Thought Leadership

What dograduatesreally want?Reaping the rewards of graduaterecruitment by understandingwhat graduates want.

All graduate recruiters think long and hard about whether they areselecting the right candidates. But today’s candidates are just asdetermined to select the right employer.

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Competition is fierce for high-performinggraduate talent. Yet many employers arelosing the right candidates to competitorsbecause their culture, assessment, andhiring processes simply are not alignedwith what graduates expect.

Business leaders know how vital findingand retaining the right talent is toorganizational strategy. Failure to do socan lead to reduced business efficiency,reduced competitiveness, skills shortages,and ultimately a negative impact on thebottom line.

Graduate recruitment is no exception tothe rule. In the current labor market,quality graduates with in-demand skillshave more choices than ever. in fact, intoday’s digital world, they can pick andchoose where to work at the click of abutton. (Or simply swipe left).

In searching for employees who will drivethe business forward, it is essential thatorganizations understand how graduatemillennials think and what they want.Drawing on Korn Ferry research, thispaper explores what millennials in generalwant, together with what employersshould consider in order to identify andrecruit the right talent.

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Did you know?

A Millennial workforce 36% today but75% by 2025.1

Today’s graduates make up the younger end of themillennial spectrum. However, the workforce theyare entering is undergoing a generationalrevolution.

In the United States, for example, millennialspresently make up just over 36% of the workingpopulation. Yet this proportion is set to rocket to75% in less than a decade.1 With millennials havingtheir own very distinct outlook on the world ofwork, this demographic change means employerswill have to think and act differently in order toattract graduates.

By the numbers: What graduatemillennials think.

How engaged are graduates likely to be afterbeing hired? Our research on millennialengagement and enablement at work providesclues about their inclinations.

Fewer than 65% of millennials are upbeat abouttheir workplace.2 3

According to our research, millennials in generalare less positive about their workplace than anyother generation, with fewer than 65% beingoptimistic about their jobs.2 3

Only 72% of millennials feel engaged in theworkplace.3

A lack of engagement can harm organizations andwhole economies. In the US, for example,disengaged employees cost the US economy upto $350 billion per year in lost productivity.3

However, from a graduate standpoint, a lack ofengagement might also be an indicator thatsomething may be awry in the recruitmentprocess. Put simply, if graduates are not beingassessed corectly at this stage, then employersrisk taking on employees who are not right for therole or the culture, and who will also be lessengaged from the outset.

In debt and on the edge: only 45% of millennialsfeel they are fairly paid.3

With the ongoing rise in the cost of living andtuition, today’s graduate generation may well beone of the most indebted in living memory. In theUS, student loan debts have exceeded $1 trillion,and across many economies, graduate debt isspiraling upward.

With millennials set to be the first generation inAmerica and the United Kingdom to have a lowerstandard of living than their parents, fair pay willbe a concern to today’s graduates. Our researchshows that while 63% of baby boomers and 59%of Gen Xers feel fairly paid for their work, only 45%of millennials do. In general, just 37% of millennialsfeel their pay is fair when they compare it to thosewho work for competitors and do a similar job.3

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Confronting the myths.

Today’s graduates find themselves portrayed inmuch the same vein as millennials in general.

Labeled the “me me me” generation, regarded asbeing coddled by parents and schools, andobsessed with social media, they are routinelydenigrated for their inflated expectations anddesire to “have it all their own way.”

Millennials are different to their predecessors insome ways: the worries they have are real and doinfluence the way they think about work and theircareers.

However, our research firmly debunks the myth ofthem being markedly different. Millennials (andgraduate millennials) often want the same thingsas everyone else. They’re just more willing todemand it—louder, more frequently, and a lotearlier in their careers.

And in today’s labor market, graduates—themanagers and leaders of the future—aredemanding more of employers. With a significantamount of information about organizationsavailable online, especially on employee reviewsites like Glassdoor, graduates are puttingemployers under the microscope as never before.

What motivates today's graduatemillennials?

In order to understand today’s graduates, we firstneed to understand the mindset of the generationof which they are indisputably a part of: themillennial generation. So, how do millennials wantto work? How do they want to be managed?

Where they are coming from.

Like their older millennial counterparts, graduatemillennials have never seen or experienced a"good" economy.

They have entered the workplace in either a softeconomy, a downturn, a recession, or a jobrecovery. The economic stresses of oldergenerations have certainly dampened their careerprospects. They have also found it hard to get afoot in the door because of limited entry-level jobprospects and an aging workforce. Moreover, oncethey are in a role, they think it will be tough tomove up, thanks to lean staffing and a stagnantorganizational pipeline.3

What they want.

And yet, according to our research, the mostimportant things many graduates look for whendeciding which organizations to apply to (andwhat roles to apply for) are not necessarilymonetary rewards or employee benefits alone.

Opportunities to move up the career ladder (83%);to develop (82%); to have a role that matchedtheir career aspirations (77%); and to be in theright location (77%) are definitely among the toppriorities that today’s graduates have.4 However,these aspects are perhaps reflective of wheregraduates are in their careers.

Meanwhile, pay and benefits are not far behind ontheir list of priorities, and clearly demonstrate theneed that graduates have to both contend withrises in the cost of living, and to pay off theirstudent debt.4

However, and as we explore next, it is what theywant and expect from employers themselves thatis influencing who they wish to work for.

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What they expect from employers.

It would be tempting to consider that for today'sgraduates, a combination of career priorities andpay outweigh all other considerations. However,this would be a serious miscalculation foremployers to make.

An organization’s ethics and purpose matters tothis generation.

In fact, when it comes to their career decision-making, our research shows that corporate ethicsand a business’s purpose are playing anincreasingly important role in their deliberations.

In some respects, this is not surprising. Themillennial generation is considered very sociallyconscious, and particularly so as consumers. In2015, Neilson’s Global Sustainability Reportdemonstrated that while 66% of consumers werewilling to spend more on a product if its brand wasassociated with sustainability, millennials werelikely to do so in even greater numbers (73%).Moreover, 81% of millennials also expected theirfavorite companies to prove themselves goodcorporate citizens too.5

Put simply: graduate millennials want to beassociated with employers whose ethics andpurpose mirror their own.

As we’ll see in the next section, these factors arealso reflected in the type of work they want to do.

Ethical values of the organization

Positive endorsement

Employee benefits

Starting salary

Match with career aspirations

Location 77%

Personal development

Career progression opportunities

Good insight into the role

58%

63%

70%

72%

72%

77%

82%

83%

84%

Top 10 most important factors when applying to an organization:

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How they want to work and be managed.

They want an interesting job.

In an extensive survey of 145,000 workersacross more than 50 countries, millennials,Gen Xers, and baby boomers all ranked“interesting job“ as the most important jobcharacteristic—with “interesting” being definedas the “ability to work independently,” in a “jobthat can help other people,” and in a “job thatis useful to society.” For millennials, however,“interesting job” was three times moreimportant to their job satisfaction than highincome and job security (which unsurprisingly,were the next highest priorities for Gen Xersand baby boomers, respectively).6

They want the right culture.

Side by side with the need for an “interestingjob” is the rising importance of companyculture. Another Korn Ferry research surveycanvassed the opinions of HR leaders aroundthe globe and discovered that five years ago,with many economies still emerging from theGreat Recession, salary and benefits were thetop reason why a candidate would choose onecompany over another.7

However, today, company culture and beingable to identify with a company’s mission, isnow considered to be the leading reason whycandidates would choose to work for aspecific company. This is particularly true ofmillennials. Millennials want to feel good aboutwhere they are working in terms of having ashared sense of purpose, as well as feelingthey have an ability to make an impact.7

They want greater flexibility in how they work.

Decades before today’s graduates were born,Dolly Parton sang, “Working 9 to 5, what away to make a living.” Now, in the era ofubiquitous technology and the gig economy,millennials want to make their living a differentway. Technology and modern lifestyles meanmillennials appreciate flexibility beyond rigidhours and working practices, and more preferan “independent consultant” approach towork.3, 7

In our global survey of HR leaders, when askedwhat the biggest reason would be for acandidate to choose one job over another inthe next five years, “flexible working” wascited as the most important factor.7 Withmillennials estimated to make up 75% of theworkforce by 2025,1 this factor cannot beignored.

They want frequent feedback.

In today’s world of instant information, real-time feedback, upticks, and likes on socialmedia posts and review sites, the millennialgraduate wants to know how they are gettingon, more of the time. In another survey ofalmost 1,000 business executives, a Korn Ferrystudy found that 44% of millennials requiredmore feedback than other generations.8

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What are today's graduateslooking for in a future employer?

To sum up.

If employers want to attract and retain the righttalent, then there are some clear lessons to learnfrom the motivations, fears, and aspirations oftoday's graduates.

The top five employers should be aware of are:

Progress. Graduates want to progress anddevelop quickly; they want to see their skillsets evolve and gain the experiences theyneed to drive their careers forward. At thesame time, graduates need the feedback thattells them that they are on the right trajectory.

Pay. Money and finances matter, especially intoday’s economic climate of rising living costsand student debt. Graduates want to be paidboth fairly and competitively. Employerswhose graduate salaries do not measure upwill struggle to attract and retain top talent.

Purpose. As part of one of the most sociallyconscious generations, graduate millennialswant to work in organizations that possess thekind of culture, purpose, and ethics that theycan identify with. They also want the chanceto make an impact.

Plasticity. Graduates are looking for workplaceflexibility and careers that reflect modernliving. In today’s technologically enabled, gig-economy world, graduate millennials are goingto actively choose employers that offer themwork options that fit their lifestyle.

Process. Last, but by no means least,graduates want and expect a recruitmentprocess that is candidate-friendly, swift, lessbureaucratic, and hassle-free. Organizationsthat can offer streamlined, technology-enabled, and responsive recruitmentprocesses are going to set themselves apartfrom other employers.

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What should smart employers be doing better?

Swift, modern, and responsive: How today’s graduates want assessment andrecruitment to work.

It is notable that many organizations invest huge sums in marketing their graduate opportunities,showcasing their values and showing how inclusive and welcoming they are. Yet many risk wasting thatinvestment by providing a candidate experience that runs counter to the promise.

When Korn Ferry surveyed millennials on their experiences of graduate recruitment, we were expectingsome negative opinions. And we got them. As we outline below, there is a clear message that employersseeking to attract the right graduate talent should consider.

In analyzing what graduates expect and want from the candidate experience, four major themes stoodout.4

Good communication and feedback.

This is a massive frustration for all job seekers, andparticularly frustrating for those who are looking fortheir first job. “How hard can it be to let me know?”is the first thought of graduates born into a world ofeasy, technology-enabled communication.

A swift process.

Finding a job is one of the biggest priorities in agraduate’s life and can be stressful for mostindividuals who lack work experience. This can bemade worse by having to endure an unnecessarilycomplex and long process, with lots of hoops tojump through.

Politeness and information.

No candidate wants to be treated disrespectfully orunprofessionally. In our survey, rude interviewerswere flagged as a particular concern while basicadministrative or logistical errors were also seen asannoyances. But many graduates also questioned therelevance and quality of assessment practices.

Job roles reality.

No one likes being mis-sold a product or service.However, being mis-sold a job is worse. Our researchdiscovered that too often, graduates found that thereality of their work was not the same as thatpromised by the employer during the applicationprocess.

What they want:

A clear idea about the competencies, qualities, values, and

personality characteristics required.

An accurate job description and overview of the role and

what it entails.

Not to be oversold promises in a graduate marketing

campaign.

What they want:

Promises to be kept and deadlines met.

Polite, respectful, knowledgeable, and welcoming

interviewers who live up to the brand values the

organization advocates.

An understanding of how assessments are relevant to the

role and being successful in it.

What they want:

Regular updates on the progress of their application from

start to finish.

Clear information about the length of the application

process and the stages involved.

Constructive feedback on why they were unsuccessful, if

they were rejected.

What they want:

Fast, online processes and communication.

As few steps as possible between application, assessment,

and appointment.

An understanding of why particular assessments are used

and why such assessments are helpful to them.

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How employers can avoid alienatingthem.4

According to our study:

55% of graduates were not satisfied with thecandidate experience.

Only 49% of employers explain the purpose ofassessments during the recruitment process.

Only 49% of graduates were given feedbackafter taking assessment tests. Of these, lessthan half (44%) were satisfied with the detail ofthat feedback.

Why getting this right is vital.4

According to our survey:

70% of graduates claim that other people's badexperiences with an organization would putthem off applying to that company for a job.

51% of graduates said negative publicity aboutan organization would deter them fromapplying.

22% of graduates said that reading otherpeople's recruitment experiences in studentforums online would influence whether or notthey would apply for a job at that organization.

"Some interviewing staff members were rude and clearlyappeared to not want to be at the assessment day. I receivedabsolutely no feedback from the day whatsoever—including noactual rejection."

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How getting assessment andrecruitment wrong can costemployers.

From negative impacts on the bottom line andbusiness performance, to missing out on toptalent, getting graduate assessment andrecruitment wrong can be expensive.

Reduced business performance.

Overly complex recruitment and assessmentprocesses can risk alienating the very individualsthat employers are seeking to hire. Moreover,failing to fill important vacancies can have short-and long-term consequences too—from impactsto operating efficiency and future profitability, toskills shortages and the lack of a leadershippipeline. Employers can also risk losing potentiallyvaluable recruits to a competitor.

Increased recruitment costs.

From assessment to onboarding, candidates whoare not the right "fit" are more likely to leave theorganization, thereby costing the employer timeand money. For example, the cost of replacing amanager within six to 12 months of their hire canbe 2.3 times that person’s annual salary.9 Whilegraduates are still at the beginning of their careers,the above statistic is a pertinent reminder that thecost of a bad hire, even at this level, can still besignificant.

Poor job performance.

If candidates are not assessed in the right way, andfor the right things, then employers cannot expectstellar performance from them. In fact, they mayeven end up with poor performers. Graduateswant jobs that suit their skills and temperament—and provide them with opportunities to excel.Mismatched candidates not only won't progress,they can reduce productivity, and have a negativeeffect on wider team performance too. Accordingto one Gartner study, an average of 20% of hiringmanagers wish they had never extended an offerto 20% of their team members.10

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Good hires leaving too soon.

Graduates can quit if employers have not assessedthem correctly for cultural fit or if they find the jobis not what they expected. Again, that can costorganizations, both in terms of recruitment, and interms of lost productivity. A study by HarvardUniversity, asserted that upto 80% of employeeturnover could be attributed to mistakes madeduring the hiring process.10 And in a major surveyby Korn Ferry, more than 50% of graduate hiressaid they had considered leaving their jobsbecause they did not fit in.11

Graduates sharing their bad experiences anddamaging your brand.

Candidates are potential customers. And they cancomplain about their poor candidate experiencesvia social media, reaching an enormous audiencein the process. The damage adverse social mediacan do to an organization’s reputation is alreadywell documented. However, candidates who havehad a poor experience with an employer may alsoavoid them as a consumer or potential business-to-business client in the future. According to KornFerry research, 11% of graduates who had a badrecruitment experience reported that they wouldnot become a customer of that organization.4

So how should employers mitigate this and delivera recruitment process that exceeds candidateexpectations?

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How to get recruitment andassessment right.

With millennials soon to be the majority of theworkforce in less than a decade—and withGeneration Z also entering the workplace—organizations need to understand the graduatemindset in order to establish a process that satisfiescandidates while also delivering the right talent.

While all organizations are different, we believe thereare a number of core principles that apply when itcomes to improving graduate recruitment.

Identify exactly who you are looking for.

The first key step is simply understanding what“success” looks like. What are the behavioralcompetencies, cognitive abilities, and personalitytraits that will enable the graduate to fit the role,team, and organization successfully? While this mayappear obvious, it is surprising just how oftenorganizations rush through this step without giving itthe due consideration it so richly deserves. Getting itwrong can be costly and can result in highergraduate turnover (arising from poor hires) andincreased recruitment costs.

Getting this step right, however, means thatemployers not only avoid these pitfalls, but also gaina better chance of hiring the right candidates too.

Today’s graduates want a hassle-free, swift, andinformative recruitment process. Organizations thathave a defined “success profile” can informapplicants through the job description as to whatattributes they need to possess before they apply,together with what is required and expected of thesuccessful candidate in the role. Providing this canhelp eliminate one grievance that candidates have,which is feeling that they have wasted their time inapplying based on poor or inaccurate information—something that can be damaging to an employer’sbrand if candidates complain about it publicly.

Take a holistic view.

Having a success profile can define thecompetencies, cognitive ability, traits, and driversthat the right candidate requires, and therebyprovide a benchmark against which to measurethem. However, many employers often fail to have asuccess profile or, if they have one, fail to use it in thisway. Instead, many will simply assess an applicantusing a single standard personality assessment, andthen sift candidates based solely on their academicachievements.

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While still valuable, single assessments can riskemployers not having a holistic view of the rightcandidates, and thus increase the risk of hiring thewrong ones. Moreover, they can potentially alienatequality candidates who may feel that theseassessments haven’t allowed them a chance to fullydemonstrate what they’re capable of. For anassessment process to truly work, employers firstneed something relevant to the role to assess thecandidate against—the success profile. Once armedwith that, we would recommend that they conduct acombination of assessments in order to gain a fullerpicture of the individual applicant. For example:

Ability tests measure how well the applicant canprocess new information (numerical, verbal, andlogical) under time pressure. As a measure ofintellect, they are invaluable in identifying candidatesthat can demonstrate the ability to acquireknowledge and perform well in the future.

Of increasing importance are Situational JudgementTests (SJTs), which can present the applicant with arealistic view of the role or organizational culture.SJTs are also especially effective for gauging thecandidate’s capability to make sound judgements inthe context of real-world challenges that mayemerge on the job.

By contrast, personality assessments can provideemployers with essential insights into a candidate’spersonality traits and drivers. These are critical forassessing skills such as Learning Agility, EmotionalIntelligence, and Resilience that make a realdifference in whether they will thrive in their role.

All of these assessments provide key information toinform interview questions that can be posed to acandidate at an assessment center. And, importantly,they can provide additional objective informationthat is hard ascertain by other means.

Make the process candidate-centric.

It's useful to make the most of technologies that arean everyday part of candidate's lives. And as we’vealready seen, in today’s world of instant information,graduates want an assessment and recruitmentprocess that’s as candidate- and consumer-centric aspossible. Graduates want swift, responsive, andvaluable experiences—therefore, candidate feedbackshould be an essential and automatic part of theassessment process, regardless of whether thecandidate is offered the position or not.

Moreover, solutions that enable candidates to applyacross multiple platforms and allow employerbranding to be seamlessly integrated will provide anengaging candidate experience and help employersstand out.

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Manage expectations.

Graduates want and need to have an accurateoverview of the role and organization. Theapplication process presents employers with agolden opportunity to give candidates a taste ofwhat the future holds. While situational judgmenttests can present individuals with hypotheticalsituations they might encounter in a job, anotheroption can be to provide applicants with aRealistic Job Preview (RJP). An RJP can presentboth the benefits and the challenging aspects ofthe role, and can be a good way to managecandidates’ expectations. From a graduate’sperspective, RJPs can help them decide whetherto apply for the role or not, thereby saving boththe employer and the graduate, valuable time.

Live your brand.

It doesn’t matter how robust an assessmentmethodology is or how streamlined yourtechnology is. It only takes one rude interviewer toruin the candidate experience and tarnish anorganization’s reputation. When creating anassessment solution, even a technology-led one,employers should always ensure that it has ahuman touch. And during personal interactions,they should ensure that recruiters always comeacross to candidates in a thoughtful, professional,and respectful manner. In fact, we would suggestthat organizations could benefit from going onestep further and ensuring all recruiters are trainedand briefed to live the brand values and activelypromote their employer’s value proposition.

Pay a fair, competitive wage.

Financial worries and pay were among thegraduate concerns we highlighted earlier. Today,salary is more important than ever to graduates,and in a candidate-led market, they will lookaround to find better rewards. If competitors havereviewed their compensation packages in recentyears, then employers that haven't risk losing outon the best candidates. They may also struggle tokeep the good graduates they already have ifthose graduates discover better rewards areavailable elsewhere.

So how should employers accurately gauge paylevels? The Korn Ferry graduate solution providesa basic overview of salary information. By contrast,Korn Ferry Pay is a self-service tool that makes iteasy to measure the competitiveness of salaries.Our pay data is collected from more than 20million employees working for more than 25,000companies in more than 110 countries. Many ofthose are graduate employers.

This data set is translated into reports andrecommendations, having been filtered throughthe practical insight and local knowledge of ourreward experts in different territories. The resultsof these reports can help enable organizations tooffer competitive rewards packages that willattract and retain the right talent.

Thought Leadership

14 © Korn Ferry 2018. All Rights Reserved.

About Korn Ferry

Korn Ferry is a global organizationalconsulting firm. We help clientssynchronize strategy and talent to drivesuperior performance. We work withorganizations to design their structures,roles, and responsibilities. We help themhire the right people to bring theirstrategy to life. And we advise them onhow to reward, develop, and motivatetheir people.

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References

Deloitte. (2014). The Deloitte Millennial Survey Report

Korn Ferry. (2015). Managing a multi-generational workforce: The myths vs. the realities.

Korn Ferry. (2015). An age-diverse workforce: Managing millennials.

Korn Ferry. (2013). Through the eyes of a graduate: Talent Q survey report.

Nielsen. (2015). Global Sustainability report. The sustainability imperative: New insights on consumerexpectations.

Korn Ferry Institute. (2018). “The great millennial myth.”

Korn Ferry Institute. (2017). Korn Ferry Futurestep: The talent forecast.

Korn Ferry Futurestep. (2016). Millennial feedback

Korn Ferry Institute. (2017). The talent forecast: Moving beyond cost per hire.

Korn Ferry Institute. (2016). At long last, revamp recruiting.

Korn Ferry. (2014). Today’s graduates: Worth their weight in gold?