Last week we began to look at how to leverage recent college graduates into great workers for your organization. Today we’ll look at how to take those graduates and turn them into high performers.
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Develop a Top-Notch Apprenticeship Program
New college grads don’t just want to collect a paycheck; they want development opportunities. They want to know that they will be offered opportunities to continually replace their outdated skills with relevant skills. And they want opportunities that allow them to gain leadership positions with more responsibility quickly within an organization.
Developing an apprenticeship program is one of the best ways to mold recent college grads into high performers because such a program will provide them with clear indications of where their professional efforts, training, and hard work will lead them within your organization over a set period of time.
Use Technology Wisely
While recent college grads are more tech-savvy than any other previous generation, don’t expect them to appreciate or embrace all types of technology just because they’re technology.
If you want to mold recent grads into high performers, focus on implementing technologies that will help them be better at their specific everyday jobs and roles and that will allow them to collaborate with one another often. And keep in mind that Generation Z has also indicated that they prefer face-to-face communication, so you might want to invest heavily in video conferencing mobile apps and meeting platforms, too.
Adopt a Data-Driven Culture
In 2018, data are plentiful and everywhere, and they will run all aspects of your organization. Make sure everyone across your organization has access to important organizational data and that they know how to use them. This will effectively make your organization more transparent for your recent graduates (and others), will encourage better communication, and will foster faster-paced innovation.
To properly mold recent graduates, you’ll want to keep them informed and encourage them to make their own data-driven decisions, as this generation is known to be exceedingly independent and seeks opportunities to be innovative.
Provide Clear Expectations and Offer Feedback Daily
In addition to setting clear performance metrics and expectations for your recent graduates from the very beginning, you’ll also want to provide your recent college graduates with relevant feedback on their work and overall performance often … very often.
Not only will they not appreciate or gain anything from annual reviews, but they’ll also detest them. Generation Z wants and expects feedback even more than Millennials and will want it as frequently as daily.
To properly vet and mold recent college grads in 2018, follow the tips listed above and in yesterday’s post.