Skills are becoming the job currency of the future. A recent Deloitte report highlighted that the future of the workplace has a very human face, and it will be people and their unique interpersonal and creative skills that will play the biggest role in workplaces of the future.
The report recommended that Australian businesses embrace and invest in on-the-job learning and skills enhancement, and the ideal way to do this is through hiring a student. By hiring students at the start of their careers and using mentoring and in-role training, employees can build on their credentials to unlock the value of emerging job skills and develop a future-ready workforce.
Given that almost one third of senior management struggles to find the right talent, hiring highly-skilled students in Australia has become an important step in the pathway to business success and economic growth.
Access to skills
Students are primed to enter the workforce with the latest knowledge, ideas, and critical thinking, and are ready to empower and innovate to help your business achieve success.
Students are proven to have diversity of thought and skill, they’re aware of the pervasiveness of technology across every industry and are quick to adapt to changing environments. It’s a massive bonus to employees that today’s students are focused on the development of innovative and entrepreneurial skills to support their knowledge in more traditional areas of study, and these assets can be invaluable when students are given the right opportunities.
Flexible, talented workforce
Not only are students neurologically primed for innovative thinking, they’re often open to flexibility in their roles and the way they fit within the business structure.
Students are more likely to bring a fresh eye than to do things the way they’ve always been done, and this flexibility and willingness to try new things can be a real competitive advantage – particularly for businesses that have become stale or are looking to make changes.
Many businesses are already moving away from the traditional, hierarchical organisation structure to create a more dynamic, collaborative workplace, and encouraging student hires to contribute across the organisation’s goals and projects is a sure-fire way to compete in a global market.
Positioned for digital disruption
In the technology and start-up community, being a digital native is a big advantage. Many students have never known life without computers, the internet and mobile phones, and they’re harnessing the power of these devices for connectivity and efficiency.
An incredible ability to switch between new and old media and connect with vastly different audiences gives digital native students a natural ability to multi-task and quickly process multiple options to decide on the desired outcome.
By hiring a student and being open to their ideas, you’ll be setting your workforce up to success in a rapidly changing digital landscape.
Develop a future-ready workforce
Students have a lot of potential, and this means you have the ability to mould your workforce and reap the quantifiable long-term benefits from doing so.
It takes time and effort to find the right people to hire, and to keep them interested so they remain with your company for the long-term. A massive 67 per cent* of employers have seen an increase in staff turnover in the last three years, so the ability to train and shape your employee within your business environment is incredibly important.
With the right nurturing and career development, students quickly become loyal to companies. You’ve got the opportunity to lead them down a long-term path with your team, and the advantages of this can be incredibly valuable to your bottom line.
Students really have the chance to do great things when you focus on the outcomes you want to achieve and remain open to creative ways of reaching them.
Small business, big benefits
According to Deloitte, small businesses make up more than 94 per cent of all businesses in Australia.
For start-ups and small businesses, there’s a lot of value in having a multi-skilled student employee who can work across disciplines, from their specialised area of study to digital, technology, communications and critical thinking.
Students are ambitious and have lofty goals, and with the right leadership they’ll put in the hard work to get there, achieving great things for your business along the way.
While technology has its place it’s clear that people are still the future of business, and investing in students is the way forward for success.
If you want someone to take the hard work out of connecting with a dynamic student talent so you can start seeing some of these benefits for yourself, sign-up to Ribit. Our unique platform uses a machine-learning algorithm to recommend the right students, by aligning the job requirements with student skills and studies. This unique matching service gives you confidence in your hires and the chance to start building meaningful employee-student relationships.
*Business Insider: Australian Jobs Turnover Report