Running a forward-thinking company isn’t possible if you leverage only old-school recruitment methods. Yet that’s exactly what far too many hiring managers do when trying to fill new positions.
Too many companies hold the antiquated belief that solely relying on college graduates to fill their talent pipelines will produce long-term fruit—but this thinking needs to shift. The practice is so widespread that the National Association of Colleges and Employers reports that employers planned to hire 26.6% more recent grads in 2022 than they did the previous year. While there’s certainly nothing wrong with culling campuses for superstars, failing to diversify the search for talent hurts companies more than it helps them.
Why? Recent graduates are not statistically destined to spend their lives with their first employer. Far from it. Career change statistics amassed by Apollo Technical suggest that young adults change jobs an average of 5.7 times between ages 18 and 24 and 2.4 times between 25 and 34.
In other words, most college graduates aren’t following in the footsteps of their parents, grandparents, or great-grandparents. Many are not interested in working at and retiring from the same organization in exchange for comfort, stability, steadiness, and maybe a pension. They don’t fear the idea that moving around will hurt their careers. On the contrary, they welcome the opportunity to leave companies for higher pay, better benefits, or personal alignment.
So what’s the solution? It’s not wise for recruiters to ignore the population of recent grads, but they do need to accept that those young workers are unlikely to stick around forever. Some will look to find a similar role elsewhere, and some will realize after a few years that they want to take a different direction than they originally thought. This means recruiters can’t put all their eggs in one basket; rather, they need to be open to sourcing applicants from other workforce demographics.
Expanding Hiring Beyond Recent College Grads
Not all jobs can be easily filled by seasoned millennials, Generation Xers, or baby boomers. That said, it’s not an impossible task. Plus, it comes with plenty of advantages. Older, more seasoned candidates are often more rooted in a community and may be looking to join a company they can stay at longer term or even until retirement. Based on their years of experience, they understand their needs and goals and are often seeking a fulfilling way to showcase the skills they’ve accumulated throughout their lives.
Unlike their untested counterparts, workers who have been in the business world and have diverse experiences usually have a greater ability to manage expectations. They’ve experienced interpersonal conflicts with employees and vendors before, so it’s less of a shock. They also have the intangible soft skills that can only be gained by being in different workplaces.
Bringing demographically diverse team members into an organization can also open doors to different mindsets and workflow ideas. As a result, new team members can help their new colleagues embrace fresh operational methods. This strengthens the company and keeps everyone at the leading edge of what’s happening on the outside.
Recruiting Candidates From Diverse Demographics
Reaching as large a swath of candidates as possible makes sense, particularly at a time of talent shortage. Casting the widest net possible across various demographic pools can make hiring quicker, as well as build a more diverse workforce.
If you’re open to diversifying your talent pool, try these strategies to make your recruitment efforts a bit more future-friendly.
1. Post open positions in forums where diverse candidates congregate.
Typically, recruiters begin their sourcing and selection process at college-related fairs, expos, or trade shows. Instead of making those events your starting point, post jobs on boards and organization-specific groups, check out meetups and conferences, and be active on social media recruiting platforms such as LinkedIn. Then, stay active on boards and at events throughout the year.
Your consistent outreach will begin to help you gain traction and audience interaction. Make it clear that your company is hiring based on skill and not specific credentials. Your company will gain a reputation for actively seeking applicants outside typically expected demographic parameters.
2. Be direct in your desire for diverse candidates.
To be clear, intentional diversity-seeking hiring can backfire and, if not done right, can even limit your talent pool. It’s important to remember that diversity goes beyond race and gender—it also means seeking talent from different life pathways, backgrounds, work experiences, and viewpoints.
Remember: There’s nothing wrong with trying to broaden the diversity of your team. You just have to make it clear that finding the best-possible candidate is your most important goal.
3. Avoid confirmation bias when evaluating candidates.
As humans, we tend to feel more comfortable around people who come from similar backgrounds or who represent narrow demographics. As recruiters, we need to make sure we’re not just picking talent that thinks or looks like us or like our existing teammates.
It can be hard to overcome confirmation bias, but it’s a wise, worthy objective. When you open your mind, you open the door to bringing new experiences, ideas, and backgrounds to your company.
By all means, keep looking for employees at college events and campuses. Just don’t make those your only avenues for sourcing talented people who may be ready to plant roots.
Jeff Mazur is the former executive director for LaunchCode, a nonprofit aiming to fill the gap in tech talent by matching companies with trained individuals. As one of the winners of the 2017 MIT Inclusive Innovation Challenge, LaunchCode has been recognized for expanding “the tech workforce by providing free coding education to disadvantaged job seekers.” Mazur lives in St. Louis with his wife and twin girls.