ISE was recently joined by Dr. Khairunnisa Mohamedali at The Smarty Train to explore critical trends shaping early careers going into 2025 and beyond.

Spanning data-driven insights into Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I), retention and strategic ROI, a recent webinar with ISE unpacked findings from The Smarty Train’s (TST) inaugural 2025 Early Careers Trends Report, informed by data from over 25 leading global organisations using TST’s Early Careers Optimiser (ECO).

The session provided a forward-looking analysis of data, recommendations, and case studies into how best-practice organisations are rethinking their early careers strategies over the coming year. Here are the key takeouts:

Trend 1: ROI in early careers

Three quarters of organisations are not able to confidently demonstrate Return on Investment (ROI) across early careers initiatives, according to data shared in the session.

Why are the foundations for early careers ROI missing? Dr Khairunnisa explained how early careers teams are grappling with the limitations of their current systems, where capturing and accessing data is a roadblock for evaluating the performance of their functions.

A great majority of organisations are struggling with monitoring and tracking to begin with, but additionally with how to use this data to effectively understand trends and figure out attribution for their early careers initiatives.

Read the full report to discover the roadblocks preventing early careers functions from demonstrating the value of their initiatives, and targeted steps your organisation can take in 2025.

Find out about ISE’s tool to measure ROI.

Trend 2: DE&I in recruitment

Next, Dr. Mohamedali turned to the continued challenges of DE&I in recruitment.

Despite significant commitments to reduce bias in recruiting, DE&I remains the top roadblock for most early careers leaders, with over a third ranking it as their biggest challenge in recruitment.

86% of early careers functions scored well in their commitment to researching to reduce bias in recruitment processes as much as possible. This is an area that is consistently in the forefront of many of the organisations featured in the Early Careers Trends Report.

Despite this commitment, DE&I was the most common answer from early careers leaders when asked what they would rank their biggest challenge in recruitment.

Dr Khairunnisa explained how in many countries, laws such as Title VII of the Civil Rights Act in the US enforce non-discrimination and create boundaries around how organisations can use demographic data, making it difficult to access and convert data into actionable change.

Read the full report to gain insight into the barriers organisations are overcoming to get ahead of this emerging trend in 2025.

Trend 3: Early careers functions are failing to combat attrition.

The final trend explored in the session was the increasing focus on attrition, driven by the report’s findings that on average, one-third of early careers joiners leave within three years of joining an organisation.

Dr Khairunnisa explored two contributing factors to this key trend. Retention analytics are often a key challenge, notably using the data available to unpack the ‘why’s’ behind retention rates. This was especially the case when it came to long-term data, where data becomes critical to tell a full story over time.

The ‘post-programme cliff’ is also a significant factor impacting retention at the end of a programme. This is the point, for many organisations, where graduates start to demonstrate that ROI, the time and effort invested in training begin to gradually pay dividends, and yet it’s a key moment where graduates tend to leave.

Read the full report to learn the full factors impacting early careers retention, and how best-practice organisations are addressing losing their hires.

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