College Grad Season: 3 Tips to Attract Today’s Best Talent

For HR pros, college grad season can be exciting and scary, wrapped up in one big recruiting bundle.

First, there’s a whole new crop of skilled, and hopefully, eager job candidates.

On the other hand, securing young, top talent as they start their professional careers isn’t easy for HR pros trying to satisfy hiring managers.

But there are plenty of students who can fit your needs: Several million college students are gearing up to graduate. Most of them are already on the hunt for positions in a competitive labor market. 

College Grad Hiring on the Rise

After several years of steady hiring of recent college grads, there will likely be an uptick this year. According to National Association of Colleges and Employers data, employers plan to hire nearly 8% more recent college grads in 2025.

On top of that, more than 40% of employers plan to increase the salaries for bachelor’s degree graduates. Most of them will be working hybrid schedules. That’s what 54% of employers are offering. Forty-two percent of the entry-level positions will be full-time in the office and just 4% will be remote.

Beyond more money and flexibility, what do recent college grads want from employers? It’s important to know because you want to convince the best college talent to come to you.

What College Grads Really Want

“Every year brings new positives and negatives when hiring recent college grads,” says Matt Thomas, president of WorkSmart Systems. “It’s important for hiring managers to ensure they take the extra steps to guarantee a smooth hiring process resulting in the best candidate possible.” 

Before COVID, new college grads were lured into the corporate world with cushy perks like snack bars and ping-pong tables, but that’s not enough anymore.

According to research from Handshake, new graduates are more likely to apply for a job when they see:

• Job stability (76%)
• The right location (75%)
• Positive employer reputation (72%)
• Good starting salary (71%)
• Flexible schedules (61%)
• Hybrid work schedules (46%)
• A familiar company brand (28%), and
• A fast-growing company (21%).

And they’re trying to stand out when they apply. How? Another Handshake study found the new grads will:

• Attend career fairs and networking events (68%)
• Apply to more jobs (63%)
• Work part-time during their senior year (62%)
• Pursue an internship during their senior year (61%), and
• Consider more industries, companies and roles (57%).

How to Attract and Hire Top Talent

So the question now for HR pros and hiring managers: How can you attract top talent and convince them you’re the ideal employer?

We have three tips here to convince the best college talent to join your team.

1. Get Out There

As noted above, most soon-to-be and recent college grads are more than willing to attend career fairs and networking events.

They’ll be there, so you want to be there, too. You don’t have to host college career fairs, but you can work with local campuses, industry groups or the chamber of commerce to stay involved and put your best face forward.

2. Offer the Right Incentive

Most of the new grads will have student loan debt. And nearly 55% of those with debt say it’s a significant source of stress for them, the Handshake study found.

As you might imagine, the top talent that just graduated would be interested in some form of a student loan perk. For instance, a student loan payment matching program is a top benefit offered these days. Thanks to the Secure 2.0 Act, when employees make payments toward their student loans, employers can make matching contributions to employees’ 401(k) or 403(b), just as if they had contributed that amount directly to their retirement plans

You can learn more about administering that kind of perk in our story: Student Loan Payment Matching: IRS Issues Timely, 5-Step Guidance.

3. Emphasize Growth

New grads want to continue learning and growing their skills (something we’ll assume they were happy doing in college).

In fact, the Handshake research proves that. New graduates commit to job opportunities because they:

• Saw the ability to grow skills (69%)
• Saw an opportunity to advance career goals (61%)
• Had a passion for the work (54%)
• Had financial reasons (47%), and
• Liked the job location (46%).

“Over the past few years, companies have made great strides in offering their employees growth opportunities both in and out of the office. However, some companies are not sure how to publicize these opportunities and their company brand other than during the interview process,” says Thomas.

So you want to ramp up information on your internal mobility opportunities, giving them examples of people who’ve succeeded and routes they can take.