Turning on the youth talent tap in 2022

This article was originally posted by CivicAction...

In 2022, there is no denying the unique value that young, diverse talent can bring to entry-level positions in your organization. Tapping into the youth population can help employers address growing talent shortages, increase workforce diversity and improve retention rates — not to mention the added benefits of greater availability, lower salary expectations, comfort with new-age technology, and more (Untapped Talent: Exploring the Benefits of Opportunity Youth for Employers).

So why are 71% of employers having a hard time finding applicants for their entry-level roles — and at the same time, over 800,000 Canadian youth are not in employment, education, or training?

Here’s what we know

One of the barriers keeping youth from applying starts at the very beginning of the process – the job posting itself.

How many times have you posted a role and simply recycled the last posting you made? Most of us are guilty of this but the truth is – traditional entry-level job postings may inadvertently screen out young, diverse candidates who have the skillsets and capabilities to be successful. We know that because, with the help of Accenture and NPower Canada, we conducted a survey of over 200 students to understand their perspectives on traditional job postings. Here are some of the barriers they identified:

• Overcomplicated or vague job responsibilities
• Job titles that they can’t identify with or cause them to lose interest
• Arbitrary requirements (75% of youth said they felt their capabilities and skillset were suitable for a role, but the mandatory education or experience requirements listed stopped them from applying)
• A focus on the number of years’ experience instead of a focus on capabilities (4 out of 5 youth wanted employers to focus on the capabilities required to succeed in a role rather than the number of years of experience)
• Lack of information (85% of youth wanted organizations to share more about their organization in the posting, including their workplace culture)
• Over half wanted to see an organizational inclusivity statement and links to the company’s social media platforms and review sites.

Young, Diverse Talent is Just a Click Away

Want to improve your postings but don’t know where to start? To help combat these barriers, CivicAction developed an online Job Posting Assessment that—in just a few simple steps—provides employers with recommendations on how to improve their job postings so they resonate more with the young talent they are looking for.

This free, easy-to-use, online tool will help with the following:

• Using Artificial Intelligence, the Job Posting Assessment scans your job postings for problematic language and content using several lenses e.g., youth, gender, and disability biases; buzzwords & cliches, jargon & acronyms; and clarity
• Flags content/requirements that youth may not understand, don’t identify with, or may not have
• Provides tailored recommendations on how you can make your job posting more accessible to youth

Are you ready to start recruiting next-gen talent?

Upload your job posting and – in less than three minutes – the Job Posting Assessment will do the rest!