Supporting your Early Careers Hires to Thrive
This session looked at how to keep early careers hires engaged and developing once they have accepted an offer, from pre-onboarding through to their first move after the programme. HRreview's James Marsh hosted Annabelle Senant, early careers experience lead at Aon, and Amber Harris, talent and assessment strategy specialist at Aon, with Ian Dobrin of VRPARK also on the panel.
Annabelle Senant, Early Careers Experience Lead, Aon; Amber Harris, Talent and Assessment Strategy Specialist, Aon; Ian Dobrin, VRPARK. Hosted by James Marsh, HRreview.
Key takeaways
Start supporting hires the day they accept the offer
Senant said graduates and interns can wait nine or ten months between accepting and joining, so Aon works to keep them warm in that gap. New starters get an acceptance gift and a ready-made social media tile to share the news. They meet their manager and a buddy who was in their shoes a few years earlier, and they take part in keep-in-touch calls and a virtual welcome day with their future cohort.
Keep in-person time short and spend it on connection
Aon now holds shorter in-person events at the start and end of the programme, focused on networking rather than sitting in a room. Virtual learning fills the time in between: senior leaders talking about their careers, group projects and peer coaching groups. Senant said former graduates and apprentices mostly remember the network they built, and graduates are enrolled on level 6 or 7 apprenticeships so the levy funds their professional qualifications.
Plan what happens after the programme ends
Senant was candid that the post-programme transition is where Aon needs to do better. Early careers staff told Aon it felt easier to leave the firm than to move internally, so the team wants to show them how to own their careers and look at internal roles first. After a year or two, a genuine high-potential group emerges, and Senant wants to keep it with sponsorship, global mobility and rotations.
Give early careers staff direct feedback on their development
Harris said young people want to know their development areas and are fine being told what they need to improve, and a fluffy approach does not help them. If they are turned down, or not moved up or across the business, they want to know why and what to do about it. Harris also suggested giving them questions to take to their manager: these are my strengths, how will you use them, and how will you help with my gaps?
Measure wellbeing anonymously rather than assuming initiatives work
Harris said many organisations tick the wellbeing box without collecting data, and young people are often reluctant to raise problems. Anonymous team-level data lets managers see where the risks are. If financial health scores low across a team, for example, look at pay. If physical health scores low, people may be sitting at their desks too long.
Select and develop managers who can balance productivity and wellbeing
Harris said people managers now lead hybrid, more diverse teams, and one-size-fits-all coaching no longer works. Their role in wellbeing is growing, so select managers on whether they can lead change and build resilient teams. Answering a question from a smaller public sector organisation, Senant named developing and equipping managers as the first success factor. Aon's own apprenticeship scheme started ten years ago with ten apprentices, and five years ago its UK early careers team was two people.
The Q&A is worth the time: Senant gives three practical priorities for a small organisation with limited resources, and Harris responds to an NHS survey that found early and late career staff want much the same things from their employer.
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