Why hire fresh college graduates?

We have all heard of how there is a skill gap and how the formal education system is not preparing the students for work life. The moment we factor in the new generation of students, brought up on a steady stream of Facebook, Google, YouTube, Twitter, etc., we also have to deal with short and varied attention spans.

In such a scenario, would it be prudent to hire someone straight out of college and hoping that he performs?

Let’s look at the current situation in most organizations. We hire people based on our individual biases/ preferences and then get them on board. Since they would not have any knowledge about the organization, we train them and prepare them to work for us. Then we observe and continue to do on-the-job training for them and even spend time coaching them for doing their job effectively. Organizations spend a lot of time and resources on training, up-skill and retraining people. After all, they are human “resources” and need to be culturally fit into the organization.

Now the question that needs to be asked is how is it any different from hiring a fresher? You will hire, train, coach, give on-the-job training and motivate for success. You may spend a bit more time on training freshers as they would not have some skills that are required in a corporate setup. But, with the current generation, adoption of new technology is not that difficult. They are well versed with technology and aware of technological shifts. What we need is to ensure that the learning methods we use for them are technologically updated and sufficiently varied, with a mix of e-learning, classroom, on the job learning, simulations and coaching.

The question that remains to be answered is, does it make sense to hire freshers and train them to do the job? Is it worth the time and effort? The standard answer I get when I interact with most, not all, line managers across the industry is, “We will train them and then someone will poach them. Why put so much effort?”. I am amazed at this thought. The presumption seems to be that people with experience don’t quit to join the competition. The fallacy of the argument lies in the fact that you are hiring this person from the competition in the first place. Be it a fresher or an experienced person, if they get a better offer, they will move. It’s for us to ensure that we provide them with an environment where they will not feel enticed to look out for opportunities. But, that is a discussion for another day and another time.

India is growing younger with more and more fresh graduates willing to join the workforce. It is for us to create the right setup & infrastructure to nurture and develop the talent. Talent acquisition is not about hiring a bunch of people only, it is about finding the right fit candidate for the organization. If we build a success profile of candidates and create a process with built-in in checks & balances to hire right, we will be able to find the right candidate, be it a fresher or an experienced person.

I would urge all the readers of this article to share their thoughts on this matter. It would be an absolute privilege to have business heads sharing their opinion and insights to understand their perspective.