Recruiting Young Workers

In my newsletter this week I included a column written by Erica Metzger, our summer intern.  Erica is a third year student at the University of Pittsburgh with special interests in business, leadership and ethics. In just her first week working with SPS, she wrote this timely white paper on innovative strategies to recruit young workers.  I've included Strategy #1 below and created an easy sign-up for those of you who may want to receive the remaining five strategies.

Young adults these days are not just worried about getting a degree-related job post graduation; they are increasingly concerned with field-related summer and semester internships.  Interestingly enough, many of these young adults are students currently enrolled at universities and colleges around the nation and are eager to apply their newly-acquired skill set to the “real world”.

For businesses, taking on summer interns can result in a fairly low-wage, educated, part-time labor force.  And for young adults, taking a summer internship will yield substantial business knowledge, the application of school work, and importantly: resume development.  It’s a win-win situation.  So what types of ways are successful businesses attracting these potential employees?

1. Businesses are going directly to the source. 
A good way to get in contact with students is by directly going to the universities and colleges.  Many schools have several job fairs, which offer the opportunity for students to get associated with businesses in their field.  With little to no work (other than a poster display, etc) businesses can have several resumes of potential candidates.  It’s as easy as that.  Getting involved with these job fairs isn’t too difficult either.  One quick google of “job fair + (university name)” usually yields the numbers/emails required to sign-up.  Otherwise, calling admissions directly and inquiring about job fairs works too. Also, advertise in collegiate newspapers, on collegiate radio stations, and in “beat” publications (i.e. not just mainstream papers.)

There are other ways to get involved with the schools as well. Some schools offer programs that set up interviews on campus.  Students are able to sign up for these interviews online and the rest of the details (room, dates, and timing schedules) are handled by the program.  All they need are the businesses.  In addition, most schools have organizations on campus that are completely dedicated to professional development.  Students love hearing first-hand testimonials about the professions they study.   But be warned: these young adults will see through any façade you might present about your job being “great” and “flexible”, trust me when I say that they will be much more receptive toward  honesty.

Some professors are very interested in guest lecturers and speakers within the field.

A) It offers something different to maintain interest and
B) It provides real life experience to the ‘stuff’ that’s being taught in class. 

This can be a little more difficult, but if you have familiarity with the university or college, admissions can more than likely provide you with a name to discuss this.  You could always emphasize to the professor that you are more than willing to take resumes at the end of class.  Not only will this get the students to show up, but they will stay the entire time as well.

To gain immediate access to more strategies for Recruiting Young Workers, go to:
http://www.super-solutions.com/RecruitingYoungWorkersSign-UpForm.asp

To schedule media interviews with Ira S Wolfe or Erica Metzger, call 800.803.4303.

Comments

[iReview]

Well that is true that Grads are worried about getting a job after graduation. Another thing that they should be worried about is their personal information online such as Myspace, Friendster, Facebook, etc. During College years, its great to have fun, take pictures, shoot some video clips and posting it online for friends. But whatever is online is viewable by employers. Here is an article I found to be very helpful for any Grad.

"Have you ever Google yourself? You will be amazed at how employers may Google you before they hire you. It is always good to have a strong profile out on the World Wide Web to help strengthen you and your career. There are several free community profiles out there like Myspace, Facebook, Friendster and more but do they really help you? When was the last time you went to any of these sites and found a professional profile? Most likely, never! These sites are design for personal use only. If you were an employer and came across a Myspace profile, what’s your first thought of a person if they are holding a can of beer on their hand with their shirts off? I am pretty sure most employers will say, "I'll past on him" and start looking at the next qualified candidate. What people don't realize is that employers can Google anytime of the day. I have Google myself and didn't find much. I then started exploring other smaller community profiles and found an interesting site: http://www.postess.com and found them to be quite useful. They offer free job tools to help you land your career. They offer Resumes, Cover Letters, Photos, Videos, Music hosting, Pre-Interview Questions for employers to read, a self introduction of yourself so employers have a good idea of who you are, your career experiences, and a lot more. They even include a free job listing. This makes it easy for members to search for jobs right inside Postess. The layout of your profile is very professional and made to look very clean and unique from all other community profiles. Postess.com is in the works of making the layout of your profile customizable to your likings. This is expected to be done by January of 2008."

[SamanthaAPlusBenefits]

I enjoyed your insight on how to go about finding interns. I also posted a blog highlighting some of the reasons to consider hiring interns at your business.

http://outerblog.com/A+/?p=69

Interns are a great addition to the workplace because they can bring a fresh new prespective to the business. They are highly educated, but paid less than regular employees making them a very valuable addition to your recruiting startegy. Interns also create a pool of potential candidates to hire if a position becomes vacant.