As graduation season ushers in a new wave of driven and ambitious professionals, now is the perfect opportunity for employers to invest in future talent. From recruitment to retention, explore 6 impactful strategies designed to help you connect with and keep the best and brightest of this next generation.

1. Define your hiring needs

What are some tasks in your business that you need help with? Identify if any of those are suitable for new graduates. If the tasks require a higher level of experience, is there anyone already on your team that you could promote to free up entry-level roles?

2. Get creative in your recruitment tactics

To reach graduates, meet them where they are. This means asking for internal referrals from staff, using social media to share your open positions, partnering with schools to speak with graduating classes or join career fairs, and offering internships or training opportunities.

You should also ensure that your hiring process is streamlined—think mobile-friendly applications, virtual interviews, and simplified on-boarding steps.

3. Focus on potential

Don’t be too critical of candidates and their lack of experience or hard skills. Instead focus on how they present themselves. Do they seem eager and willing to learn? Are they responsive to your messages or calls? Are they proving their work ethic in other ways like extracurricular activities or volunteering? If the hard skills needed for the role are something that you can teach, hire for attitude not aptitude.

4. Highlight job purpose and growth opportunities

According to Deloitte’s 2024 Gen Z and Millennial Survey, the majority of Gen-Zs (86%) and millennials (89%) say having a sense of purpose is important to their overall job satisfaction. And these generations are increasingly willing to reject assignments or employers who don’t align with their values.

When hiring graduates, make sure to highlight the impact their contributions will make and establish clear professional development paths.

5. Offer work-life balance and flexibility

Work-life balance and flexibility ranks highest on the list of priorities for Gen-Z and millennials when choosing an employer. This continues to increase the popularity of less traditional employment models such as part-time work and side gigs.

Depending on your industry and size of your business you may not be able to offer certain flexibilities but think of ways you can entice new talent—whether that’s offering flex hours, part-time roles, work from home days, or Fun Fridays.

6. Provide a great onboarding experience

30% of employee turnover happens within the first 90 days of employment. The five biggest onboarding mistakes employers make are failing to prepare for the employee’s first week, not introducing your new employee, not providing training, providing too much context, and failing to provide constructive feedback.

If you need a week-by-week guide on how to make onboarding a success check out our New Hire Onboarding Guide.