April 2025

🎓Fresh talent, fresh perspectives 

These days, many hiring managers are navigating tighter budgets and leaner teams as market uncertainty swirls. If this feels familiar, considering recent college grads for your hiring needs could be a strategic move. 

Many advantages come with bringing fresh grads on board when you’re ready to expand your team.  

• Tech savvy: Today’s recent grads are digital natives who can often navigate a number of new technologies and tools effortlessly.  

• Fresh perspectives: Without being burdened by the ‘this is how we always do it’ approach, they bring points of view that may be overlooked or missed by alums. Hello, innovation. 

• Open to on-site work arrangements: Don’t make assumptions about new grads’ work preferences. Research shows 51% of graduating seniors want to work in-person to maximize learning and networking opportunities. 

Just like any employee, a new grad will do their best work when you intentionally set them up for success. Here are a few tips: 

Set clear expectations off the bat: The onboarding process begins before day one and extends well beyond.  Being crystal clear about organizational structure, role expectations, and company culture will start your new hire off on the right foot and help them deliver impactful work sooner.  

Foster development: Structured training programs, access to mentors, and maintaining an open-door policy – especially with your newer employees – are all great ways to build a culture of learning. The benefit? Employees who are eager to enhance their capabilities and take every opportunity they can to grow. 

Chart a path: Nearly a third of Gen Z respondents felt their career was proceeding slower than expected. Helping newer employees chart a path to advancement with a clear understanding of the benchmarks along the way will help them grow as professionals – and will go a long way in retaining them too.    

🤔Resilient job market, cautious outlook 

• U.S. employers added 228,000 jobs in March, surpassing economists’ expectations  of around 140,000 jobs.  

• The unemployment rate, at 4.2 percent, has changed little over the past 12 months. 

• Job openings in the U.S. remained high as February came to a close— nearly 7.6 million —while the quits rate that month was just 2.0%. Fewer active job seekers means less relief for the 91% of employers who are facing challenges finding skilled talent available for hire, according to a recent Robert Half survey. 

The upshot: Economic uncertainty and tight budgets have some employers opting to tap the brakes on hiring and putting critical projects on hold. Professionals are also sitting tight, with more workers choosing to stay put in their current roles. This highlights the potential benefits of a flexible staffing strategy to scale headcounts while gaining access to the skillsets that match business needs over time. 

🦸 Admins, assemble! 

Happy Administrative Professionals Week to all who celebrate (which should include you if you’re reading this)! As our gift to administrative professionals everywhere, we’ve prepared a list of 5 things your admin wishes you would stop doing: 

• Excessive check-ins: Administrative professionals thrive on mutual trust. Constant follow-ups suggest you don’t trust them and undermine their confidence and autonomy. 

• Canceling 1:1s: Administrative professionals have lots of abilities, but mind-reading isn’t one of them. They need to regularly connect with you in order to keep everyone in sync and working toward priorities. 

• Taking admins for granted: There’s a real strategy behind administrative work and a number of behind-the-scenes considerations on any given day. Bottom line: It’s not easy! A genuine “thank you” goes a long way.  

• Ignoring the calendar: If your admin manages your calendar, it’s probably got most of the important dates on it. Be sure to check before you ask “Hey, am I free at 2?” 

• Forgetting Administrative Professionals Day: Administrative professionals are all about the details, so remembering their day is important. (It’s April 23, btw. 😉)  

🧑💻  Tomorrow’s tech teams, today 

Regardless of job market fluctuations, the pace of technology isn’t slowing down. That continued momentum is shaping priorities and driving demand for emerging tech skill sets across many organizations. Be sure to follow our LinkedIn page to get stats and insights from our forthcoming tech report Building Future-Forward Tech Teams, starting April 28!  Key topics include:  

Tech leaders’ priorities and challenges for 2025 

Solving skills gaps and building a next-gen tech team 

Paying off technical debt 

Managing the ERP system lifecycle 

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