The New Shepherds

As global economic concerns have older generations putting off retirement in favour of upgrading skills and updating resumés, fresh graduates still have relatively little to fear. Even now, human resource departments are working hard to recruit from upcoming generations. And, faced with the continuing challenge of keeping them, many companies have coupled those efforts with training programs to assure newbies that they’re leadership material – or, at least, that they could be.

These days, most graduates leave university or college well equipped with the hard skills that make for good theorists and technicians but often lacking in the soft skills vital to effective communication, conflict management and negotiation. At worst, they’re inviting criticism for being fickle and opportunistic, ready to leave a job after just months for a better offer. Either way, right out of school, they’re usually far from ready to climb the corporate ladder as quickly as they might like to think they are. Recognizing this, hiring managers say they’re reluctant to hand over management or supervisory roles before new grads have had a chance to get their feet wet in their discipline and fully understand the culture of the organization. Leadership skills, after all, take time to develop.

In a perfect world, of course, this wouldn’t be the case. Instead, there would be a line of ready-made managers stepping off convocation stages across the country. But, as some businesses will argue, it’s nearly impossible to teach all aspects of leadership in a classroom, regardless of the emphasis Alberta schools may place on leadership training and preparing graduates to meet employers’ expectations.

As it turns out, there are ways for today’s students to ready themselves to stand out when the leadership race kicks off in the workplace. However, it’s not as simple as taking a neatly packaged Leadership 101 class. Career advancement, even before that career officially begins, is up to the student, whose enthusiasm, personality and plain old work ethic will ultimately determine, in the eyes of future employers, whether he or she is fit to lead.

Depending on your point of view, younger generations are either blessed or cursed with a hunger to succeed. Either way, for ATB Financial chief associate and external relations officer Sandy Chipchar, it’s a desire that is overwhelmingly positive. She says most applicants are well-rounded individuals and, increasingly, they have gained international work experience upon graduation. For that reason, perhaps, ATB has rolled out the welcome mat for newbies. Currently, the company offers co-op arrangements with Alberta universities, allowing students in their third or fourth year of studies to intern at ATB.

But while Chipchar doesn’t point to any recurring negative issues with new graduates – and, like many managers, won’t blame teaching institutions for any student shortcomings – she doesn’t hire them for leadership roles, either.

“There are some situations where we bring them into a leadership trainee program, but usually for new grads, unless they have prior experience, we’d bring them in as an individual contributor and they’d have to be promoted from within,” says Chipchar.

Like ATB, professional services corporation PricewaterhouseCoopers also resists immediately placing Alberta grads in leadership roles, says Karen Cooper, senior manager of human capital for the company’s Alberta branches. “I’d suggest that at PwC we focus on the entire career opportunity and try to make sure there’s proper and timely promotion.”

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