The Silent Crisis: Why Overloading Early Career Managers is Sabotaging Your Future Talent

As I continue to both work with clients and see early career manager job postings on LinkedIn, it becomes glaringly obvious: companies are sabotaging their future talent pipeline by overloading early career managers and leaders with responsibilities they can't possibly handle alone. We're talking about managing university recruiting, running internship programs, and overseeing onboarding and training—all with insufficient resources. This isn't just an oversight; it's a strategic blunder that’s costing businesses their most promising recruits. The result? A dreadful candidate experience, interns slipping through the cracks, and a catastrophic onboarding and training process that leads to 18-month attrition rates. It's time to face the facts and make some urgent changes.

The Overload Problem

Early career managers are being asked to juggle too many balls. They're expected to spearhead university recruiting efforts, which is already a full-time job. According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), the average time spent on university recruiting activities alone can exceed 30 hours per week during peak recruiting seasons . Add to that the responsibility of managing internship programs, and you’re asking for trouble. Now, throw in the onboarding and training of new hires, and it’s a recipe for disaster. These managers are drowning in work, and it shows.

The Candidate Experience Nightmare

When you stretch your managers too thin, the first thing that suffers is the candidate experience. University recruiting requires attention to detail, personalized engagement, and consistent follow-up. A study by CareerBuilder found that 58% of candidates are likely to have a negative impression of a company if they don’t hear back after applying . But with managers overloaded, candidates are left in the lurch, experiencing delays, miscommunications, and a general sense of neglect. This not only tarnishes your company's reputation but also deters top talent from considering your offers.

Interns Falling Through the Cracks

Internship programs are meant to be a bridge between academia and industry, offering students invaluable hands-on experience. However, when early career managers are spread too thin, these programs become disjointed and ineffective. Interns often feel unsupported and disconnected, leading to a lackluster experience. According to a survey by the National Internship and Co-op Study, 25% of interns reported not receiving any formal training during their internship . Worse, many interns fall through the gap when it's time to return to school, with no clear pathway back to the company. This is a massive missed opportunity to convert interns into full-time hires.

The Onboarding and Training Fiasco

Onboarding and training are crucial for setting new hires up for success. But when managers are overloaded, these processes become a nightmare. New hires receive a haphazard onboarding experience, with insufficient training and support. This leads to frustration, disengagement, and ultimately, attrition. A study by Gallup shows that only 12% of employees strongly agree that their organization does a great job onboarding new employees . Moreover, research by the Brandon Hall Group found that organizations with a strong onboarding process improve new hire retention by 82% and productivity by over 70% . Studies show that a poor onboarding experience can lead to turnover rates as high as 50% within the first 18 months. Can your company afford this kind of loss?

The Urgent Call to Action

It's time for companies to wake up and smell the coffee. Overloading early career managers and leaders is a strategic mistake that’s costing you your future talent. Here’s what needs to change:

1. Hire Dedicated Specialists: Assign dedicated teams for university recruiting, internship programs, and onboarding/training. For example, hire a full-time university recruiter to focus exclusively on building relationships with campuses and managing the recruitment pipeline. Additionally, hire a dedicated resource to run the intern onboarding and training program.
2. Implement Clear Processes: Develop standardized, step-by-step processes for each function. Create a university recruiting playbook detailing every stage of the recruitment process, from campus engagement to candidate follow-up, ensuring consistency and quality.
3. Invest in Comprehensive Training Programs: Develop and implement robust onboarding and training programs. Set up a structured 90-day onboarding plan that includes mentorship, job shadowing, and regular check-ins to ensure new hires are supported and integrated into the company culture.
4. Utilize Technology and Automation: Leverage technology to streamline and automate routine tasks. Use applicant tracking systems (ATS) to manage candidate communications and follow-ups, and invest in onboarding software that guides new hires through the onboarding process, freeing up managers to focus on more strategic activities.

What to do?

Stop overloading your early career managers and start investing in the resources and processes needed to support them. Your future talent depends on it. By addressing this issue head-on, you can improve the candidate experience, retain top interns, and ensure new hires are set up for success. Don't wait until it's too late. Make the changes now and watch your talent pipeline thrive.

Wally Bruner, founder of Early Career Partners, is a recognized leader, pioneer and activist in the early career arena, having designed, launched, and led award-winning onboarding and training programs for front-line sellers and solutions engineers at CA Technologies, Salesforce, Amazon Web Services, and Oracle. Additionally, Wally co-leads the Cross Academy Association for Early Career Programs, a global professional association that develops best practices and frameworks for early career practitioners and organizations. Wally's mission is to cultivate nascent talent and create a synergistic force that propels the early career field to new heights.