What is the outlook for entry-level candidates in the workforce? We recently kicked off season seven of the DE Talk podcast with a conversation with Shawn VanDerziel, President & CEO of the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), to discuss the current environment for early talent, the trends and technologies being adopted by employer members that may be influencing this outlook, and more. Have a look at this clip from the conversation!
Shannon Offord:
As we look at the future of work from NACE’s perspective, what does the future of work look like for early career professionals? I know you touched on a little bit of that with certificates and some of the positions, maybe not requiring degrees as maybe they did before, but kind of what’s the outlook from NACE’s perspective?
Shawn VanDerziel:
Yeah. I look at it this way because we focus on that early talent, they’re the future of work and they’re going to be the ones that shape the future of work. And Gen Z and millennials have been through a lot at a very formative stage of their lives. They’re the future and they’re going to be the management and millennials are already management, and those Gen Zs are going to come up very quickly. They understand the advantages and disadvantages of virtual work and spaces. They understand how to adapt to change and the need for flexibility. They’re continuous learners. Building skills are super important to them, mental health and work-life balance. It’s also on their radar, along with self-reflection. They’re very self-reflective and they have a strong desire for stability. So, when you piece all of this together, who is Gen Z? How is this going to come together? What’s the future of work going to look like? It’s certainly going to look different when you think about those strong characteristics that are related to the workplace, you can only imagine what the workplace is going to look like. And we’re at a historic point in work as it is already. We have five generations in the workplace for the first time, and it’s soon to be six because Gen Alpha is coming up just in the–
Shannon Offord:
They’re coming fast.
Shawn VanDerziel:
They’re coming real fast, and they’re already participating in the labor force. I mean, we’ve got 13-year-olds and it’s just going to continue to happen. And so, we’ve got to think about how this is playing out, but I’ll tell you, I think there are some bigger trends that are out there as well. And the big one certainly is around skills. I know we’ve touched on this, but I would just say skills, skills, skills. Intentionally developing and articulating skills is going to become part of all of our ethos, and so it’s going to be a part of what we each just do when we obtain a job, when we start to attain new duties in a job, we are going to be cataloging all of our skills all of the time, and employers are going to be doing that alongside of us, and colleges are going to be doing that too so that we can get to the people that we need to do particular types of jobs much more quickly. That’s part of the future of work. The other part of the future of work is the importance on durable skills or what people have often referred to as soft skills. They’re so important. Employers right now are desiring graduates who are coming into their companies who have great communication skills, great critical thinking skills, great teamwork skills. I don’t see those really going away. Those are the durable skills that we need to build the future. And so the future of work certainly is going to contain those elements as well.
Shannon Offord:
It’s really interesting that you mentioned that people are going to have to figure out really how to articulate those skills that they have. I think for the longest time, a lot of people just thought that was just really tied to maybe the veteran community, them trying to figure out and articulate the skills that they received in the military. But it’s not just them. It’s really everyone who’s out there in the workforce being able to effectively articulate the skills that they do have and being able to articulate those to future employers.
Shawn VanDerziel:
That’s right. It’s just not enough anymore to say that you have great communication skills. Well demonstrate to me. Tell me how you have demonstrated great communication skills. What does that really mean? It’s about clarifying expectations between the candidate and the employer. Employers actually don’t want to take risks when it comes to hiring,
Shannon Offord:
Not usually.
Shawn VanDerziel:
So what they want to do is find systems that are more scientific in nature to predict that somebody is going to succeed in a job because they don’t want someone to fail in their first month or two months, find out someone actually can’t do the job or even someone who’s not going to be retained a year later because they just don’t have what it takes to grow with a company. Well, one way to start doing that is to really dive a whole lot deeper into a person’s past, but not just the past, but how they can apply what they’ve learned for the future. We all know about behavioral interviewing and what behavioral interviewing does, which is the theory that past behavior will predict the future. And so, asking questions like that is a part of skills-based hiring. But skills-based hiring goes even beyond that. And so, we’re not going to stop hearing about this. The tools are getting better. They will get better and we’re all going to be along for the ride.
Shannon Offord:
What advice would you give, or do you have for employers trying to engage and retain early talent in a post pandemic hybrid AI enabled work world?
Hear Shawn’s advice to employers as well as current trends in the early talent hiring space, the influence of AI on early talent candidate sourcing, which industries are still thriving for early talent, and more by listening to the full episode! Want more insights from NACE? Download the 2025 Spring Job Outlook Report and sign up to receive the upcoming Fall Job Outlook Report releasing in November! Want more DE Talk? Season seven is just getting started – stay tuned for another great episode next month!
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