Unleashing the Power of Early Career Talent: Pre-skilling Preparation to Support Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

In today’s competitive job market, the path to success for early career talent, especially from underserved populations often hinges on their ability to navigate the attraction, application, and recruitment process.  In fact, research suggests that many female and other underserved potential candidates discount themselves from applying for jobs, often because they feel they don’t have all the necessary skills to be successful.

As organizations strive to create a more flexible and diverse workforce, the need to support candidates from unrepresented groups to grow diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), has increased.  The ability to ‘pre-skill’ and prepare graduates prior to entering the job assessment process has therefore become vital.

Early career talent brings fresh perspectives, innovation, and a hunger to learn and contribute.  However, many often lack the experience and exposure necessary to excel in job assessments and can be missed by traditional recruitment processes. By acknowledging and addressing this gap, we can empower all graduates to showcase their abilities effectively, realize their aspirations and support employers in creating a talented and flexible workforce.

How can pre-skilling support underrepresented graduates?

The job assessment process can be overwhelming for some early careers talent, leading to stress and limited performance or causing them to abandon the process altogether.  Providing engaging and effective preparation resources to build confidence, and develop their skills in areas such as collaboration, communication, problem-solving, and critical thinking will not only enhance their performance in assessments but also equip them for future career success.

Providing the opportunity for graduates to prepare or ‘pre-skill’ prior to undertaking a job assessment is critical for leveling the playing field because it:

• Supports all potential applicants, especially those from historically underrepresented groups

• Encourages potential applicants to make a formal application

• Provides invaluable data insights into skills and potential

How can Pre-Skill Plus prepare early career talent?

Many students don’t realize just how many skills and strengths they have or are capable of developing, and employers across all industries desperately need this talent for their present and future workforce.  Now is the time to democratize skills to realize this potential.

Pre-Skill Plus, from Cappfinity, is an easy-to-scale skills accelerator to lift students up and support them in developing the key employability skills that matter most.

Through virtual and realistic job previews and simulations, students and graduates are able to experience your organization’s unique work culture, discover self-insights, build confidence, and integrate their ‘skills story’ in meaningful ways as they apply for internships, future jobs, and growth opportunities.  Students are able to add badges in all key essential skill areas.

Pre-Skill Plus helps to bring increased diversity, internal mobility, and the ability to shape future leadership to life.

Pre-Skill Plus features powerful reporting tools including candidate insights, scoring, skills assessments, and data analytics you can use to diversify your present and future workforce.  Easy-to-use dashboards deliver an accurate preview of a candidate’s essential skills to support hiring, predict performance, and drive retention.

Pre-Skill Plus in action:

• 92% completion rate for Pre-Skill Plus by early careers talent – Cappfinity, 2022

• 61.4% of employers are seeking evidence of candidates’ problem-solving skills – NACE, 2023

• Skills-based hiring can lead to up to 20x more eligible workers in talent pools and increase the talent pool by 10.3x for Gen Z workers – LinkedIn, 2022

• 37% of the top 20 skills for the average job have changed since 2016

• In 2022, 22% of referenced skills in over 15 million job postings were entirely new – Burning Glass

• Candidates completing Pre-Skill Plus are outperforming other applicants

Preparing early careers talent for job assessments is not only about giving them a competitive edge; it is a step towards building a more inclusive and equitable workforce.  By investing in their development, providing support, and embracing diversity, we empower the next generation of professionals to reach their full potential.  Let’s champion job assessment pre-skilling and preparedness to embrace diversity, equity, and inclusion, thereby shaping a future where every individual’s talent is recognized and celebrated.

You can find out more about the benefits of Pre-Skill Plus on our product page, where you can also contact us to organize a demo for your organization.