Recruiting young professionals: Unifrog's insights

Earlier this year, Unifrog conducted a survey of over 12,000 young people to find out what they’re looking for in their future careers. We found that the most important factor to young people is a strong work life balance. They also want to learn about companies first-hand from current apprentices and employees, rather than through recruitment teams.

So if you’re an employer, how can Unifrog help you put this into practice?
 

1. Showcase your company’s commitment to a good work life balance across your early career recruitment materials

Young people prioritise a strong work life balance over a high salary.

We asked students aged 11-18 what’s most important to them when thinking about their future career. The most important factor, across all genders and age groups, was ‘good work/life balance (for example, having enough time off, or being able to work from home)’ with 36% of all respondents choosing this as most important.

The second most important factor was ‘high salary’ (29%), followed by ‘work that helps people or has a positive social impact’ (16%). There’s also a gender difference, with 35% of boys prioritising a high salary compared to 25% of girls. Having a positive social impact was more important to girls, with 20% choosing it as the most important factor when deciding on a future career, compared to 10% of boys.

If you’re a Unifrog employer partner, you could use insights like this to focus your matching campaigns. For example, you might highlight benefits like flexible or remote working options, or how an apprenticeship you’re promoting could help students get on the ladder to potential high-earning careers.
 

2. Prioritise content from current apprentices and employees across all your channels

When it comes to how young people like to hear about future employers, there’s a demand for first-hand information. Our research shows that 57% are keen to hear from current employees and apprentices, followed by their own teachers (47%). Recruitment teams are the least popular source of information, with only 39% saying they’d like to hear about opportunities this way.At Unifrog, we’ve identified a similar trend in the live webinars we run with employer partners, with the sessions featuring current apprentices out-performing those that only feature recruitment teams. For example, 1,150 students signed up to join our webinar with the NHS to hear from current apprentices and employees at the start of their career journeys!

If you’re a Unifrog employer partner, you can take advantage of these opportunities by getting your young apprentices involved in talking about your company on webinars like this. You could also sponsor a guide in our ‘How I got in’ series, where young professionals talk about their journeys into the industry.
3. Be transparent about salaries to challenge young people’s distorted expectations 

While a high salary is important, especially to boys, the young people we surveyed appear to have unrealistic expectations when it comes to what they expect to be earning at 25.

Our research shows a whopping 67% expect they’ll be on salaries over £30,000, with boys 12% more likely to predict this than girls. What’s more, a third believe they’ll be earning more than £50,000 a year at the age of 25! According to Statista, the median full-time salary in the UK in 2022 was £26,329 for women and £28,657 for men.

Unifrog creates honest, unbiased content for students. By becoming an employer partner, you’ll get the chance to create an Employer Profile where one of your employees talks about your company in a relatable way. They’ll be interviewed about what roles your company employs and what kinds of salaries students can actually expect.
How can my company become an Employer Partner?

By becoming an employer partner, you’ll connect with over 3,000 schools and colleges around the world. You’ll build relationships with teachers and careers leaders via events, co-created content, and platform opportunities.

• As a partner, you’ll get the chance to chat to young people directly at our careers fairs and on our webinars, and get your opportunities in front of interested students
   
• You’ll show what working for your organisation is really like, with the chance to create a Careers library profile on one of your roles, a ‘How I Got In’ guide to showcase one of your young professionals’ journeys, and your own Employer Profile
   
• You’ll get support to meet your recruitment goals by using our smart matching function to share upcoming events and opportunities with relevant and engaged students
   

Want to find out more about becoming one of Unifrog’s employer partners?

• Request a demo here (we'll then set up a meeting with you), or
• Call us on +4420 3372 5991 or email us at info@unifrog.org

You can also find out more about our work with our employer partners here.