The tech scene is an exciting opportunity for new grads. A career in tech sales can lead to great experience, rapid advancement, and high compensation. But some companies are hesitant of employing aspiring sales reps fresh out of school. At Betts, we work with a lot of new graduates. Here are the pros and cons to help hiring managers weigh their opportunities.
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Pros of hiring a new grad
Blank slate
One of the most appealing characteristics of a new grad hire is that they’re a blank slate. Students fresh out of school are eager to learn not just about the workforce in general, but about the company that gives them their first job. They have an innate trainable mentality. Companies don’t have to compete with prior employers’ ways of doing things or preconceived notions of what success is. New hires straight from college are ready to dive right into a company’s culture and follow its values.
Fresh perspective
The trainable mentality of candidates straight from college goes hand-in-hand with the fresh perspective these hires bring. They come from the newest schools of intellectual thought and are ready to see what kind of a difference they can make at wherever they take on a position. This eagerness is not something that any potential employee brings. Having a new employee who’s enthusiastic about your product or service and is proactively trying to better your company is an asset hiring managers should jump at.
Internal growth
Hiring straight from college also lays a solid foundation in a company’s employee base. Working with employees from day one leads to stronger internal promotions and executives that know how the company works inside and out. Having a pool of candidates within a company is a great way to strengthen culture and company values, while at the same time, offering an attractive path forward to people who are just beginning their careers.
Cons of hiring a new grad
No experience
Of course, most new hires coming from school don’t have any professional experience to boast. They’ve never worked with a team or under a manager. They lack an executive presence and can’t dive in to C-level meetings or sales pitches. Studying and working are two very different routines, and some first-time professionals aren’t aware of how large a change in lifestyle this can lead to. Vetting out potential employees that aren’t ready to take on the responsibilities a full-time job requires should be first part of any hiring manager’s screening process.
Lacking skillsets
Recent graduates also have very little introduction to commonplace work applications. Skills like Microsoft Office can be cultivated at school, but these people likely have little to no knowledge of systems like CRMs. New graduates have to learn multiple systems and technical skills right off the bat. This means they won’t be using these tools to their fullest potential for a while. If hiring managers need a seamless transition with an employee that can start tracking their sales pipeline immediately, new graduates aren’t the ideal candidates.
Training period
In general, new grads need a longer training period than established employees. From basic office protocol, to generic systems, candidates without experience need to learn how to be a part of the company before they can excel there. Hiring managers need to set a more lenient timeframe for on-boarding. They also need to be aware that spending the time to educate a new employee will pay off in the long run.
Overall, the cons of a new grad are exactly what most companies already are aware of. Applicants coming from college won’t have the professional experience that a year of working teaches, but everything they lack is easily learned if a company has a good on-boarding program. Hiring a new grad should be viewed as an investment. It will require some additional effort from a hiring manager and a company, but will ultimately lead to stronger employees.