5 Ways to Encourage New Grads To Relocate For Your Job Opportunity

For most of the professional workforce, relocation rates are at an all-time low. Within the past few years, several reports have found that only around 10-11% of Americans have made the choice to relocate for a job. Despite these numbers, there’s one group of people who, according to data collected by RippleMatch, can be swayed when it comes to relocating for a job: new grads. 

According to our 2019 report, “The State of the Gen Z Job Search,” a little more than half of Class of 2019 graduates surveyed said that the location of a company was one of the most important factors when accepting a job offer – for the other half, location didn’t factor in at all. Data collected through our candidate matching process also reveals that location isn’t an overwhelming deal-breaker for candidates. When matching qualified candidates with employers on our platform, we ask for feedback if a candidate declines to be connected to an employer. Of the hundreds of thousands of matches that take place on our platform, only 19% of candidates declined to be connected with a company because of its location. From our data, it’s clear that location does factor in when candidates are deciding where to begin their career, but they are more open to relocating than the general national average. 

With this flexibility early on, there’s an advantage to securing talented candidates right out of college. So how do you convince entry-level candidates to not only take a chance on your company, but also on a city they may be unfamiliar with? 

Whether your company is situated in a well-known tech hub or a small city, there are pros and cons to every location. However, there are several ways you can cater to new graduates to ensure they don’t turn down your opportunity because of location alone. Here are our top tips:

Fully showcase your company culture and welcoming community. 

Starting a new job can be stressful for any new employee. But moving to a new city for a first “real” job is sure to be a source of nerves for any candidate. One way to address this is by ensuring candidates get familiar with your company culture during the interview process. 

According to RippleMatch research on Gen Z, a sense of community and a company’s culture ranks in the top three priorities for young employees searching for a job – something that becomes even more important if a job is located in a city where a new grad has no existing network. At a minimum, flesh out your careers page to include details about initiatives and resources that contribute to company culture. This can include videos, testimonials, pictures, and written descriptions of employee resource groups, company outings, or group activities. During the interview process with a candidate, you can also carve out time to discuss the culture and community at your company. 

For more ideas, read our articles 4 Ways To Showcase Your Company Culture To Candidates and How To Cultivate a Sense of Community Among Your Entry-Level Hires.  

Share resources about your city prior to the onsite interview. 

An onsite, final-round interview might be a standard process at your company – but how often do you provide additional context about life outside of work? There’s a chance a candidate has never visited the city in which your company is located, which means an onsite interview is a chance to sell them on the city as well as your company. 

When bringing a candidate in for an interview, provide them with additional resources about your city for when they arrive. This can include information about the area surrounding the office (like coffee shops, restaurants, parks) and information on activities around the city in general. Though the candidate may not have time to explore the city while visiting for their interview, their visit during their interview might be the only chance they have to see the area before making a decision on their offer. By doing your part to provide them with context about the city they might move to, you can generate excitement earlier on in the process and help to ease any nerves about relocating. 

Give candidates a chance to learn more by connecting them with current employees after the interview. 

Even after several rounds of interviews, candidates may have some lingering questions about a company’s culture and how they would fit in. Once you’ve extended an offer to a candidate, connect them with a few employees who weren’t directly involved in their interview process to discuss their experience within the company. Of the employees you connect with candidates, include an employee who relocated for their role that can discuss the transition, how the company made them feel welcome, and their experience living in the city. 

To make candidates feel even more comfortable when asking current employees additional questions, you can take your connection emails a step further and designate specific employees for specific topics. Employee 1 can speak specifically about moving to a new city for a job; Employee 2 can speak on internal company culture initiatives; and Employee 3 can discuss how the company has helped their career grow. 

If you’re located in a city with a high cost of living, offer some kind of relocation assistance.

If your company is located in a city like New York or San Francisco, it likely won’t be as difficult to convince candidates that it’s an interesting place to live. However, the high cost of living of both of these cities can be a barrier to entry for candidates who may be otherwise excited for your position. 

Unlike professionals who have been in the working world for several years, candidates coming right out of school may not have the savings or the means to relocate to an expensive city for your opportunity. This is especially true for candidates who come from low-income backgrounds, who are disproportionately people of color and first-generation college students. Approximately 27 percent of first-generation students come from families that make $20,000 or less annually, and 42% of African American students and 48% of Latino students at four-year institutions were reported to be first-generation students.

Even if the salary you offer covers the cost of living and then some, many college grads will struggle to come up with several thousand dollars to cover a security deposit, moving costs, travel, and any other costs to get situated before they start receiving a salary. To convince new grads to relocate for your position – especially if you care about bringing candidates from diverse backgrounds into your organization – consider offering a relocation stipend to help them get established in the few weeks before their first day.  

If your company is located in a city with a lower-than-average cost of living, highlight that among its other benefits. 

In a time when levels of student debt are higher than ever, a job located in a city with a lower-than-average cost-of-living has real appeal. Generation Z – known for their pragmatism – witnessed the financial downfall of their parents and older siblings as they grew up, and are especially concerned with making smart financial choices as a result. If your company is located in an affordable city, embrace it. Among the follow-up materials you send candidates after you have sent an offer, include information about the affordable cost-of-living compared to high-demand cities like NYC, San Francisco, or Los Angeles. Chicago, for example, has a 40% lower cost-of-living than San Francisco, while cities like Pittsburgh, Minneapolis, and Phoenix have a 50-60% lower cost-of-living than San Francisco or Manhattan. 

While it may feel like a lot of additional work, including this information in your post-offer follow-ups doesn’t have to be a big lift – this tool from NerdWallet does all the work for you when you select two cities to compare. With everything a candidate considers about their first job offer, calculating the cost-of-living might not be the first thing on their mind, so make it easy for them to see the long-term value your company provides financially.

Winning over Gen Z talent is influenced by everything from your recruitment marketing efforts to your candidate experience. Speaking to Gen Z’s priorities throughout the hiring process can help you attract the most talented candidates, but selling them on the location of your company is important to pushing an offer over the finish line. Use these five tips to ensure that the only impact your location has on a candidate’s decision to accept an offer is a positive one.