Recruiting ‘opportunity youth’ offers HR the chance to fill skills gaps

Struggling to recruit skilled employees from diverse backgrounds? Consider “opportunity youth.”

Opportunity youth are young adults between the ages of 16 and 24 who do not attend school or work, according to the Society for Human Resource Management. Some have spent time in foster care, have a criminal record or a parent in jail, or have experienced other challenges that have created roadblocks in their education and career. There are about 5 million opportunity youth in the US, according to the American Institutes for Research.

Why recruit opportunity youth? Social good aside, recruiting from this particular talent pool can help organizations close talent gaps and build a more diverse workforce, according to SHRM, and opportunity youth often possess a unique set of skills that can make them valuable members of the workforce.

“Opportunity youth introduces organizations to a large pool of workers who are eager to learn,” Wendi Safstrom, SHRM Foundation president, told HR Brew. “They’re motivated to grow and are bringing all kinds of different and often fresh perspectives and innovative ideas to the workplace every single day.”

“They are so technically and digitally savvy that they often see ways to improve processes and procedures we don’t see because we’ve been stuck in the status quo,” an unnamed HR professional told SHRM of the opportunity youth hired at their organization. “They see life as an infinite opportunity, and they contribute to our company culture and the future of our business.”

Nearly eight in 10 (77%) of the 1,488 US-based HR professionals surveyed by SHRM in November 2023 said their opportunity youth employees performed “as well or better” in comparison to their other employees. Additionally, just 55% of respondents actively recruiting opportunity youth said they’re struggling to fill open positions, while 71% of those not actively recruiting from this pool reported the same.

Employers including Starbucks, Chipotle, and Bank of America have previously committed to hiring opportunity youth.

Where to find this talent? Through partnerships with organizations such as Unlock Potential, Year Up, the National Youth Employment Coalition, and others, HR can start to tap this talent pool.

“I think HR and those individuals at national youth-serving organizations or local community-based organizations that serve youth, feel that when providing opportunities to this untapped pool of talent it will result in [opportunity youth] contributing positively to the organization in so many different ways and also [help them to be] productive members of their communities,” Safstrom told HR Brew.