Tap into your graduates' big ideas

They're bright, switched on, tech-savvy and want to make a difference. Tonia Galatia explains how employers can make the most of this golden opportunity…

I've been working with students and graduates for quite a few years now, and when launching my own business at the start of the pandemic, I hired 11 students and graduates as part of my team - along with a further six interns. They are hard-working, positive, fun to be around, and they are full of great ideas.

My company helps bridge the gap between students and universities on the one side and employers on the other, and one of my business goals is to encourage business owners and managers to appreciate the real potential of their student and graduate hires.

I feel like I've been successful when I see a fully-integrated workforce (ideally incorporating people from a whole range of social and ethnic backgrounds, but that's for another article), where experienced employees and younger staff treat each other with respect.

Success is when they feed off each other - the younger people learning the ways of the world and the tricks of the trade from the people who have longevity under their belts, and the more experienced workers feeding off the buzz of their younger, tech-minded colleagues.

A disconnect between two groups

What can easily happen in the workplace, though, is that experienced workers don't really know how to handle their new, young colleagues. It may be that they've read some of the headlines and already have a few preconceptions about them. Sometimes they'll feel that the interns or grads will need lots of hand-holding (reality check: they don't), or that the two groups will have little in common.

I do get this - but, based on experience, I would say this is unlikely to be true. Whether you're 20 or 50, you've probably binge-watched Game Of Thrones and Tiger King and have an eye on the news ten times a day. Grads and students are not an alien species.

One great way to help different generations of workers to gel is what's known as reverse mentoring - it's been around a few years now and is gathering momentum. It's exactly what you'd imagine it to be - the sharing of ideas in both directions. I know that some businesses use this as a way to help build confidence amongst their new recruits.

'Oh great,' you’re thinking. 'My senior team have got 200 years' experience between them - doesn't this all sound like one-way traffic?' Well, here are a few things the young student and graduate upstarts might just bring to the table.

1. Social media expertise - most businesses today already invest in social media, and those that don't could almost certainly use it for brand-building/marketing purposes if they had the time or inclination. Graduates grew up on social media. They were among Facebook's first users - then they mostly abandoned it and aced WhatsApp, Snapchat and Instagram while everyone else was still sleeping. Whatever your social media needs, they can help.
2. Total ease with all kinds of new tech - new graduates have been around computers their entire lives. iPads came out when they were 11 or 12, they grew up using laptops for homework, they were often taught coding at school. They understand system, and in fact there's a chance they've designed and run a website or two. Tech is their world.
3. A no-risk attitude - students' heroes are often people like Elon Musk, a guy who seems to wake up in a morning, saying 'Let’s give this a go', and then goes out and does it. This no-risk mentality may need tempering just a little, but early talent recruits are often full of amazing ideas. They might not ask about the 'hows' as much as more experienced staff do, but why put a cork on it? Encourage their unfettered enthusiasm and see where it leads.
4. The best ideas for your next round of recruits - no one knows next year's graduate intake better than this year's. Instead of farming one of yours off to the local unis to do a boring company speech, have them devise a programme that will resonate with new recruits and inspire them to work hard and share their ideas. When business owners sit down and thrash out a plan with this year's grads, they can get a much clearer handle on what next year's wide-eyed hopefuls can do for them.

There's a multitude of different ways for businesses to encourage their graduates and early talent recruits to participate - to really make them feel like their ideas are welcome. You could have weekly ideas sessions, or you could have a white-board by the kitchen, with weekly prizes for the most novel suggestions.

Before you begin, though, it's important that your recruits properly understand what your business does. What are the business aims? What are the challenges? What are the parameters they are working in? It's also be helpful if you can articulate how they fit into the wider organisation and give them a sense of how what they do is part of a wider whole.

That's because students and grads quite often don't have that traditional sense of 'being junior' that previous generations did. At uni, they were encouraged to speak up and to challenge how things were done. If they wanted a meeting with a senior professor, they'd just email and ask for one.

For that reason, you might need to explain that a graduate or intern asking the CEO out to lunch to pick his/her brains isn't necessarily the done thing. Still, you've got to at least see something admirable in that untainted, shoot-for-the-moon, to-hell-with-the-rules approach to life. You just might have to manage it – that's all.

Creative fuel for your business

Given the chance, I'm sure your early talent will pleasantly surprise you - and give you ideas that will provide fuel for your business for years to come. Celebrate their successes with them, and give them a little freedom to fail, too.

Also, if you can get them to buy into your company values, they'll be with you for life. Possibly not as an employee, but in spirit at least - because they tend to care about things that we should all care about, such as the environment and equality.

Ultimately, I've found that the best way to let graduates and interns flourish is to let them take ownership of something. Build in a few safety nets so that nothing truly disastrous can happen, and then let them go. I'm frequently blown away by how committed they can be to a project – they'll just get stuck in and run with it.

Who wouldn't want people like that in their organisation?

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the position of Prospects/Jisc.

Written by

Tonia Galati

Director & Founder

TG Consulting Ltd