Why Your Hotel Shouldn’t Hesitate to Hire Recent Grads for the Right Role

On its face, it may seem that hiring a graduate out of any university isn’t worth the hassle. They often require extensive training, and they don’t come as seasoned or savvy as a professional who has been working for some years.

Those are valid concerns, but you can prepare for them and in doing so simultaneously fill vital positions in your company. Don’t worry about recent graduates leaving for another company, either.

It’s true that younger workers don’t see a problem at all in job hopping, and that’s something you as an executive have to consider relative to your hiring processes. There are other ways to incentivize them staying, like raises and bonuses, or promotions if the time is right.

If you have some kind of tuition benefit program or something else, it makes you that much more attractive. These recent graduates are ready to work, especially in a tight labor market. Don’t be so wedded to the so-called perfect candidate that you overlook folks who are right under your nose, so to speak.

Perhaps they aren’t as jaded, either. They could be more flexible where changing job duties are concerned. Some older workers can understandably be more reluctant to adjust on the fly when circumstances change, but a younger person could be much more nimble.

Since they may know less about how to negotiate salary, you may end up getting a skilled employee for less than you budgeted for. A generation or two ago it was common for a new hire to get trained on the job. Train these recent graduates on the job if circumstances allow instead of having a job posting sit up there for weeks on end.

It could be that graduates of the local college or university have more ties to the area and could be more amenable to staying there or at your company long-term, which is always good. It’s difficult to predict who will have staying power, but perhaps local graduates could pay big dividends if they stick around long-term.

Others might be more willing to relocate if they have never been away from home. If you can give them a job that intrigues them enough, they could be more likely to leave where they are from and come to another region of their home state or another state. Something as small as flying a student out can go a long way toward making them understand how you value them relative to the job at hand. Someone with a mortgage and/or a family can’t move around quite as easily.

Don’t feel like you have to force a recent graduate into a role that you don’t think they will flourish in, but consider hiring them to fill some of the spots in your organization where conditions allow. No need to have postings up for multiple fortnights if you can avoid doing so.