Tapping into the Graduate Talent Pool with 6 Easy Tricks

Some employers may be nervous about recruiting graduates fresh out of university due to their lack of work experience. But graduates bring a wealth of benefits to businesses, providing new skills and ways of thinking. Though a graduate may not have much in the way of previous experience, that can be an advantage. They’re like a blank slate that can be moulded in your own company’s image, training them to do things in the correct way for your business.

The job market for decent graduate positions is highly competitive, and the most talented individuals will be in hot demand. If you want to dip into this fresh pool of juicy talent, there’s a few tricks that will make you more appealing as an employer.

Get inside the millenial mindset

Millenial graduates live and breathe technology; most couldn’t live without their daily digest of all things social and digital. Think about where and how they will be job hunting, and how they will find out information about your business. Tapping into the graduate talent pool is all about your digital presence; social media pages will reveal lots about your company culture and brand personality, so make sure the content you post gives potential candidates a taste of what it’s like working for you.

Optimise your content for mobiles

Research shows that 89% of candidates think mobiles are vital for job searching, and 45% of candidates actively search for jobs on mobile devices daily. This shows how important it is to make sure everything you have online is optimised for mobile users – this includes your job adverts, career page, website, and social media.

Create a smooth user journey

Candidate experience is everything; give graduates a fast, hassle-free application process, from searching for roles, through to applying and interviewing. If you haven’t already got one, it’s worth considering a career microsite to advertise your jobs on, to engage and inform candidates in a visually appealing way and encourage them to apply.

Google for Jobs

This is the hot topic in recruitment right now. As we’ve already covered, millenial graduates are tech-savvy, and want to be able to find and apply to jobs quickly. Google for Jobs was created with the aim to make the process of job searching simpler for candidates, so use it to your advantage and make your jobs easier for graduates to find. You’ll need to make sure your job adverts are in the right format for Google – a developer must tag your jobs depending on information such as location and skills required.

Clear, consistent messaging

To show candidates why they would want to work for your company over a competitor, you need to convey a consistent message about your company culture and employer brand. Though salary is important in considering a role, millenial graduates are particularly interested in things like career progression, benefits, training, culture and working environment, so make sure you’re communicating this information clearly across all candidate touchpoints.

Develop a graduate programme

Introducing a graduate scheme takes time, money and commitment – which is why competition for placements on them is incredibly high – but when done well they bring a wide range of benefits to businesses and graduates. Your company will gain fresh talent which can be shaped to help current employees and improve the business’s overall development; graduates benefit by launching their career and gaining valuable experience, skills and industry knowledge – it’s a win-win situation!

Hiring graduates is a smart way to keep your workforce diverse and dynamic, and bring onboard fresh perspectives that may contribute to finding innovative solutions to business problems. Start using these tricks to make your company more attractive to graduates and boost the talent in your business.