Two Programs for Searching Future Employees before Graduation
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Year in and out, more and more college students are getting into the corporate world even before graduation. And for human resources managers, these are excellent and non-stressful ways of looking for the best employees. The idea of searching for future workers even before a student finishes college offers many benefits to the company and to the student as well. Imagine the potential of tapping into a fresh human resource. Twenty years ago, a person cannot get a job before graduation. Today, two years before graduation, the company can now train, mentor, and expose potential employees. There are actually two types of programs where companies can take advantage: mentoring and job shadowing.

More and more companies take on the idea of before-graduation employee search today. Human resource-hungry industries, like information technology, have discovered the advantages of the two programs. First, it gives the companies the chance to hone and practice students to be fitting workers, not only in terms of skills, but also of work attitude and character. Second, it allows them to test-drive future workers who are willing to exert effort for experience.

Job shadowing takes on the idea of internship. However, it is briefer. This program will give students the opportunity to visit different corporations and companies related to their field of study. Each visit may last for an hour and the longest may take two hours. During this period, the company allows the student to work closely with an in-house employee. They get first hand experience and ideas of the daily activities inside the company.

Even though students expose themselves only for a short period inside the company, it is time well spent since the students get a flood of advice straight from the employees. The program may be brief, but the impact that it creates in the students will remain in them until they graduate and pursue a career. If the company wishes to conduct and host a job-shadowing program for undergraduate students, there should be a division of activities to avoid clutter or conflict in the work area. One group of students may have their tour and hands on practice in the work area while another group undergoes a question and answer discussion with the supervisors. The ultimate goal of job shadowing is to expose the students to every area in the company as much as possible and to provide them quality-learning experience.

Internships are the most common undergraduate employee search programs. But more often than not, interns feel the pressure of a 9-5 work shift. Sometimes, the overwhelming workload can cause trauma in them and it is not a good idea to train the students to be good employees. To supplement this, the job-mentoring program teaches the students of core principles and values of the organization. Most mentoring activities happen in actual work. Job mentoring, however, requires a separate session where there are designated supervisors who will guide and teach the interns. In some cases, these mentors can be a professional outside the company. He may be a practitioner in a similar industry, a professor from the same college, or a corporate leader. Even an alumnus who presently works in the company can become a job mentor.

The conversion rate of students undergoing these two programs is very promising. In fact, companies who avail of these programs hire 6 out of 10 potential students. The benefit of searching employees before graduation is mutual; students appreciate their field and gets hands on experience, while companies get top-notch workers.