Earlier in the year, my organisation ran an insight day with a real estate investment and asset management firm. The insight day was aimed at university students and graduates, but we also had some sixth form students (ages 16-18 - the two years in between school and university for the non-Brits!) attend as well, which always adds to the experience!

Naturally, at the end of the initial presentation, there were loads of questions about roles, educational background, challenges, and so on, but one of the questions that made me chuckle a bit but also reflect was when a sixth-form student bravely asked, “So, what exactly is your role and function here?” to which the graduate replied, “Asset management.”

It made me chuckle because of how bluntly it came across, but later it made me reflect. Because really, it’s a perfectly valid question and one that I’m sure a lot of young people preparing to enter the workforce have about different roles. Hell, even I ask this question at times because there are so many evolving roles and functions that aren't easily understood unless you've already spent time inside the system.

This is where communication and employer branding become critical, and frankly, it’s where many early careers strategies are quietly failing.

Earlier last year, I posted this on my LinkedIn. A graduate was struggling with her job search because job descriptions were so vague, she couldn’t even picture herself in the role, let alone craft a tailored, compelling application.

If she can't see it, why would she apply?

Here’s the mismatch:

When companies present roles as generic, vague, or aspirational without specifics, they’re setting themselves up for poor attraction, poor conversion, and even poorer retention. Now, I understand - early careers programmes are usually quite varied and include exposure to different areas of the business. Simplifying it into a job description could make the programme appear mundane or less attractive.

However, I’d argue that this belief is overstated and not as bad as you may think. It’s important to remember that these opportunities are still just jobs. Great opportunities for personal growth, financial stability, and an element of purpose, of course, but we’re not trying to sell a mystery box, right?

Candidates deserve to know what they’re actually signing up for and so do your hiring managers.

Most of the time, companies don’t lose early career talent through one dramatic blow-up. They lose them slowly, through small breaches of trust that quietly stack up over time. It often starts right at the beginning.

A graduate signs up for a role they don’t fully understand. A student walks through the door, unsure but hopeful, believing what they’ve been told about the opportunity ahead.

Then reality doesn’t match the story.

Not necessarily in a catastrophic way. Sometimes it’s just different enough to cause hesitation, chip away at their confidence or plant the first quiet thought: “this isn’t what I imagined, I don’t think this is for me.”

By the time real problems emerge, such as disengagement, poor performance, and early resignations, the underlying damage has already been done. Often, it traces back to that very first breach: a misalignment between what the company communicated and what the candidate actually experienced.

Trust is infrastructure. It’s the bridge that allows early talent to take risks, ask questions, and genuinely see a future for themselves within an organisation. Without that bridge, interventions like mentorship programmes, wellbeing initiatives, and L&D are built on shaky ground.

Trust doesn’t just collapse, it starts to erode with a series of missed expectations. It’s lost quietly, over a thousand tiny moments where reality didn’t match the promise. If you want young people to stay, to grow, to invest in your business as their own, you need to earn their trust before they even sign the contract.

That starts with clear, honest communication.

You don't need to strip away every nuance or rotation opportunity. You just need to paint a fuller picture. Right now, the typical early careers job description or programme page looks something like this:

At first glance, it checks the standard boxes. In reality, however, it doesn’t give candidates a real insight into what the work or the experience will actually be like. It reads more like a course prospectus than an honest introduction.

There’s often little about the day-to-day work. Almost no sense of how different rotations fit together or what success actually looks like in the role. While companies might think they’re keeping it broad to appeal to more applicants, vagueness usually has the opposite effect and creates uncertainty and hesitancy.

Candidates, especially those without strong industry connections already, are trying to build assumptions based on whatever scraps of information they can find. If the gap between the promise and the reality is too wide, you don’t just lose great candidates.

You lose their trust as well.

The good news: improving how you communicate doesn’t mean making the programme sound boring. You don't need to strip away every nuance or rotation opportunity. You just need to paint a fuller picture!

To make this even easier to visualise, I mapped out the flow of trust across the early careers journey. It shows where companies often unintentionally lose candidates and how small communication shifts can strengthen trust at every stage, from attraction to retention.

Here’s where you can start:

One of the clearest ways to build trust with early talent is to share real examples of the work they might engage with. Real, tangible projects that give them a glimpse into what their first six to twelve months could actually look like.

This doesn’t mean giving away confidential client information or sensitive internal documents. It simply offering candidates a sense of the environments they’ll operate in, the types of tasks they’ll support, and the scale and scope of the work.

For example, instead of simply saying, "you’ll gain exposure to live projects" an insight day description could explain: "Graduates in this team recently supported the redevelopment of a major city centre site, working alongside asset managers to track sustainability KPIs for a client portfolio." Small snapshots like this make a big difference. Providing real project examples does three things.

First, it gives candidates language and reference points they can use when writing applications or preparing for interviews.

Second, it builds credibility, candidates can tell when companies are being transparent versus when they are simply selling the brand.

Lastly, it strengthens the candidate experience even after they join. When their day-to-day work reflects what was initially shared, it reinforces their trust that they chose the right environment to build their career.

You can also integrate these case studies into your selection process. Instead of artificial tasks that bear no resemblance to the role, assessment centres or interviews could incorporate project-based challenges that mirror the kinds of thinking and problem-solving expected on the job. When candidates experience alignment between what they’re told and what they encounter, it signals that the company values coherence and that builds early loyalty.

One of the biggest sources of anxiety for candidates isn’t the application process itself. It’s the ambiguity about what the work will actually feel like once they arrive. Aspirational promises are common, but very few companies explain the day-to-day reality of the roles they’re recruiting for.

This is an easy win.

Speak to your current apprentices, trainees, and graduates. Ask them simple but meaningful questions: What tasks fill most of your days? What types of meetings are you typically part of? What responsibilities surprised you after joining? What’s a "good" day like and what’s a frustrating one?

You don’t have to create a minute-by-minute breakdown of the job. But sharing the common tasks and rhythms of the role alongside occasional stretch opportunities can paint a much richer and more honest picture for prospective applicants.

Candidates understand that not every day will be glamorous or career-defining. They aren’t expecting constant innovation or excitement. What they are looking for is enough clarity to imagine themselves inside the role and to assess, early, whether it fits their skills, interests, and goals.

Too often, early careers marketing focuses on the extremes: the "incredible opportunity" or the "impact you’ll have from day one" What’s missing is the middle, the steady, consistent, valuable work that actually makes up most professional roles. When you describe that middle honestly, you don't diminish the opportunity. You make it feel more attainable and that makes it more attractive.

The people you’ve already invested in are your most credible voices. They can bring your early careers programmes to life in a way no marketing brochure ever could. Too often, companies default to using only the top-performing graduates as their poster faces or worse, corporate-sounding testimonials that sound rehearsed and hollow. Instead, think wider and deeper. If you've recently opened up your programme to a broader range of degrees, socioeconomic backgrounds, or experiences, show it. Let candidates hear directly from the graduates who didn't take the "obvious" or "traditional" route.

Example:

If your finance graduate programme now accepts all disciplines, feature the history student who pivoted into asset management or the first-generation law student who found their niche in compliance. Have them talk about: what surprised them, what helped them thrive, and what they wish they'd known before they started. Short quotes are fine, but richer first-person stories (even short blog posts, short videos, or carousel features) build more emotional connection. The goal isn't just to celebrate your current cohort but to show the next one that there’s space for them too.

You already know the most common questions candidates will ask:

Instead of waiting for candidates to dig, or worse, make assumptions, surface these answers early and clearly. Too many companies still hide behind "speak to a recruiter" or "case-by-case basis" language, assuming it protects flexibility.

The thing is, ambiguity rarely builds trust. It builds anxiety. Being upfront, even when the answer isn’t perfect (e.g., "we currently do not sponsor visas for graduate roles") shows you respect candidates’ time and energy.

It also makes you stand out because most companies are still avoiding these conversations. A clean FAQ section, woven naturally into your early careers page or job description, signals clarity, openness, and maturity. It says, we value your decision-making process as much as our own and that’s a trust signal every serious candidate will notice.

It’s easy to think the solution is flashier branding, bigger claims, or louder recruitment campaigns. But the most effective early careers strategies are often quieter. They're the ones built on coherence, consistency, and a deep respect for the decision-making journey young people are navigating.

At the end of the day, joining a programme isn’t that different from making any other major life decision. People want to know what they’re saying yes to. They want to believe that yes will still make sense a few months, or a few years down the line.

Clearer communication helps them get there.

If you ever need a reminder of just how unclear we sometimes are when describing professional roles, here’s a funny little video that captures it perfectly: