The manager summarizes the challenges they face with their recent graduate hiring and training program. There is a generational gap between the new graduates and managers, as the graduates have high expectations but lack experience, while managers find their work superficial. Retention rates are lower than hoped. The manager seeks to improve connections between graduates and managers and bridge their differences in needs and expectations.

1. Empathy Map
Employer Perspective on Hiring
Recent Grads
Andy Beaulieu

2. Say
1. We hire about 20 recent grads every year
2. We have a six week training program where they get exposed to different parts of the business
3. The business units used to be very engaged with the new hires but lately I am finding that they are less available and
attentive than in recent years
4. Managers often comment that the grads feel like they can accomplish any challenge, but in reality their experience is not
sufficiently developed for sophisticated responses.
5. Also, I hear that trainees turn in work that lacks analysis and reflection, which is frustrating to the managers. “They google
the topic, paste in what they find, and expect someone else to sort through it and reach conclusions” is a typical complaint.
6. We have tried to assign responsibility in each business unit to one of our identified “high potentials” as they are generally
resourceful and dedicated; this alleviates time drains on the managers
7. The recent grads are always eager and willing to learn, but they also have high expectations for interesting assignments.
“That was okay, but a little boring” I often hear.
8. The grads tend to expect that everything can be addressed quickly; in the real world problems may take months to resolve.
9. The grads often come with prior internship experience, which is helpful.
10. The amount of project work that the grads do now in school is helpful.
11. We have some generational issues with the new grads, specifically I have tried to coach them to stay off their phones. But I
hear that they text and socialize whenever they believe they have a moment.
12. We don’t have a hard time attracting talented recent grads.
13. We recruit from a handful of top schools – but also try to reserve a spot or two for unsolicited resumes.
14. Some of the other employers offer higher starting pay than we do and skim off the very best grads.
15. The grads tend to bond quickly with one another, and share their experiences.
16. We are able to do a better job now with diversity than ever before.
17. Our program used to be bigger, but we have pared it back lately due to lower rates of turnover and retirement.
18. We have always had a challenge with “poaching”, where other employers hire away our grads soon after they’ve completed
the training.
19. A couple of the earliest grads have gone on to management positions and done quite well.
20. They have recently measured downstream retention (1,3, 5 years after the program) and it is not as high as hoped.

3. Do
1. Talking to colleges; understanding the focus of their programs: regular academics, internships, study abroad, project team
work, etc.
2. Fielding calls from colleges who want to convince us to include them in our recruitment efforts
3. Understanding whether certain colleges’ programs produce more qualified and successful grads than others
4. Understanding why some college’s grads turn do our offers more often than others.
5. Learning what managers need and expect from the grads who rotate through their departments.
6. Collecting ratings from the business units about each of the grads in the program
7. Talking to recent grads in the program, learning what they found most beneficial and what could be improved
8. Talking to trainee program “alumni” (2-4 years after their participation) to learn how the program benefited them
9. Studying statistics about the performance of alumni 2+ years after the program
10. Studying statistics about the retention of grads who came through the program
11. Proposing changes to the program every year
12. Trying to preserve the program through constant budget reductions
13. Collecting information about the programs at other organizations, seeing how they compare to ours

4. Think
1. Believe the program has been a great way to bring recent grads into the organization
2. Think that there will always be challenges bringing inexperienced hires into the organization
3. Think we should increase the size of the program, maybe to 30 hires per year
4. Think we should do more with the grads after six weeks, but management has not been willing to invest further
5. Think grads should be more appreciative of the opportunity, be careful of showing any “what else can you do for me” attitude
6. Think we should revisit the set of schools we recruit from, focus less on “pedigree” and more on results

5. Feel
1. Feels frustrated that the program has been reduced and the budget constrained
2. Feels concerned that trainees aren’t always making the best impression on their managers
3. Feels frustrated that other firms hire away their recent grads after investing in them
4. Feels proud of some of the successes of the program: increased diversity, solid retention of alumni, promotion of some grads
to management positions
5. Feels hopeful that the high potentials and alumni can continue to bolster the program, even if managers are distracted
6. Feels concerned about the downstream retention rate and the conclusions some may draw from it.
7. Feels that managers and recent grads are becoming a bit disconnected from one another.

6. Problem Statement
The dedicated and passionate College
Recruitment manager, who leads the firm’s
program which brings in around 20 recent grads
each year for a six-week training and placement
program, needs a way to bridge the generation
gap between recent grads and
managers, because differences in their needs
and expectations may be causing elevated levels
of dissatisfaction and reduced levels of
empathy, at significant cost to the firm.

7. Stakeholder Profile
The stakeholder portrayed in this exercise leads the
college recruitment activity at a major firm in the
financial industry. He/she is in charge of recruiting
a class of new grads every year, staging the
training, and then helping to place the grads into
the functions where they best align. He/she has
been leading this activity for about 4 years after
taking it over from a predecessor. I get the strong
impression he/she is passionate about this process
and its value to all stakeholders.