Hiring younger employees is a reality for many businesses in today’s competitive business climate. However, there are many beliefs that are held in regard to today’s fresh college graduates: “they’re lazy,” “they don’t have people skills” or “they’re only interested in their phones and social media.” Sure, there’s some legitimacy to these stereotypes. However, hiring graduates doesn’t have to be a terrible experience if you know what you’re getting yourself into. A lot of it is on you to recruit, interview and hire the young people that fit what you need. To help you prepare your hiring strategy, here are some pros and cons for hiring young people straight out of college. We’ll start with the cons.

Cons

• Lack job-specific experience- even internships cannot fully prepare them for their new job. While they may have the core skills, they will need time and the leeway to make mistakes to develop all the skill and experience necessary.

• Can struggle transitioning to full-time job- the transition to a 40-hour per week job can be a tough one for many fresh college graduates. When mental challenges are present they can always creep into work, meaning quality can take a hit.

• Over-confident of their abilities- otherwise known as “know it all syndrome.” Young people can be a bit narcissistic or arrogant when they first start, so it’s important to hire graduates who are humble enough to admit mistakes and learn from those who are more experienced than themselves.

• Can lack direction or decision-making skills- graduates have never been asked to make decisions that directly affect your business or your customers’ businesses.

• Can lack more abstract concepts- how do you generate ideas, choose the best course of action and execute those ideas? Abstract concepts are usually learned with experience, meaning it will take time for new graduates to grasp these concepts.

Pros

• Ambitious and driven- one aspect of millennials in general is that they can be very passionate and driven when they are doing work they love or that inspires them.

• Less expensive to hire- in practically every industry, entry-level jobs cost far less to fill than mid- and high-level jobs.

• Bring fresh eyes to projects- sometimes we are so close to our projects and processes that we can’t see alternative ways to do things. Fresh eyes from a new graduate who hasn’t been absorbed into the way you do things can be a huge benefit.

• A chance to mold the right type of employee- this is particularly useful for companies with specific cultures. Instead of simply training someone to do a job, you are instilling values and helping them collaborate, learn and create on a daily basis.

• Very technologically literate- there are outliers, of course, but today’s graduates and millennials are more in tune with technology than any previous generation. They’ve grown up with it and are used to using it to make themselves more efficient.

• Can push boundaries- they may not know the rules or constraints of their jobs, but this allows them to push the envelope. 

There are pros and cons to hiring anyone for a job. However, as the workforce continues to trend younger and open positions require hiring directly out of college, it is beneficial to know what to expect. Skywalk Group’s hiring and recruiting professionals keep a pulse on best practices and trends for hiring graduates and millennials. Get in touch with us today to gain valuable insights into hiring this young generation to ensure future success.