OpinionGrowing your organization the smart way - incorporating junior recruitment
Opinion
Growing your organization the smart way - incorporating junior recruitment
"A healthy organizational culture combines both senior and junior employees," writes Kendago HR Director Enav Attia. "Juniors, when given the chance, can succeed in their roles, prove their talents, and grow alongside the organization in the future."
The slowdown in Israel’s high-tech sector, which has been ongoing for several years, has worsened since the start of the current war. One of the primary indicators of this trend is the increasing number of startups and tech companies announcing closures due to difficulties in raising capital for their operations.
This complex situation has led growth-stage companies, eager to expand their workforce, to prioritize hiring experienced and highly skilled employees. This approach, however, negatively impacts graduates of STEM degrees (such as computer science, industrial engineering, economics, neuroscience, math, statistics, and more). Some of these graduates served in the military reserves, bearing the burden of the war, and now they are facing a reduced job market. While they possess high-level skills and are keenly motivated to secure their desired positions, the current job market is not exactly welcoming them with open arms.
In such times, most workplaces prefer to avoid risks and opt for the safest and easiest route: hiring candidates with several years of experience rather than juniors with no work experience. On the one hand, this is understandable. Companies are under pressure to achieve immediate results, and there is little time for training, familiarization, or gaining experience—especially when some managers' own positions are unstable.
But the question is, is this conventional approach the right one? In our opinion, the answer is no. A healthy organizational culture combines both senior and junior employees, taking full advantage of the benefits that come from this collaboration. Companies that adopt this approach will discover that, with a little effort and a well-thought-out recruitment process, they can enjoy the contributions of loyal and highly motivated employees. These juniors, when given the chance, can succeed in their roles, prove their talents, and grow alongside the organization in the future.
Long-term employee retention, high motivation, and mutual growth: The advantages of junior recruitment
Perfect fit for the organization – Hiring a junior employee offers a significant advantage in that they can be trained from the ground up, with their skills, work methods, thinking, DNA, and values, all tailored perfectly to the organization. When hiring a senior employee, on the other hand, they come with experience from elsewhere and must adapt to the company’s values and performance standards. In some cases, seniors may cling to methods and practices they bring from other workplaces, which may not align with those the organization is trying to instill—potentially becoming a long-term issue.
Longer employee retention – Many organizations are concerned with retaining talent over time. Juniors who grow alongside the company, who feel at home, receive personal attention from managers and senior employees who taught them everything from scratch, and who see further opportunities for development within the organization are less likely to leave. This is similar to the situation at Kendago, where almost the entire management team has grown from entry-level positions.
Higher motivation as a key to success – Juniors tend to exhibit higher motivation, which is one of the most critical factors for an employee’s success. The combination of high motivation and strong skills dramatically increases the chances of success. When a junior is hired and receives substantial training from the company, they gain significant value and, in return, contribute meaningfully to the organization.
Mentoring and learning processes empower employees – Meaningful work is one of the most important factors for Generation Y and Z employees, who now make up the majority of the workforce. When experienced employees have the opportunity to mentor and guide younger workers, they feel more significant in their roles. This creates a win-win situation for everyone involved: the new employee, the employer, and the veteran workers.
Junior recruitment requires vision and personality analysis: What should interviewers pay attention to?
It’s important to remember that recruiting juniors requires different diagnostic skills from the recruiter. When hiring a junior, the fit for the role and the organization is determined primarily based on personality traits and specific skills required for the position. In contrast, the recruitment process for an experienced candidate involves professional experience-based compatibility interviews and tests, which evaluate not only their capabilities but also their character.
When a recruiter interviews a candidate with no experience, they must be able to conduct a more in-depth personality analysis, be much more attentive to every word, and assess their fit for the role and the team based on the candidate’s character and profile. In this case, the recruiter’s sensors and diagnostic abilities need to be sharpened.
Often, a junior who doesn’t yet know how to present themselves in an interview may be overlooked unless the recruiter dedicates enough resources and attention to them. The quality of recruitment is measured in the long run, based on how well the employee integrates into the role. Recruiters should closely monitor the juniors they hire even after they start their roles and draw the necessary conclusions to improve future recruitment processes.
Enav Attia is the HR Director at Kendago.
