Early careers campaigns – what matters right now

Early careers talent are not undergraduates. Yet many campaigns in the sector use the language of undergraduate prospectuses that are characterised by vague and general statements with little substance – Transform your future; Make a difference; Leaders of tomorrow. Your target audience has matured and needs to be treated as such. They may also be global, so need regional terminology and timelines.

Don’t patronise them. Be direct and clear. Talk their language and use terminology relevant to each region.

Your target audience is cynical, will spot a corporate voice and see through marketing gloss. They’ll search your corporate channels to gather information, but they’ll use other channels to find the reality from others.

Talent may use TikTok to hear from their peers. Don’t create corporate TikToks that lack authenticity. Don’t develop an overly curated view of life in your firm. Avoid company leaders at the cost of the voice, face and experiences of people just like them. Instead, empower your recent joiners to be content creators who provide first-hand, honest experiences of life at your firm.

Talent wants to know more than just what you do. They want to know where you stand on the things that matter to them. They want more than just words that connect the dots between purpose and the potential experience as a new employee. They want specifics.

Your early careers campaign should reinforce the connection between the two. Embed your message everywhere, across all touchpoints and potential interactions.

Talent want to know what’s in it for them and who they will become. They also need to know at what cost and what you expect of them. What the realities of the role will be and how you’ll support them.

Be clear on both the ‘give’ and ‘get’. Not just what’s great about working at your firm, but what it takes to work for you and the type of person who thrives.

Whilst millennials were driven by purpose, altruism appears to be declining. The American Freshman Survey, which has tracked priority trends since the 1960s, found that for 80-90% of today’s students, getting rich is what matters most and only half still value a meaningful philosophy to live. Furthermore, the idea of a linear path to becoming partner isn’t the same goal as it once was.

Presenting different career path opportunities will add appeal. And with five different generations in the workforce, those managing or mentoring new early careers talent may well have very different views and beliefs towards a career. So, this is as much about how you help prepare your partners to manage new talent as it is about being clear on what opportunities exist for talent.

Corporate brand and people brands should be connected. However, there’s often a disconnect. The former tends to be conservative. The latter more vibrant. And early careers campaigns often have a life of their own. Brand fragmentation is common.Find a way to create a visual expression for your campaign that complements and supports your visual identity so that you create one coherent and aligned impression of your firm.

Future talent favour email from employers. They prefer in-person events and recruitment methods to virtual alternatives. Employer websites are just as important as social media. Of social media channels, LinkedIn is almost twice as preferred to Instagram, and almost three times as preferred to TikTok and YouTube. Facebook has fallen out of preference.

Use all channels and ensure they support each other. Present key factual messages and information about the early career application process and joining experience on your website. Use social media for the authentic, user-generated reality of the early talent voice – TikTok for inspiration, Instagram reels and YouTube shorts for employee stories. Develop a presence on Reddit for a non-curated expression of the real voice. Make it easy for your people to amplify your campaign by giving them the messages and assets to share via their own profiles on their own channels.

For global firms, there would ideally be one global message applied consistently across all regions. That would make things simple. But we don’t live in simple times. The current geopolitical climate is splintering globalism. A regional take on messaging is important for some and essential for others. Furthermore, attitudes towards work varies across different regions. One global message applied rigidly won’t work.

Early careers campaigns will need to adapt locally. Generally, Asia tends to follow what the UK does. Germany has a different approach to working rules to the rest of Europe. And for the US, the attitude towards work life balance is different and the political mood surrounding DE&I and sustainability means messaging needs a careful hand. Messaging and the visual approach will need to bend and flex whilst still reflecting and supporting the same campaign sentiment. Engage the global early careers market at the outset to hear all views then test it regionally to make the campaign relevant.

The generation you’re inviting into your organisation is more discerning than ever before. It matters that your campaign and communications is informed by your brand, employer brand and commitment to inclusion and belonging. That your approach is marketing savvy. That you care about communicating the right messages, with the right language and in a way that’s creative and engaging. That’s why at Frank Bright & Abel, we care about all of that too.