Chimers chime in: Why hiring early talent is a priority for the future of tech
“You can’t innovate without hiring students coming from innovative programs,” explains Jennifer Hillard, Chime’s Senior Manager of Early Talent. “If you’re looking to create the next generation of products and services, you have to hire the next generation of talent.”
Jeff Winter, Chime’s VP of Talent Acquisition, agrees. “Aside from doing a lot of work that more senior engineers have phased out of, early talent brings a different set of problem-solving skills that older generations might not have,” he says. “Recruiting and hiring early talent lays the foundation of future work for companies.” Hiring early talent, or recent graduates, is also beneficial for companies’ bottom lines because, in Jeff’s experience, new grads tend to stay in their first roles much longer than more tenured employees.
“Perhaps most importantly, having energy around early talent hiring and internship programs is critical because it drives future generations to consider programs that will set them up for roles in technology,” Jeff says. “When students know there are innovative opportunities on the backend, they’re more likely to pursue a line of study. Maintaining robust early talent programs helps to attract people to skilled work that requires more sophisticated problem solving than other industries by encouraging young adults to choose certain programs at school.”
The long-term effects of early talent decisions
So, the case for early talent is vital. Why, then, in the past year, has tech seen hundreds of companies lay off their early talent, often rescinding offers to students who have yet to graduate?
“I’ve heard of students who are taking heavier course loads in order to start their new grad roles earlier in the hopes of not being laid off,” explains Jennifer. “And I’ve never heard of so many rescinded offers or delayed — sometimes indefinitely — starts.” Jennifer believes that companies should budget for early talent correctly, so rescinding offers isn’t even on the table because news of withdrawing offers gets around.
These rescinded offers can hugely impact a company’s reputation and harm the future of an industry by discouraging future students from taking a course of study. We’ve seen this kind of fallout before: in 2000, following the dot com burst, the number of Computer Science students dropped significantly in subsequent years (once students already in the programs had graduated).
“The underlying problem that arises when companies reduce their investment in early talent is that recession factors ultimately drive people away from valuable programs, like computer science,” explains Jeff.
This impact on future graduates reflects a lack of consideration for the long term investment in the future talent market that early talent represents. “Current trends impact future talent supply — by informing future generations’ decisions of what to study,” Jennifer says. “That’s why, more than ever, sticking to early talent goals is critical to encouraging them to stay the course — quite literally.”
Realistically, the discussion that will sway students away from Computer Science has already begun, and Jeff believes it will lead to a talent gap. “The decision to cut back on early talent programs is short-sighted and could lead to a more competitive early talent market down the line,” he explains. “We see cyclical trends following recessions that create stiff competition for technical talent.”
To add to the challenge of a decrease in supply, these changes will impact a company’s diversity makeup — especially detrimental since research shows that different ideas and approaches to work increase the overall creativity of a team. Because the new graduate pipeline is a diverse talent pool, the decision to cut back on early talent programs hinders a company’s ability to bring in fresh, potentially positive contrasting perspectives.
“Additionally, as we see people start to age out of their roles or move out of the workforce, there’s a massive opportunity to hire from early talent channels; if companies stop investing in the early talent programs, they stand to see their company become under-resourced or top-heavy,” Jeff says.
The key takeaway from Jennifer and Jeff and advice for companies and students: Don’t make big decisions based on short-term swings or lulls. “It’s on companies to keep investing in early talent and on students to keep pursuing majors that will feed tomorrow’s innovation,” says Jennifer.
The long term investment in early talent: Chime’s approach
At Chime, we’ve taken a long-haul approach to our early talent program. In the beginning, we didn’t launch the program until the company was mature enough to support it. “It’s important to have the necessary foundations in place for an early talent program,” Jeff explains. “We waited until we had the infrastructure to support interns and new graduates, the excitement to launch the program, and the projects for early talent to take on.”
When Jennifer joined Chime two years ago to build and lead the program, the existing foundations were obvious to her. “Teams were engaged and in place to support interns and new graduates,” she says. “We had no shortage of volunteers to take on early talent, and every team involved had plenty of interesting projects to offer.”
Chime’s investment in early talent is critical not just for the future of technical hiring, but it matters for our products and services, too. The early talent demographic is a key audience for Chime’s products — they represent an age during which many are starting their independent financial journeys and developing habits. “If we want to reach our members and potential members, we must hire folks who reflect them and what they care about,” Jennifer says. “Whenever we talk to students, they often know what Chime is or are already members — that’s invaluable for continuing to cater to the needs of our member base and build the future of Chime for our future members. What’s more, early talent is often the audience who need Chime the most, to build their credit and develop healthy financial habits.”
Despite the turn the global economy has taken — and the decision of many tech companies to halt their investments in early talent — Chime remains committed to hiring and nurturing interns and new graduates. “Not only is early talent a huge asset to our company for a number of reasons, but our decisions around it also play into broader trends over time,” Jeff says. “We take that responsibility seriously and understand the long-term effects of our hiring decisions — and thus will keep hiring early talent for the future of Chime and our industry.”
