How can you ensure your graduates progress to become top employees?

No matter what industry you work in, attracting and retaining top graduate talent should be at the top of your priority list. Millennials and Gen Z currently make up more than a third of the workforce globally, and this is set to rise to 58% over the next decade. This means that your next generation of hires could be your most important yet. But top talent is always in high demand, regardless of how much experience they have, so how can you not only attract the right graduates, but hold onto them in the future?

Whether you’re in sales, marketing or another function entirely, here’s how you can ensure your graduates progress to become top employees:

Communicate clearly and regularly

Clear communication is essential in the early days of any new hire, and this is particularly true of graduates who may not have much prior work experience. Don’t take it for granted that your new graduate will know about things like holiday allowance, sick policy and dress code – take the time to fully induct them not only to every element of their job and your business, but also work in general.

Regular catch ups should be scheduled to encourage clear communication with graduates, allowing them to feed back to you any concerns or questions they have and giving you the chance to check in and ensure they’re progressing as you’d expect. Research shows that employees of managers who don’t have regular 1:1s with their managers are more likely to be disengaged, while organisations that have frequent catch ups between employees and managers report reductions in voluntary turnover and improvements in productivity. This shows that regular communication directly with your graduates will not only help to address problems and questions before they become major issues, but may actually help to keep your graduates working productively in your business for longer.

Offer the right training and development programmes

High quality training is becoming increasingly sought out by employees at all stages of their career. For graduates, the demand for ongoing professional training and development is especially strong, with 29% saying it’s the most important thing they look for in a graduate job. According to Deloitte, professionals at all levels rate the ‘opportunity to learn’ as among the top reasons for taking a job, possibly due to the ever-evolving work demands and skills requirements of the modern workforce. As artificial intelligence and robotics continue to permeate industries everywhere, we’ll see ongoing upskilling and reskilling of workforces – all of which takes effort from both employees and employers.

As a sales manager or marketing manager, you can help to provide your graduates with opportunities for training and development, or point them in the right direction at the very least. You might choose to undertake bespoke training schemes or open courses, or you could explore some free online training courses such as Google Analytics certification. Empower your graduates by giving them time each month to explore training options and you’re more likely to retain them for the long run. What’s more, you’ll be adding to and honing their skills, making them more valuable employees to your business.

Understand what graduates want from an employer

Did you know that 59% of graduates would rather work for a company with a positive atmosphere and a lower salary than they would work somewhere with a worse atmosphere and higher salary? The values of millennials and Gen Z can be very different from more senior staff members who have been working for longer. Workplace flexibility, work-life balance and company culture are all key to this demographic, so make sure your business is aligned with these. Mentoring opportunities and corporate social responsibility also matter, so if your company isn’t focused on these, consider implementing new policies to showcase your commitment to not only developing your team, but also improving your community.

Hire the best graduates today

Now that you know how you can ensure your graduates progress to become top employees, it’s time to recruit the best talent on the market. That’s where we can help. We are experts in identifying and attracting top sales and marketing candidates and have a deep talent pool to match your business needs. Contact us to get started.