How to Make Sure The Right Graduates Accept Your Offer | GradConnection Hong Kong

Posted by Dada Xu

GradConnection Hong Kong

Reduce Graduate Turnover – How to Hire Graduates with Better Role Alignment

Are your former millennial graduates satisfied and engaged at work? A recent report by the BBC highlighted the rise of ‘minterns’ – that is thirty-somethings hitting re-start on their career by returning to the bottom of the career ladder and taking up internships in a different field.

What’s causing them to quit their jobs and revert to minimum wage? And how can you reduce the risk your future grad hires will do the same? We’ll explore in this post.

What’s with all the minternships?

According to Deloitte’s 2019 global survey, 49% of millennials will quit their jobs in the next two years. Of these, about a quarter reported leaving an employer in the past 24 months. The top reasons cited for wanting to leave surround dissatisfaction with pay and lack of advancement and professional development opportunities. But it could also be due to a genuine disconnect with job purpose.

The BBC reports that some millennials who began in traditional, career-track jobs, are reassessing their life and purpose in their thirties and switching from a money-driven mentality to a happiness-driven one. Unsurprising, considering this is the generation that most values work-life balance and values/organisation/team alignment when choosing an employer.

4 Things you can do to make sure the right graduates accept your offer

Graduate recruitment is competitive – for employers and graduates. For graduates, there aren’t enough roles to go around, and so out of desperation, we tend to see some haphazardly applying for 20+ graduate programs. You can be certain they’re haphazardly accepting offers, too.

So, how can you make sure you’re attracting and appointing graduates that align best with your role/values/organisation and minimise this risk of role dissatisfaction down the track?

1. Realistic job previews

Realistic job ads, employee and former graduate testimonials, virtual office tours and ‘day in the life of’ role profiling are key to engaging millennial graduates. This way candidates can see the good, the bad, the ugly, and the aspirational of their future in your organisation.

2. Smarter interview questions

Interviews are as much about you screening candidates for your roles as it is for them screening you as their employer of choice. Instead of focusing only on demonstratable skills, make sure to include questions and conversations around the candidate’s personal and career goals, expectations of their graduate role and you as their employer, and personal values. Make sure it’s a two-way conversation.

3. Candidate experience communication

A seriously undervalued opportunity, you can strategically use candidate communication throughout the recruitment process to introduce them to your company beliefs, values, culture and employer brand. Help them get to know you before interviews, where they’re usually forced to decide on their future without all the information. You could share links to the company blog, invite them to connect on social media, post videos of their manager and team, and/or send a helpful pre-planned email campaign.

4. Introduce internships

The best way to introduce a potential graduate employee to your organisation is likely to be through an internship. Beneficial to both students and employers, internships can help them try out new roles and employers to find the right fit for a more fulfilling, purposeful career.

Recruiting interns or grads?

Create an employer profile on GradConnection to help build awareness of your employer brand and entry-level career opportunities before they need to hit ‘apply’.


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