. We all know someone that is graduating, and the pandemic is not the future we had in mind when introducing the story to these graduates as children. The theme of not waiting for things to happen is as relevant today as it has ever been.
Now, these graduates, whether high school or college, will enter the working world. They will become lumped into the highly saturated talent pool and greeted by a limited number of job opportunities. Will you be giving them a shot to work for your company?
In October of 2019, some of our team attended the American Staffing Association’s Staffing World conference. During the event, I had the pleasure of viewing the keynote presentation of the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Society for Human Resource Management, Johnny C. Taylor Jr. His message was clear that job descriptions written with minimum experience and education requirements are archaic and out of touch with today’s recruiting best practices. He argues that hiring managers should be looking for the best candidate for the job, not the one with the most experience in the role.
I am not advocating that we promote these graduates to our executive-level roles. I am simply stating that we consider giving these graduates an honest look to see what they can offer our operations. A few things that immediately stick out to me is that a younger candidate presents:
- Value
- Moldability
- Brand Promotion
All successful businesses strive to increase profits and cut costs without sacrificing quality. Graduates and younger candidates can assist in all aspects of that goal. A value that they present is that they typically do not garner the same salaries as candidates with more experience. Millennials are often driven by the opportunity to grow over salary. They are also highly moldable. We often see candidates that have an abundance of experience doing something a specific way struggle to adapt to a different way of doing the task. Graduates are a clean slate and have not developed inefficiencies in their processes. Their life long use of technology will allow them to adapt to any improvements you make on the front quickly. Millennials are attracted to cultures, so once they are molded to fit your company culture, they will be great ambassadors for your brand. If they are applying to your job, it is highly likely that they’ve done their research, and your values already align.
Again, I am not suggesting you discount all of the experienced applicants out there. I am asking you to keep an open mind when you list requirements for a job. This idea fits well into the skills profile I suggested you make for each position in the past. That is the formula we’ve developed to place the right candidate and not just the candidate right now.
With you, we want to congratulate all of our 2020 graduates. We are here to assist them in navigating their next move. Hopefully, we will see some of them excelling in positions for you in the future.
Matt Sarant is a proud member of the Kennedy Services family. Kennedy Services is one of Maryland’s oldest independent, woman-owned staffing services, located in the heart of Baltimore City. Kennedy Services continues to partner with businesses to support their growing staffing needs. We remain open and are working hard for our essential workers, as well as people without jobs.