‘We have designed the selection stage to reflect how we work in Liberty IT, where there are group exercises where applicants work together to solve problems, and individual exercises focused on reviewing a code sample or designing a web application’Īs for how Bandino’s team assesses early-career prospective hires, she says they use behavioural interviewing techniques which “focus on past behaviours as predictors of future performance and help identify key competencies such as problem-solving, teamwork and communication skills”. But if they are willing to invest in developing talent they may well be rewarded with loyal employees long term. Hiring people with little to no experience but the same expectations and rights as any other employee requires a little bit of leeway on the part of the employer. “For example, a candidate may have demonstrated leadership or tech skills through volunteer work experience.” Valeria Bandino, senior manager of talent acquisition at Riot Games in Dublin, says employers should “look beyond traditional work experience and focus on lateral skills that may be relevant to the position” when they are assessing early-stage talent. Communicating with graduates and making sure they offer them a worthwhile career is key, they say. Riot Games and Liberty IT both were both among the Best Workplaces in Tech according to Great Place to Work and they place a strong emphasis on hiring early-career workers. They are also good at reaching out to young talent – be it through social media campaigns, university grad fairs or paid internship offers. The companies that do well in terms of hiring and retaining graduates are tuned in to these concerns. They know what employers can offer so if a company wants to focus on attracting early-stage talent they must have a very clear idea of why jobseekers should choose their workplace over another. The graduates of today are coping with a global economy in flux, inflation and a housing crisis. If recent surveys on the relationships between employers and Gen Z talent can be believed, young people entering the labour market have high expectations for working culture, salary and job security.Ī survey from last year by Aon and HPC of 34 large companies found that 44pc of respondents said retention was the biggest challenge they faced in their early-career programmes. Talent acquisition specialists from Riot Games and Liberty IT explain their approach to recruiting and retaining early-stage talent.Īttracting early-stage talent is not something that employers can afford to be lackadaisical about.

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