Leverage Learning to Engage Young Talent

Generation Z will comprise 27 percent of the workforce in 2025, according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, an intergovernmental organization that promotes economic growth. Therefore, as early-career talent enters the workforce, understanding how to attract, engage, and retain them is essential. Unfortunately, research released in November 2024 from global talent management firm Talogy highlights a disparity between employers’ immediate hiring requirements and what young professionals seek.

For Hiring Future-Ready Early Talent, Talogy surveyed more than 1,200 managers, recent employees, and early-career seekers across the world. The results reveal that, while companies focus on immediately plugging specific talent gaps, 63 percent of young candidates are seeking long-term opportunities that offer L&D. Exacerbating the problem, hiring managers favor candidates who already have the requisite skills and competencies for a particular role rather than looking for potential employees with transferable skills and learning agility.

“Early career professionals need the opportunity to shine. Many new entrants to the marketplace have transferrable skills, from side-hustles to being very technology-savvy. They need the opportunity to be able to show what skills and competencies they bring to the table,” notes Alanna Harrington, managing consultant at Talogy and co-author of the research, in a release.

Korn Ferry’s talent acquisition report, Talent Trends 2025: Progress Over Perfection, concurs. The research found that three-quarters of Gen Z employees see L&D as a key driver of work engagement. The management consulting firm’s latest Workforce 2024 survey also found that 67 percent of workers would stay with an employer that offered upskilling and advancement opportunities even if they hated their job. To attract and retain early-career workers, the report notes, “companies need to build a culture that puts learning first.”

One-third of the Workforce 2024 survey respondents said that they plan to focus on upskilling current employees to address skills gaps. The same amount pledge to create career paths for long-term growth. In fact, to attract early-career talent, 61 percent of businesses will offer internships and apprenticeships, 32 percent will provide entry-level training programs, and 24 percent plan to partner with high schools for early-career development programs.

Nearly all Gen Z respondents of a Udemy survey said they strive to dedicate at least an hour weekly to learning. Gen Z in the Workplace: Welcoming the Next Generation, based on responses from more than 6,500 multigenerational learners, contradicts the idea that young workers prefer to learn and absorb information solely via short video snippets. Instead, the report’s authors advise L&D leaders to design more cohort-based learning opportunities.

Per Talent Trends 2025, in addition to standardized training, in-person workshops, and online assessments and courses, employers plan to experiment with innovative approaches such as virtual reality and artificial-intelligence-enabled coaching to engage early talent.

Read more from Talent Development Leader.