The Biggest Myths in Early Talent Hiring

Recruitment is not just about filling positions to meet your company's needs now—it's also about shaping your organization's future. This is why early talent hiring simply cannot be ignored. Early career professionals can be a real asset to your organization because they bring in fresh insights, enthusiasm, and technology skills that can help rejuvenate your business. In addition, young professionals are keen to learn new skills and gain experience that will help them advance in their careers, and they're as adept when working independently as they are when in teams.

Despite all of these benefits, some organizations don't see early in career hiring as a priority. Others see Gen Z hiring as a nuisance altogether. These negative attitudes are often due to underlying myths about early talent recruiting that people may hold. The following are examples of some of these myths, and the truth everyone should know.

Common Early Talent Hiring Myths

Everyone loves to spin a good yarn from time to time, but some stories are more detrimental than others. When it comes to myths about early in career hiring, your company can miss out on great talent if you believe the following misconceptions.

1. No Targeted Marketing Is Required

Why bother embarking on a targeted recruiting campaign for early talent? After all, they'll be graduating from college and looking for a job anyway, so they'll come to you, right?

Wrong.

Although Gen Z talent will indeed be looking for employment after graduation, that doesn't mean they'll be looking at your organization when they do. Even the biggest players in your industry need to get on job seekers’ radar to get them into their recruiting pipelines. You have to make a concerted effort to ensure young professionals are aware of your company and what you have to offer them. Whether it's on-campus activities or sourcing recent grads through other channels, targeted recruiting is necessary in order to attract these workers to your organization.

2. Early Talent Hiring Is More Money Than It’s Worth

This myth is rooted in the reputation that Generation Z has for job hopping more than any other group in the workforce—thus some organizations don't believe it’s worth the time and effort of recruiting them since they're only going to leave quickly anyway. While it is true that older workers will stay at a job for much longer than their younger counterparts, according to CareerBuilder, on average, Generation Z employees stay in a job for two years and three months, while Millennials only stay slightly longer at two years and nine months. In addition, Gen Z workers will actually stay at an organization longer when it provides opportunities to develop their skills and advance to higher positions. This means when companies make retention strategies a priority, they’re more likely to hold on to their young workers.

3. Diversity Recruitment for Young Career Professionals Is Unnecessary

Some people believe that in this day and age, the tides of equality have turned so much that diversity recruitment is just unnecessary now because barriers to employment have largely been removed in our society. Another version of this myth says that younger people are actually less diverse than older generations, so diversity recruitment isn't needed.

No matter which version of the myth people believe, it's untrue. Diversity hiring is still very much needed to ensure that talent from underrepresented backgrounds receive equal opportunities because even when organizations have the best of intentions, unconscious bias may preclude fair hiring. In addition, when it comes to Gen Z hiring, this age group is actually the most diverse in the workplace today, so there’s an increasing need for diversity recruitment plans to ensure that different demographics are represented in the workplace.

4. Early Talent Is Only Interested in Working Remotely

There is no doubt that early career talent is the most tech savvy group in the workplace. However, that doesn't mean young employees want to do everything virtually in isolation—a fact that may not have been evident during the thick of the pandemic when everyone was working from home. The truth is, although they value the flexibility of being able to work from home at times, Generation Z actually enjoys collaborating and connecting with colleagues in person.

5. You Can Recruit Early Talent All Year

Believing this myth can cause companies to end up short-handed when it's time to bring in interns and entry-level workers. Although technically you can connect with students at any time, it's best to be mindful of the months these candidates are bogged down with schoolwork. Generally, the best times to really push your campus recruiting campaign is when students aren’t in the midst of final exams and projects.

Early talent hiring is a big deal, so it's important not to allow these myths to get in the way of finding great hires to bring into your organization. Dispelling myths like these will remove barriers that can keep you from meeting your goals.