Leaving the university bubble and entering the big wide world of full-time professional work is a major adjustment for young graduates.
They may be as young as 21 years old, and their position with your company could be their first ever full-time job.
It’s a manager’s duty to provide lots of support and encouragement to recent graduates and oversee the onboarding process to ensure they settle in smoothly and feel at home working in your organisation.
To give you some valuable advice, we’ve come up with a piece on how you can keep graduate recruits motivated and hungry for success as business managers in 2022. Carry on reading to discover more.
Make Your Company Culture And Vision Clear In The Application Process
Before a graduate begins day one working with your company, they must be clear about what your company’s culture, vision, and expectations of employees consist of.
It should be company policy to discuss your organisation’s values during the interview process and assess the candidate’s responses to try and get the most suitable candidate for the role.
Together with your colleagues in HR, consider whether you believe the applicant’s personal values align with those of the company.
Nowadays, this is known as a candidate being a good ‘cultural fit’ for a vacancy.
For instance, if you’re conducting an interview and you make it clear you’re after staff who are team players, and the interviewee provides several examples of how they’ve used teamwork to complete tasks with others in the past successfully, this is a perfect cultural fit.
Provide Staff ‘Perks’ And Rewards To Attract Young Recruits
Like any member of staff, graduates tend to react positively and work harder when they are provided with incentives and perks at work.
In the interview and onboarding process, let them know about any performance-based rewards they can enjoy if they prove they are able to deliver exceptional results.
The company director may decide to offer financial bonuses every month, vouchers for popular stores, concert tickets, or any type of reward for outstanding performance.
There should be other non-performance related staff ‘perks’ that grasp the eye of graduate recruits and make them more interested in applying for roles in your company.
For instance, a free work smartphone mobile may sound like something relatively minor, but having the latest technology at their fingertips free of charge can be attractive for young ‘digital native’ grads in 2022.
There are many benefits to getting SIM-only deals that you can cancel at any time for the company mobiles you provide to your employees.
For instance, Lebara’s SIM-only plans have excellent, reliable signal coverage since they can run on award-winning networks such as Vodafone.
Read here to find out more about the ease of SIM-only deals with Lebara. As a manager, you will be happy to hear that this is one way your company can save some money on employee perks.
The main goal of employee perks and rewards is to keep your graduate recruits highly motivated and hungry for more success with your business.
They can also help you retain your best staff and keep your staff turnover levels low.
Retaining high-performing staff is essential for successful companies since it provides continuity and means you’re able to hold onto your best talent that consistently brings results.
You certainly don’t want your industry competitors constantly pinching all your staff since they offer much better staff perks and rewards.
Inform New Recruits On How They Can Get Promoted
New graduate recruits need to know about your company’s structure and how they can advance and progress.
No talented young individual straight out of university will be attracted to taking up a job that gives them no scope for progression and can’t offer the prospect of higher wages in the future when they take on more responsibilities.
Graduates, rightly so, should be able to see how they can develop and realistically have a long-term future working in your company.
When managing younger employees, try and think about what motivates them career-wise.
The ability to progress and climb the ladder in a business is an excellent source of motivation to drive graduates to push on and work hard.
Offer Constructive Feedback, But Avoid Being Overly Negative
Providing constructive feedback and explicitly mentioning the areas in which new recruits need to improve is an essential part of your role as a manager.
Company directors will want to see you ensure new employees can provide high-quality results for the business.
After all, every company needs to make profits to survive, and staff who underperform regularly will only become a drain on resources.
However, being too negative and constantly berating graduates when they’re new to a role will only serve to demotivate them.
Receiving constructive criticism from a manager is helpful for graduates and all part of the learning of joining a new employer.
But come across as overly negative over an extended period of time.
They may decide to go and work elsewhere when they could have learnt and developed over time to grow into a valuable, reliable staff member.
Organise Fun Work Socials For Graduates To Enjoy
Recent graduates with bundles of energy may be excited about being able to get to know their new colleagues a little better.
Everyone needs a little downtime and relaxation away from work now and then, and putting on fun-filled social events could be a great way to motivate younger staff.
Try to think about ideas for cool work socials that your employees can all get involved in and make precious memories together.
Escape rooms, laser quest, paintballing, cooking competitions, attending live sports events with electric atmospheres, and masquerade parties are a few examples of fantastic work social events that you can all enjoy as a group.
At work social events where you have to take on challenges and solve them as a group, you will soon learn a lot about the team members you’re managing and spot the ones with a real competitive streak in them.
Be A Friendly Manager That’s Easy To Talk To
Something as simple as being friendly to graduate recruits and asking them how their day is going and how they’re finding their role at the company is vitally important.
Your staff will have more desire to be successful and work hard to provide the company with results if they feel they are valued and appreciated by management for the work they do.
Newcomers also need to know you’re approachable and always available to listen to any worries or concerns they may have, no matter how big or small they may initially consider them to be.
Managers and team members should communicate and check-in with one another frequently in order to maintain a healthy working relationship.
Try not to allow new staff who appear to be showing signs of low moods to go under the radar. Remind them that you’re always there for any help and support at work should they need it.
Doing as much as you can to look after your employees’ welfare should be paramount for managers today, regardless of their age.
Being a business manager in 2022 can be demanding at times, especially if your company experienced considerable losses during the pandemic and is only just beginning to recover and get back on its feet again.
These just are a few tips and pointers on how business managers out there can keep graduate recruits highly motivated and hungry for success.