According to one McGraw-Hill Education survey, only 40% of college seniors feel prepared to enter the workforce upon graduation. And most college seniors wish their colleges would have offered them more practical opportunities to prepare for a career in the real world.
Likewise, according to one PayScale survey parsed by CBS News, employers also don’t seem to think that new college grads are prepared when they enter the workforce. So, many organizations are now partnering with colleges and universities to help diminish this lack of workplace readiness among new hires who are recent college grads.
Ensuring that the recent college graduates you hire are ready to work is important. Yet there is still a multitude of other reasons why your organization should collaborate with colleges and universities—reasons beyond bridging the gap between school and work, reasons that don’t often get as much attention. Here are four of those reasons.
1. It’s More Cost-Effective and Lucrative for Everyone
When organizations collaborate with institutions of higher learning to develop certificate programs and specialized programs, they can offer them at a discounted rate to their employees. They can offer education as a real benefit and incentive to their employees, which helps employees acquire new skills at minimum or zero costs.
Employees will not have to spend more money and acquire more student debt to acquire new skills every few years, and employers will save money because they can use such programs to upskill their current employees without having to hire new talent at higher rates.
And participating institutions can offer courses and programs for a discounted rate to employers because they will have a certain number of guaranteed attendees each semester or every few years.
2. It Establishes a Tailored Pipeline of Talent for Your Organization
Organizations can work directly with institutions to develop courses and course material that meet the particular needs of their organization and staff and organizational goals. This ensures a pipeline of talent that’s tailored for each organization.
3. It’s More Convenient for Everyone
If courses and programs are built around the needs of an organization, they can also be administered when its most convenient for employers and employees and their calendars. And institutional staff and professors won’t need to be available year-round to tend to student’s needs either, as courses won’t need to be offered each month or semester and can even be administered through online learning platforms.
4. It Makes Your Organization More Competitive
You can also collaborate with institutions of higher learning to work on market research and social research projects, which will permit you to initiate some valuable projects across your industry. And when you’re a thought leader in your industry, you become more competitive.
You’ll also become more competitive when you consistently have employees who are upskilled and well-versed in the newest techniques and tools available in your industry.
As you work to develop and improve your organizational goals and objectives, be sure to weigh the many benefits it will experience if it’s open to collaborating with colleges and universities.