Youth unemployment is a serious, but not unsolvable, problem in America. There are millions of opportunity youth in the United States, young people ages 18-24 who face barriers to economic participation. Impact hiring provides employers with new approaches to talent practices—specifically related to recruitment, hiring, and retention—that address their entry-level talent challenges and improve employment outcomes for those who face barriers to opportunity, including disadvantaged youth. This study was conducted by the research firm Edelman Intelligence with support from The Rockefeller Foundation to uncover entrylevel hiring challenges for employers and youth, reveal perceptions about entry-level jobs, and identify solutions to address these challenges. Findings indicate that:
* Employers are concerned with finding and keeping the right entry-level talent to meet their business needs
* Nearly half of employers cite sourcing enough candidates as a top challenge when filling entry-level jobs
* Screening for college degrees in the hiring process denies youth the opportunity to learn skills on the job
* The top metric for evaluating the success of entry-level employees is how well the employee fits with company culture
* There is a disconnect between the benefits and supports employers think will matter to younger workers and those that truly matter to them
* By overlooking opportunity youth in hiring processes, employers are ignoring candidates who could serve as the solution to many of their hiring challenges for entry-level roles