3 Ways Small Businesses Can Recruit And Retain Top Talent From Local Universities

Giant Noise, the Austin-based public relations and digital marketing agency, is dealing with a problem many companies would love to have: It’s growing rapidly.

Over the past four years, as business boomed, Giant Noise doubled its headcount and added offices in Dallas and Houston. But as the company looked to meet its growing demand for talent, traditional recruitment methods weren’t yielding the number, quality, or diversity of candidates Giant Noise required to serve a multicultural Texas client base or reach a national consumer audience.

Giant Noise isn’t alone. For small and mid-sized companies like them, talent acquisition and retention are perennial challenges. A recent global survey found that small- and mid-sized businesses are twice as likely to say they lag behind their larger peers in talent management because they don’t have the resources to cast their recruitment nets as wide. They’re also constantly at risk of having their rising stars poached by bigger companies.

But there’s good news for companies like Giant Noise: The hiring seems increasingly favorable to smaller employers. According to a new report, nearly 40% of all full-time job applications submitted through the Handshake platform between August 2023 and August 2024 went to organizations with 250 or fewer employees. Only two years earlier, the share of Handshake applications for jobs at smaller companies was just 27%. In addition, smaller companies have seen the number of applications for each job they’ve posted more than triple over the past two years.

A durable hiring solution for small- and mid-sized businesses might be right under their noses. Smaller companies should focus their early talent recruiting and hiring efforts on the students and graduates from colleges and universities in their backyard. Here are three steps that small- and mid-sized companies should take to secure the talent they need close to home.

1. Build a Strong Employer Brand

Many Gen Z college students might not know about smaller employers because it’s difficult to get noticed — but that’s hardly a deal-breaker. According to Handshake’s survey of the graduating class of 2024, fewer than 30% of college seniors said they were more likely to apply to a job because they know the company brand.

But early talent cares very deeply about a company’s reputation. More than 70% want to read reviews from current and former employees and learn more about a company’s culture and values. Internships, mentorship opportunities, company messages, speaking engagements and behind-the-scenes workplace videos can give prospective hires the content they’re seeking.

Representatives from Giant Noise are fixtures at career fairs and other on-campus events at nearby universities, as well as at career networking events in the cities where they operate. They’ve found that the key to building a strong employer brand that connects with early talent is forming relationships that can blossom into mentorships, internships and permanent hires. That requires face-to-face get-to-know-you gatherings in physical spaces.

2. Partner With Colleges in Their Areas

Every year, public universities and private colleges located in the same regions as smaller companies produce thousands of graduates eager to start their careers.

Many of those graduates prefer to stay on familiar ground. Nearly 70% of undergraduates attend a college no farther than 50 miles from their home. Meanwhile, nearly 60% of the Class of 2024 said it was important or very important to them that their next job allowed them to live close to their families.

Using Handshake to partner with local universities has been a critical ingredient in Giant Noise’s rapid growth and success. The company has built on its long-standing collaboration with The University of Texas at Austin and is now partnering with numerous institutions throughout Texas, including Huston-Tillotson University in Austin and Southern Methodist University in Dallas. These relationships allow Giant Noise to tap into early talent pipelines that have produced interns and permanent hires.

3. Offer Tried-And-True Benefits

Smaller companies simply don’t have the resources to offer their employees beer carts, nap pods and unlimited time off. Generation Z — today’s high school and college students and early talent — are less wowed by extravagance and more interested in stability and predictability.

Retirement benefits are a top priority for early talent. They also want employers to offer traditional benefits, such as health insurance and paid time off, as well as newer perks like flexible hybrid schedules and student loan repayment support.

Geography helps, too. Smaller companies tend to be based in smaller cities that boast a lower cost of living. Handshake data bears this out, as 2024 college graduates bypassed San Francisco, Atlanta and Dallas for Salt Lake City, Kansas City and Baltimore.

Leaders at Giant Noise have credited the company’s work to build a strong local brand and team up with local higher ed institutions as a critical ingredient in its rapid growth and success. But they’re hardly alone — these initiatives to keep early talent closer to home are taking root across the country. In Louisiana, for instance, the Baton Rouge Area Chamber is combating brain drain by connecting local college students with local businesses. With Handshake, the chamber helped local and regional companies — many of them small and mid-sized firms with slim recruiting budgets — hire students and recent graduates from Baton Rouge’s two public universities.

College students who get career experience in their college town are more likely to stick around after graduation. When employers and institutions work together to build new career on-ramps, these collaborations can increase employer visibility and create deeper recruiting pools.

As Gen Z’s interest in Big Tech and big-city living wanes, small and mid-sized businesses offer early talent a lot of what they want: stability, career development and a chance to make a difference in their communities. By building their brands, partnering with nearby colleges and universities and offering standard benefits that Gen Z values, smaller companies can stand a little taller in the early talent marketplace.

Connect with an Old National Business Banker for more insights to help your business grow.

This article was written by Christine Y. Cruzvergara from Forbes and was legally licensed through the DiveMarketplace by Industry Dive. Please direct all licensing questions to legal@industrydive.com.