18 reasons why employers need to hire candidates who are early in their business and consumer services careers

There are important short- and long-term benefits for employers to hire students, recent graduates, and others early in their careers for business and consumer service roles. We reached out to 18 hiring experts to get their thoughts:

• Build Early Campus Recruitment Pipeline
• Create Immersive Branded Experiences
• Implement Intern to Full-Time Employee Pathway
• Emphasize Growth and Entrepreneurial Skills
• Partner with Vocational Schools and Colleges
• Host Interactive Hiring Events and Bootcamps
• Launch Multi-Platform Recruitment Campaigns
• Evaluate Workforce Needs Before Mass Hiring
• Conduct Efficient Group Interviews
• Leverage Peer Referrals from Recent Hires
• Use AI to Assess Candidates’ Core Values
• Develop Internship-to-Hire Programs
• Offer Paid Micro-Internships as Tryouts
• Deploy AI-Driven Soft Skills Assessments
• Target TikTok and Implement Referral Programs
• Start Recruiting Early in Academic Year
• Connect Students to Flexible Gig Opportunities
• Establish Year-Round College Partnership Pipeline

Build Early Campus Recruitment Pipeline

Start recruiting and place job advertisements as early as possible. Ideally, begin in September when students return to college. Proactively reach out to students via email and text messaging, and ensure every interaction is positive. Top students actively seeking employment upon graduation typically receive 2 to 3 job offers before December’s break.

Use structured, job-related assessments to qualify students and ensure those assessments provide candidates with the opportunity to showcase their strengths. Make job offers as qualified students are identified — don’t wait for the semester to end. Build rapport, trust, and excitement with any candidate you interact with. A great way to build excitement is to highlight job development and career paths your company offers.

Also, don’t rely on AI robots to interview and build relationships with graduating job seekers. More acceptances of job offers occur when real recruiters and hiring managers engage and interact with the graduating students you wish to hire.

Steven Lindner, PhD, Organizational Psychologist | Chief Talent Officer | Corporate Recruiting, The WorkPlace Group

Create Immersive Branded Experiences

Having launched Undergrads.com and scaled it to staff thousands of college students, I’ve found that building a direct pipeline from universities is paramount for high-volume entry-level hiring. Our model connects students to flexible gigs in the hospitality and service industries, tailoring roles to their class schedules.

This approach works because we empower students with practical skills, scholarship opportunities, and a launchpad for future careers, which is incredibly attractive to early career candidates. Our AI-powered job board then acts as an automated job headhunter, significantly streamlining the matching process.

This strategy allows us to effortlessly staff hundreds, even nearly 1,000 roles for major events like the Kentucky Derby or Super Bowl by tapping directly into local university talent pools. By focusing on mutual benefit and automated candidate matching, we can efficiently onboard large numbers of reliable candidates without the need for traditional interviews.

Thomas Mumford, Co-Founder, Undergrads

Implement Intern to Full-Time Employee Pathway

Set up a year-round “college partnership” pipeline.

Pick three or four nearby universities or colleges and stay on their campus calendar. Don’t just show up at the big careers fair once a year.

How to do it:

1. Be visible every term.

Offer a short guest talk in a business class, sponsor a case-study contest, or run a one-day “customer-service hackathon.” Students get face time with your team; you spot talent early.

2. Give paid micro-projects.

Instead of formal internships that need months of paperwork, hand out small, two-week real jobs, such as updating a help-desk FAQ, mapping a delivery route, or building an Excel tracker. Students earn money, you see how they work, and the best get fast-track job offers.

3. Keep the follow-up simple.

Collect names in one Google Form, text finalists within 48 hours, and schedule all interviews in a single block the next week. The speed alone sets you apart from slower employers.

4. Reward campus ambassadors.

Pay £100 or provide a voucher to any student who brings in a friend that you hire. Word spreads faster than any paid ad.

Why it works:

• Trust factor: Students believe a classmate or lecturer more than a glossy brochure.
• Low churn: Candidates who already know your people and work style are less likely to quit after six months.
• Cost-effective: A few pizzas and small project stipends can beat expensive job-board ads.

Gary Edwards, Owner, Voceer

Emphasize Growth and Entrepreneurial Skills

If you are trying to hire at volume, scrap the endless application black hole. Build a simple funnel where people can opt in with just an email, phone number, and three-sentence intro. Make it frictionless. The longer the form, the faster they bounce. Early-career candidates have options and short attention spans. You want to make it easier to say yes than to click away.

From there, get obsessive about speed. You need to move them through interviews within five business days. If it takes longer than that, you are going to lose half your pipeline. Seriously! Have batch interview days, group Zooms, text reminders, and pre-scheduled slots. Get them scheduled while they are still warm. If they feel like you actually want them, they tend to show up.

The fact is, early-career hires are not wooed by titles or perks. They care about clarity, fast decisions, and whether you seem like a place that gets things done. So the faster you can move, the stronger your close rate will be.

Guillermo Triana, Founder and CEO, PEO-Marketplace.com

Partner with Vocational Schools and Colleges

Hiring dozens or even hundreds of early-career candidates — especially for roles in business and consumer services — requires more than just ramping up job ads or attending more career fairs. Employers need a recruiting strategy that meets these candidates where they are, speaks their language, and streamlines the path from awareness to offer. The key is relationship-building at scale — and the most effective way to do that is by creating a campus-to-career pipeline powered by immersive, branded experiences.

Rather than focusing on one-off job postings or generic outreach, I recommend building structured “early career ecosystems” through strategic partnerships with colleges, community programs, and bootcamps. But it doesn’t stop at partnerships. The real value is in creating immersive, on-brand experiences — virtual internships, real-world simulations, job shadowing days, ambassador programs, or case competitions. These not only attract attention but allow candidates to “try on” the culture and roles, increasing conversion rates and reducing early attrition.

This strategy also requires employers to rethink who they target. Instead of cherry-picking from a few elite schools, widen the net. Tap into overlooked but highly motivated student groups — first-generation college students, community college cohorts, or students from underrepresented backgrounds. Pair that with strong, tech-enabled candidate nurturing: drip email campaigns, text-based nudges, and peer-to-peer content sharing.

One employer we worked with in financial services partnered with a network of colleges to offer a “Virtual Experience Challenge” where students spent three evenings working through real business problems in teams. They got to pitch ideas to executives, interact with employees, and learn how the company operates. Over 70% of participants later applied for internships or full-time roles, and the employer saw a 30% higher retention rate among hires who came through this experience versus traditional job postings.

To effectively recruit early-career candidates at scale, companies need to go beyond transactional job ads and invest in long-term engagement pipelines. The most successful employers position themselves as career-launching partners — not just hiring entities. When young candidates feel seen, supported, and included in the culture before Day 1, they’re not only more likely to join — they’re more likely to stay.

Miriam Groom, CEO, Mindful Career Counselling

Host Interactive Hiring Events and Bootcamps

Implement an Intern to FTE pathway. This allows early-career candidates to gain hands-on experience as part of a business.

Setting KPIs and making them easily accessible also helps our interns understand specific goals they need to achieve. This increases their engagement while ensuring that their work is aligned with business objectives. 

This strategy has resulted in employees who are familiar with the specific requirements and work environment in business or consumer service even before they become permanent employees. 

Himanshu Agarwal, Co-Founder, Zenius.co

Launch Multi-Platform Recruitment Campaigns

No matter the role, early-career candidates will assume that it won’t be their last stop. They will want to continue learning, growing, and accelerating their careers in their 20s and 30s. Not every role is conducive to this desire for growth; in fact, many roles have an artificial cap on how far someone can advance their skills and responsibilities.

The most attractive aspect of consumer service roles is the ability to learn an endless amount about human behavior. Purchasing paths, price elasticity, customer experience and satisfaction, product development and roadmap, customer feedback and continuous improvement… an observant candidate who starts their career in a consumer service role will learn all of these skills on the job, and more. These skills can then be translated into founding a business of their own, which is the ultimate “ceiling” for hungry young talent. 

So if you want to attract early-career candidates with a desire for autonomy and responsibility, emphasize that they will be wearing many hats, learning a tremendous amount about how to run a business, and that one day they can take what they learn (on your dime, no less) and apply it to their own company if they so desire.

Colin McIntosh, Founder, Sheets AI Resume Builder

Evaluate Workforce Needs Before Mass Hiring

After working in the HR Tech field for a while, one recruiting strategy I strongly recommend to employers aiming to hire dozens or even hundreds of early career candidates for business and consumer services jobs is to focus on building strong, direct relationships with vocational schools and community colleges.

These institutions are a consistent source of individuals who are not only eager to start their careers but have also often received practical training directly relevant to the skills needed in service roles.

This partnership can involve several practical steps, such as participating in career fairs hosted by these schools, offering to conduct workshops or mock interviews for their students, or even collaborating on curriculum development to ensure that the skills taught align with industry needs.

Zakia Baniabbassian, Marketing Manager, Yomly

Conduct Efficient Group Interviews

Instead of just posting job ads and hoping for applicants, flip the script. This means turning your hiring process into a quick, fun “tryout” instead of a boring interview.

Here’s how it works:

1. Host “Hiring Events” That Feel Like First Days:

• Do not conduct stiff interviews. Run 2-hour group sessions where candidates can actually try simple tasks (e.g., handling a mock customer call or organizing a spreadsheet).
• Pay them for their time (even $20/hour). This attracts more applicants and shows you care.

2. Hire in Batches, Not One-by-One:

• Train 20-50 people at once in a 1-week “boot camp.” Keep the best 80% (not just the 10% with a perfect resume).
• Early career hires often learn fast…you do not need perfect experience.

3. Partner with Gig Apps & Local Groups:

• Post short “tryout” gigs on apps like Upwork. Many gig workers want steady jobs but never get the chance.
• Work with libraries, churches, or community centers…they know reliable people who are not on LinkedIn.

Why This Works:

• Speed: Hire 100 people in weeks, not months.
• Better Matches: You see skills in action instead of guessing from the resume.
• Loyalty: Candidates feel valued (most companies treat them like numbers).

A call center near our office used this method to hire 200 agents in 6 weeks. Turnover dropped 30% because hires knew the job before saying yes.

Arslan Habib, Digital Marketer | Business Strategist, Quantum Jobs USA

Leverage Peer Referrals from Recent Hires

We build hiring campaigns like product launches with hype, storytelling, and multi-touch nurturing across platforms. This includes email series, social media takeovers, and short-form video content explaining day-to-day life inside our agency. The goal is not volume but resonance with people who want what we offer. Hiring becomes a conversation, not just a funnel.

When we needed 10 campaign assistants, we treated the recruitment process like a content launch strategy. Our job landing page included team interviews, role walkthroughs, and transparent expectations. Candidates appreciated the honesty and applied with clear alignment. That campaign filled every seat within six weeks and taught us how brand drives recruitment.

Jason Hennessey, CEO, Hennessey Digital

Use AI to Assess Candidates’ Core Values

Before launching a high-volume hiring campaign, ask the hard questions.

Does your business truly need this many people? Are you overestimating growth? Instead of rushing to hire dozens or even hundreds of early-career candidates, take a day to evaluate your workforce plan, role clarity, and long-term needs.

Many companies hired aggressively for tech roles a few years ago without proper budgeting and realized it just wasn’t sustainable. Today, we’re seeing the consequences in widespread layoffs. A smarter approach is to scale gradually, test your operational capacity, and invest where performance and demand actually align.

Stephen Greet, CEO & co-founder, BeamJobs

Develop Internship-to-Hire Programs

Group interviews should be considered by employers who are hiring dozens or even hundreds of early career candidates. This method speeds up the process because you are able to interview many candidates simultaneously, thereby minimizing the time allotted for one-on-one interviews. In a group setting, you will immediately see the way the candidates interact, communicate, and solve problems, giving you a better picture of how they are suited for the job. This makes the recruitment process more streamlined while maintaining a strong evaluation of each candidate’s abilities.

Ben Richardson, CEO & Owner, Acuity Training

Offer Paid Micro-Internships as Tryouts

One strategy that has worked well for us in hiring early-career talent is peer referrals from recent campus hires.

We ask a few of our interns or new graduates to refer classmates from their college. In return, we offer small incentives — resume feedback, learning sessions, or public recognition. It’s simple, low-cost, and brings in candidates we’d never reach through job boards.

Why it works:

1. Students trust people they know.

2. The outreach feels informal and personal.

3. It scales without adding pressure on HR.

We keep the process lightweight: Google Forms for referrals, WhatsApp for updates, and quick shoutouts when someone’s referral gets hired.

This approach has helped us fill roles like business analyst and support associate, quickly and consistently.

If you’re hiring in volume, your best recruiters might already be on your team.

Vikrant Bhalodia, Head of Marketing & People Ops, WeblineIndia

Deploy AI-Driven Soft Skills Assessments

When I was running a division of consumer marketing at Dell, I was also heading up our MBA recruiting for our consumer marketing department. We recruited at Harvard, Michigan, and other top business schools for incoming MBA graduates. Today, the process is very different and much easier with AI.

In the past, we used to review every resume and select about 20 candidates that we would interview in person at each school we visited. If I were running that process now, I would have candidates answer 3-4 questions that directly relate to the company’s core values, either in text or video format. Then, I would have that content uploaded to an AI system with a prompt to analyze the transcript and grade it against the company’s core values.

For example, one of our core values at the company I founded is “Make it Better.” We ask questions like, “Tell me about a time when you improved a process through an innovative solution.”

With MBA graduates, we know they are intelligent, and we can teach them skills, but you can’t teach people to care or to want to learn and innovate. We are really looking for self-starters both at Dell and at my current company. There is typically no playbook when you’re innovating at that speed.

The recommendation is to cast a wide net and then use AI to analyze candidates based on what matters to your values and who will be a good long-term fit.

Carolyn Lowe, CEO & Founder, ROI Swift

Target TikTok and Implement Referral Programs

An internship-to-hire program is one of the recruiting strategies that I would recommend. This approach gives you an opportunity to interact with a pool of candidates early on, and you get to test their skills, work ethic, and cultural compatibility without necessarily committing to full-time offers. You could also assess the candidates within a real-life business environment by providing them with internships or short-term contracts, which will enable you to make better hiring decisions.

This recruitment strategy is beneficial as those who excel in this experience are more likely to remain with the company in the long term, and it is much easier to transition them into full-time employees when they already know the company and its operations. It also appeals to a large pool of candidates, including fresh graduates and people who, although they might not have extensive work experience, are keen to learn and develop within the company.

Dorian Menard, Founder and Business Manager, Search Scope

Start Recruiting Early in Academic Year

One highly effective recruiting strategy for hiring dozens or even hundreds of early-career candidates in business and consumer services is to build a paid micro-internship or “tryout” program tied to a clear hiring funnel.

Here’s how it works:

• Create short-term, low-risk project roles (2-4 weeks) with real business value — customer research, onboarding process audits, competitive analysis, etc.
• Market these opportunities directly to recent graduates, career switchers, or vocational program alumni via university job boards, LinkedIn, and career platforms like Handshake or WayUp.
• Use the projects as a practical screening tool — evaluate not just resumes, but how candidates problem-solve, communicate, and adapt to your systems.
• At the end, offer the highest-performing participants direct entry into your full-time pipeline.

Why it works:

• You attract motivated, career-minded candidates looking for a foot in the door.
• You avoid bad hires by assessing real-world performance, not just interviews.
• You scale with lower upfront risk and a more diverse talent pool.

It’s a win-win: candidates get real experience and access, and you build a team based on action — not assumptions.

Tom Haberman, CEO | Creative Director, Studio4Motion

Connect Students to Flexible Gig Opportunities

One effective recruiting strategy for hiring large numbers of early-career candidates into business and consumer services jobs is to use AI-driven candidate matching tools that prioritize soft skills, adaptability, and customer orientation. These roles often require clear communication, problem-solving, and emotional intelligence — qualities that aren’t always reflected in resumes alone.

Start by deploying AI assessments that simulate customer service or team-based scenarios. Candidates respond to real-world situations, and the AI evaluates them for traits like tone, decision-making, and professionalism. This helps filter for applicants who may have little formal experience but strong natural aptitude for service roles.

Additionally, AI chatbots can streamline the process by answering applicant questions, collecting basic information, and scheduling interviews automatically — saving time while keeping candidates engaged.

To make this strategy successful, ensure the AI tools are calibrated with input from your top performers. This helps the system learn which traits predict success in your specific environment and continuously improve over time. By combining smart assessments with automation, employers can scale hiring quickly without sacrificing quality or candidate experience.

Joe Benson, Cofounder, Eversite

Establish Year-Round College Partnership Pipeline

Allocate targeted paid campaigns on TikTok with creatives leaning toward lifestyle, growth, and purpose. Early career candidates tend to prioritize culture and opportunity over the mere show of salary. Set that alongside a referral program for your current team, as most will know someone whose personality aligns perfectly with your culture and environment.

Tom Molnar, Business Owner | Operations Manager, Fit Design