Insights

Widespread job loss due to the pandemic in 2020, followed by record-high ‘quit rates’ in 2021, has allowed candidates to continue to drive the labor market. Companies looking to fill open roles are in tight competition for top talent, and have had to revisit their tried and true strategies for attracting candidates to remain in the game. But how many opportunities and offers are Gen Z juggling today, and how many salaries and benefits are they pinning against each other as they decide where they want to kick-start their careers?

Two years after the start of the pandemic we remain in a candidate-driven market, and recruiters are still battling for Gen Z’s attention as early career talent is inundated with job opportunities from companies big and small. And you can rest assured that today’s candidates have caught on that they are a highly sought-after group, and have expressed clear preferences for workplace policies and cultures that organizations would be wise to embrace if they are looking to remain competitive in today’s market, such as flexible work settings.

RippleMatch is proud to recognize Kathy Bowman, the Talent Acquisition Manager of Program Management at Catalina, as an Outstanding Leader in the Campus Recruiting Community!

RippleMatch is proud to be making its way to Portland this summer to participate in NACE22, the National Association of Colleges and Employers’ annual conference for college career services and corporate recruiting professionals. As sponsors of the conference, you’ll spot us everywhere from manning our booth in the Expo Hall, to taking the stage to present our latest benchmarking data on Gen Z. We are very excited to see you there!

You may have heard that early career talent is becoming an increasingly crucial talent pool, but who exactly are these candidates, and do you really need to tailor your recruiting strategies to interest them in your company?

While recruiting for any role at a company can be tough in today’s tight labor market, early career hiring has its own unique set of challenges. The way that you attract, evaluate, and ultimately hire entry-level employees will likely differ from your approach to recruiting more experienced professionals. As you develop your early career hiring strategy, here are some of the main challenges you may encounter (and some of our recommended solutions).

RippleMatch is proud to spotlight Ashely Wodarek as a Program Innovator! Ashley Wodarek is currently a Senior Campus Recruiter at MKS Instruments leading the recruitment and program design for its Graduate Internship Program on a global scale (North America, EMEA, and APAC regions). This is far from Ashley’s first award in the early career talent space —-she has been a consistent achiever and role model since the start of her career, and was nominated by a colleague as a RippleMatch Program Innovator.

Recruitment events are a critical component of any campus recruitment strategy — and benefit both recruiters and candidates alike. Events allow recruiters to meet and engage with top candidates either in-person or virtually, and help candidates learn more about your company and get excited about starting a career in your industry. They open the door for you to connect with candidates and follow up with resources and applications, and give candidates a friendly, human connection to your company who they can feel comfortable reaching out to with any questions or concerns they might be grappling with.

RippleMatch is proud to recognize Kayla Woitkowski, Director of Early Career Talent Acquisition at SAS, as an Outstanding Leader in the Campus Recruiting Community! Kayla has spent the majority of her career honing her skills as an early career recruitment specialist in the tech/software industry. She has over a decade of progressive experience, including strategy development for an award-winning intern program, university and diversity outreach strategy development and execution, recruitment technology implementation, data driven decisioning, global UR consulting, and a dedication to developing team members to achieve their full potential.