Why You Should Revisit Your Hiring Requirements and Consider Hiring a 2021 College Graduate

The market for talented employees is the tightest it has been in a long time, and as a consequence, many businesses have revisited their hiring requirements and been pleasantly surprised by the results. One specific hiring requirement that is often unnecessary is the classic “3-5 years of experience.” The truth is that there are many benefits to hiring a new 2021 college graduate, and the labor shortage has simply made this fact more apparent. Here we will go over a few of the reasons that hiring a 2021 college graduate should be on the top of your list of things to consider.

The first advantage: A strong willingness to work

If we are honest with ourselves, most of us will admit that when we begin a job our willingness to work is greater than it is after we have been working somewhere for several years. And this makes sense: a new hire is full of excitement and is anxious to impress. This effect is augmented exponentially in the case of a new college graduate. They are not only beginning a new job – they are beginning an entirely new stage of their life! This willingness can translate to better results not just from your new employee, but from other employees who want to step up their own game to avoid looking bad in comparison.

The second advantage: Digital and technological expertise

In today’s world, it does not matter if you run a communications company or a landscaping company, you need to use technology. The advantages of having a new graduate to serve as your ambassador to the digital world tend to fall into two categories: an ability to fix broken technology and an ability to leverage unused technology. We are all familiar with the headache that comes with computers, phones, printers, or any other gizmo or gadget you might need, so the benefits of having someone around who can solve them all is self-evident. The advantages that can come from leveraging currently unused technology are less apparent. One example of this is the woefully inadequate digital presence that so many businesses still have today. Especially if you are a customer-facing business, if you do not have an active and well-curated digital presence on websites and social media, you are likely missing out on a huge pool of customers.

The third advantage: They have no bad work habits to undo

While hiring someone with 3-5 years of experience has its advantages, it also raises some problems that a new college graduate would not. One of the issues that most commonly arises is that an experienced employee comes equipped with both the knowledge and the bad habits they picked up on their last job. And while the knowledge can be helpful, it can easily be offset by how difficult it is to instill new habits and values in an employee who is used to doing things a completely different way. In addition to the benefits mentioned above, a new college graduate will show up as a blank slate. You can teach them the correct way to do things and they will learn things right the first time. One related disadvantage of the limited experience that new hires have is that they do not have a work record. This is not as big of a deal as most people think, however, because much can be learned from a look at a candidate’s transcripts and a job background check.

The fourth advantage: They are primed to learn

Anyone who has left school and then returned again knows how hard it can be to put your mind back into gear so that it can learn as well as it used to. The brain works much like a muscle insofar as those parts of it that do not get used regularly tend to atrophy. Recent college graduates have had to learn massive amounts of new materials for as far back as they can remember. These candidates are capable of devouring new information and mastering new skills in half the time that you might expect.

Hiring is a challenge in the best of times, and in today’s market, the difficulties can seem insurmountable. While this situation is certainly frustrating, it can also represent an opportunity to revisit your hiring requirements so that you include new college graduates. They are willing to work, they are digital experts, they have no bad habits to undo, and they learn extraordinarily quickly.