I've been inspired by some of the progressive approaches I've seen organisations take of late to engage, develop and prepare emerging talent for the workplace. But it also got me thinking about the majority they cannot employ.
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Increasing pressure on the bottom rung of entry-level employment is not a new story. In South Africa, the latest Stats SA figures report a staggering 47.4% unemployment rate among 15 to 34-year-olds in the labour force in Q2 2026. This is by no means a uniquely South African challenge.
Amongst the growing amount of research highlighting the pressure on entry-level employment, Gartner recently found that 22% of CHROs reported that at least one business leader in their organisation had stopped hiring for entry-level roles because of AI automation.
But we cannot treat AI as the sole contributor. Against a backdrop of global economic pressure, organisations are restructuring, redesigning work and reassessing the skills they will need to future-proof their workplace.
The mirror effect
With more emerging talent seeking opportunities than there are available entry-level roles, only so many can secure that first step into employment. Whether organisations are actively recruiting or building pipelines for future talent, they are likely to engage and connect with far more capable talent than they can ultimately employ.
Think about it. Organisations that continue to recruit graduates and interns often invest significant time, resources and money in identifying, attracting and developing emerging talent.
They collaborate with schools, universities, colleges, tertiary institutions and the public sector, while offering internships, workplace exposure and graduate programmes.
Alongside this sits increasingly creative multichannel outreach, using everything from social media and meetup groups to workplace immersion and experiential events, real-world business assignments, gamified assessments and skills-based challenges.
But as organisations move further upstream to secure emerging talent earlier, are we not simply shifting the war for talent upstream?
How much time, resources and effort are being duplicated across organisations within this public and private emerging-talent ecosystem, as they compete for the same pools of talent and rebuild similar talent pipelines year in and year out?
What happens to that investment, and more importantly, that talent, when there simply isn't a role for them?
What if we looked beyond our own boundaries?
For this emerging generation already experiencing the stress of securing that difficult first step into employment, many are becoming increasingly discouraged by the limited opportunities available.
Perhaps part of companies' collective responsibility is to ensure that those they cannot employ leave the process with greater hope, direction and opportunity than when they entered it.
Kayleigh Fazan 6 Jul 2026 While more collaborative approaches to emerging talent already exist, what if we extended that thinking further?
What if organisations thought more collectively, creating a broader ecosystem connecting employers, educational institutions, public-sector bodies and industry partners in building and sustaining emerging talent beyond the needs of any one organisation? And what if collaboration extended further between employers themselves?
What could that look like?
Talent communities, not databases. Rather than capable talent disappearing into an ATS or CRM marked 'regret', could organisations go beyond nurturing communications and build connected communities that bring them closer to securing future employment?
A database stores talent. A community continues to create value for talent.
And that value needn't stop at the boundaries of one workplace. Could these communities give emerging talent broader exposure to job opportunities, continued development, mentorship, industry expertise, workplace experiences and professional networks, even when those opportunities sit elsewhere?
Could employers go a step further and connect these communities across organisations or industries? With the individual's consent, suitable talent that one organisation cannot absorb could remain visible to opportunities elsewhere, rather than having to start the journey all over again.
Even if we can't employ you, your interaction with us should leave you more employable than when you arrived.
Employer brand doesn't exist in isolation
There will always be more regretted applicants than available roles. So what impression do they leave with?
Their experience of an organisation doesn't simply end when their application is filed away. With word of mouth being such a powerful influence, their first-hand experience can become a trusted voice amongst friends, family and peers. And what they say about your organisation can be good, bad or sometimes ugly.
These same individuals may also be consumers of your products or services, future employees, suppliers or other stakeholders. Organisations can easily overlook the knock-on effect that a positive or disgruntled applicant can have on broader brand reputation, influencing not only their own ongoing relationship with the organisation, but the perceptions and choices of others.
Employer brand. Corporate brand. Consumer brand. Organisations may manage these as separate brand touchpoints, but people don't necessarily experience them separately. What happens at one touchpoint has the potential to strengthen or erode reputation at another.
Thinking more collectively
Employers cannot solve youth unemployment alone. Neither can educational institutions or government. But perhaps more can happen at the intersection between employers, education, the public sector and industry.
Organisations will continue to compete for talent. That isn't going to change. But could they collaborate just as deliberately in developing it, connecting it and creating broader pathways to opportunity?
Perhaps it's time to turn the lens on our societal commitment to emerging talent. Should that responsibility really end at the boundaries of our own organisations?
