What I have learnt in early careers....

Today, I am committing to use my passion early careers to create content regularly for our profession.

It will be content based on my experiences and that I feel are important for our industry. While I may refer to data, most of it will be based on my thoughts and opinions from a collective array of sources over many years, coffees, stories, conversations, reflections and experiences.

I hope the content is relevant and sparks interest for those in our profession, which typically encompasses those who educate, attract, engage, recruit, support, develop, manage and lead those who are embarking on their professional journey for the first time. I welcome your comments, some friendly debate, and your experiences on the topics covered in the content.

I hope you enjoy reading as much as I enjoy experiencing and writing!

What I have learnt

Since leaving a position recently, I have been reflecting a lot – on myself personally and professionally, my values, my family and what I want for them and what I want for myself.

This time has coincided with numerous awesome conversations with colleagues in the early careers industry which have focused on challenging ourselves and what we do in this amazing profession. 

Topics of discussion have included:

• The focus of the profession in more progressive markets and why some markets don’t seem to be pushing boundaries in the same way;
• The need for us to increase our own perception and value of how we impact our businesses; and
• The desire to see and hear more from our profession.

I thought I would use these reflections, conversations and a desire to increase discussion and profile in our profession to share what I have learnt and how it is relevant to our industry now.

I have five key learnings and will cover three of them in detail in this piece. I will cover the other two in a follow up piece later in the week!

1. We need to value what we do more
2. We need to drive early careers as a fundamental channel for future workforce and business success*
3. We need to be curious outside our own backyard
4. We need to love what we do
5. We need to shout about what we do

We need to value what we do more

Some organisations and leaders ‘get it’. They understand how critical early talent programs are. How important it is to invest in internship and graduate initiatives to build a strong and diverse workforce. How important it is to design sustainable business models that provide resources and support for entry level talent, even if it’s not going to immediately contribute to the bottom line. How important it is to allocate resources to engage, attract, select and develop these talents, no matter how small the need or the budget is.

Some even know how critical it is to contribute to and influence policy and education decisions at a national or regional level to ensure structures, funding and support mechanisms are in place to build resilient, skilled and adaptable talent for the future. And some invest resources in initiatives that help build interest and skills in areas that will be increasingly in demand or in markets that need digital literacy support, like code camps, case competitions or even create their own school or university.

There are many organisations and leaders however, who don’t. Those that focus their efforts and strategy on mid-career hiring in isolation, or those that expect to be successful in hiring early talent without allocating adequate resources to have true impact. Or those that put ‘Zillennial’ (i.e. both Gen Z and Millennials) hiring in the all too hard basket, citing unrealistic expectations of the generation, high turnover rates and high costs as the reason to focus efforts elsewhere.

Which puts those of us in the early career profession in a brilliant position. We have a huge opportunity to influence, to shape and drive this topic with our organisations and within our markets.

Before we can do that, however, we must elevate the value of what we do in our own minds. 

At its core, graduate and intern recruitment is highly operational – the reality is that we need to execute a lot. The work that goes behind a student starting with an organisation is like an iceberg – those on the outside may see the tip, but we know just how much branding, engagement, marketing, relationships, screening, assessment, stakeholder communication, data collection and admin goes into every hire.

But, if we only see ourselves as an operational function, we limit our confidence to request a seat at the table in more strategic people and business conversations within our organisations and industry. 

It is unlikely that we will be invited unless we raise our hands to be invited to these discussions. A strong belief in how early careers contributes to strategic workforce planning AND to overall business performance as we navigate the future or work, must start with us.

We need to drive early careers as a fundamental channel for future workforce and business success

We all know that the world of work is changing. We can’t turn anywhere without hearing or reading about the ‘future of work’ and the need for diverse workforces with adaptable skills sets.

Regardless of the resourcing model employed by businesses, all organisations must think differently and adapt to the new way of doing business, to being disrupted, to evolving technology and changing workforce expectations.  

To support this, I believe there are 6 reasons early careers must become a strategic imperative for organisations.

• Reflecting customer base – Whether you are B2C or B2B, your customer/client segment is likely to include zillennials (and if not now, it will as they mature). It’s going to pretty hard to sell or partner with a zillennial if you don’t understand their mindset or demonstrate you understand their values and needs. The best way to do this is by having a healthy portion of your workforce to reflect your customer base.
• Mindset & skills – Organisations will continue to be disrupted and experience increasing pressure to incorporate new technologies and ways of working. Early career talent will enter organisations as digital natives and have an ability to change and adapt as the needs of the business do. They know no different and a mindset of lifelong learning is part of their DNA.
• Investing in the future – The rise of the social enterprise has seen significant change in the way organisations invest and support their customers, employees and communities. By investing in the future skills of young generations through code camps, mentoring or early awareness programs, organisations can have a significant impact on economies, social welfare and skills development.
• Diversity & inclusion – Whether it be gender, cultural, social, generational, LGBTQ or disability diversity (or a combination of any of these), strategic early career hiring can influence overall organisational diversity by tapping into a pool of talent that has a higher percentage of diverse candidates via centralised channels. Developed and nurtured, these cohorts will move up the organisation and contribute to a vibrant, inclusive and innovative culture. 
• Sustainable business models – The reality of early career talent is that they cost less than more experienced resources (and may add more value in some cases!). They may not be an ideal fit for some business units or teams, but it would be remiss of organisations to dismiss the value of interns or graduates in some circumstances to balance delivery with cost.
• Brand exposure – Think about the longer-term impact of exposing your brand via early career initiatives. If zillennials aren’t your customers/clients now, they will be. If they aren’t your talent yet, they might be down the track. Early exposure of your brand and products to a significant market will drive awareness and stickiness, a huge benefit for when they do become customers, consumers or talent.

When you look at it like this, it’s impossible to argue that early career talent doesn’t play a part in strategic business impact. We need to own this topic, drive it, and help key decision makers in our organisations to realise the long-term impact of investing in early career talent.

We need to be curious outside our own backyard

I have spent the majority of my career in Australia and am the first to put my hand up and say that I was inwardly focused. 

I was very active in my own market. And I would occasionally reach out to my global peers internally and have a catch up call to share what we were doing in our markets. 

But ask me about what was happening outside Australia and I really couldn’t tell you. 

I have had the privilege of taking my profession into Asia and it has truly opened my eyes to the complexity of early career talent markets outside Australia. While I am no expert and have a lot to learn, had I known what I know now, I would have been a more effective, strategic and innovative early careers professional in Australia.

This information is not necessarily easy to access or find. We don’t have magazines or topic-specific sites that contain this information. Building global networks outside Australia is not exactly easy, and our industry associations largely neglect to provide members with insights outside our own markets.

At its basic level, the value of seeking insights into trends, vendors, movements, priorities in other markets provides us, as professionals, with learnings, concepts and ideas to challenge what we know and what we do. At its most powerful, it adds a richness to our experience and knowledge as early career professionals. It supports our roles as true advisors to our businesses, enabling us to tap into knowledge and insights that may be relevant to issues our organisations are facing locally.

I am planning a series of spotlights on some Asian early career markets over the coming months with the aim of providing easily accessible information about these markets. In addition, I encourage our profession to:

• Join the ISE in the UK for access to their magazine, webinars and whitepapers
• Go on mailing lists or reach out to any of the regional industry associations such as SAGEA, SEAAGE and NACE.
• Have a look at some of the great podcasts available, including Jack & Ollie and the Graduate Recruitment Bureau (GRB) – I am listening to a GRB one at the moment (‘Student Diaries’) which follows 3 British students over the course of an academic year, helping me to gain insights into student lives, pressures, desires and challenges. Completely fascinating and eye opening (how do they fit so much in?!).
• Reach out to a network outside your market and set up a virtual coffee. Find someone on LinkedIn if you don’t have anyone in your immediate sphere or contact someone from the committee of an industry association in another market; and
• Source and read some reports from other markets. Universum, Bright Network, Oleeo and some of the HR online resources (like HRM Asia) are some good starting points.

Stay tuned to read about my final two learnings later this week!

If you would like to chat about anything early careers, send me a note. I would love to chat.

*While all learnings are important, this is the one I feel currently has the biggest potential to impact our industry and organisations.