It’s the time of year where your human resources departments will be flooded with applications from recent college graduates. New graduates bring a fresh pair of eyes, new ideas, and enthusiasm that can benefit any company. Their experience may be limited however, so it’s important to look at your applicant pool through many different perspectives if you want to include these young and talented people in your teams. Here’s what you should know before you hire them.
Remember They May Not Have As Much Internship Experience
Last year was a strange year. With the pandemic, many college students couldn’t complete internships the way they had planned. They may have done school online from home while they were quarantined. They may have tried doing internships online. But they handled a level of stress and pressure that has never been seen before.
It’s important that as you go into the hiring process for these recent grads, that you look at their experience and how they came through the pandemic through a different lens. Talk to them about what they did to stay focused on school. Ask about other responsibilities they had during the pandemic to help you discover more about their ability to prioritize.
Do Background Checks on Everyone
It doesn’t matter if they just got done with college, they need an employer background check. These help companies make critical decisions about who they will or won’t hire and also, who they can and cannot hire. Some industries require a clean background check for legal purposes. It helps that all employees pass one so that as people move through the company, they can take on any position they are qualified for. Employer background checks not only to protect your company, they help protect the people who work there. Violent or aggressive offenders would be a potential liability and could be dangerous to your other staff members.
Skip The Meaningless Tests
If you’re hiring someone who made it through college, especially during a pandemic, they don’t need a typing test. Their education, experience, and unique perspective should be more valuable than an outdated test. While certain tests can produce valuable information about a person, the focus on testing people in that way is no longer relevant. New graduates aren’t going to be impressed by your company if you waste their time on these kinds of tasks. They want to innovate and share their ideas with you and help your company succeed.
Treat Them With Respect
They are not children. Just because they don’t have 30 years of experience in the industry does not mean you should belittle them. Recent graduates should be treated as professionals and equal human beings. In some industries, there is a tendency to treat new graduates as if they are kids. This is not right and will not help your company in the long run. If you treat your employees with dignity and respect they are more likely to stay with your company long-term. Many new graduates leave companies within a couple of years if it is clear that their contributions are not valued or they don’t feel like there is room for growth.
Make Your Technology and Social Media Policies Clear
Recent graduates tend to be much more tech-savvy than previous generations. These new grads are going to be excellent candidates for jobs that require them to use various forms of tech. This doesn’t mean that you can skip training them though. If you have a specific system that you use and want used a certain way, make sure your training is thorough. They may catch on pretty quickly though which is a benefit. Let them know what they can and cannot use their work equipment for. It’s easy to forget that a work computer should not be used for personal purposes.
Many recent graduates also love social media. It’s important to be clear about your policies around social media use at work and what things they can and cannot share on social media about your company or their job. While it may seem obvious, it’s better to communicate the expectations rather than assume.
Hiring new graduates in 2021 can provide a great deal of benefit for your company. They are more resilient and capable than you could ever imagine.
