3 Strategies to Recruit and Support First-Gen College Grads

Today’s employers have made great strides in building more diverse recruiting pipelines — and yet recent research suggests that one group of candidates still tends to slip through the cracks: first-generation college students. The authors share the results of a series of surveys with thousands of students and dozens of recruiters across the U.S., and they highlight three ways employers can better engage with this underutilized talent pool: End pay-to-play internships, rethink what constitutes “relevant” experience, and provide the mentorship and career coaching that first-gen candidates may be less likely to have access to on their own. Ultimately, the authors argue that employers have a responsibility to understand and address the unique challenges these job-seekers face — and that especially in the face of ever-fiercer competition for talent, they only stand to benefit from greater access to this large pool of highly qualified yet often overlooked candidates.