I remember my college graduation well (at least the ceremony part). I think I actually wore a dress (you’re welcome Mom). Graduation was a big deal in my family. I was only the third person in my family to ever go to college. I was so excited to celebrate this accomplishment but there was this one thing…

I still didn’t have a job. It was 2007 and the market was starting to dive. Eventually, after spending a few months as a line cook with a really nice framed degree at home, I found a gig but that’s a story for another time.

Today, as I’m writing graduation cards and checks for my friend’s kids (and feeling really old), it’s bringing back this rush of memories and the overwhelming urge to offer unsolicited advice to students all over the country who are graduating and entering the job market, still completely clueless as to what they want to be now that they’ve officially “grown up.” 

But more so, I find myself helping the recruiting industry understand why they should be hiring junior talent in the first.

Today, recruiters are finding themselves in quite a predicament when it comes to tech hiring: there are obviously far more tech roles waiting to be filled than experienced candidates available when unemployment dips below 4%. Experienced candidates are being hired quickly, leaving recruiters in a competition of who can get to them first.

What do you do then? When you’re left with open reqs and no available talent to fill the role?

I think we need to shift perspective. Recruiters have to turn to new talent pools. Not only does this provide more available candidates to fill roles, but this talent pool also provides a great opportunity for companies to invest in a candidate’s potential rather than just focusing on their experience.

But.. but… I need senior engineering talent

I can almost hear the pushback now. Your manager has to have a senior person, right? There’s no one else in the world who can do this job with 6 years of experience instead of 7?

I’m not going to keep going or eye rolling. You get the point.

So I did a webinar on the topic because all of this was really starting to bug me. In this webinar, I took the time to break down the business case to address management’s concerns and explain exactly why we have to give junior talent a chance, with adaptations you can make to your application and sourcing strategy to make the most of this opportunity.

If you want to hear the whole deal, watch the webinar “We Are Young: Tactics for Hiring Junior Developers.” Shout out to the sponsor, Codility, for the chance to tell this story.

Candidate Generation and Nurturing recruiting recruiting strategy tech talent webinar