The rise of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) as a framework for organizations and the public sector has recently highlighted another characteristic apart from gender, race, age, and culture. Being the first person in a family to graduate from a university and consequently being the first in a typical academic job gains public attention under the label First Generation Professional (FGP). Given the fact that the population in Germany is shrinking, with an average birth rate per woman below 1.6 for over 2 decades (https://www.destatis.de/EN/Themes/Society-Environment/Population/Births/Tables/birth-rate.html, retrieved 20.11.2024), businesses and society urgently perceive the need for more young people qualified for skilled jobs. Also, for Human Resource Management in Companies fostering DE&I in teams and the overall organization adequately including FGPs is an important task. The rationale is that diverse and inclusive teams provide a better working climate and are likely to achieve higher performance and value creation (e.g. van Laak & Weinert, 2016). Currently, we observe first multinationals like Merck KGaA, or consultancies, e.g. the Boston Consulting Group, starting to include FGPs into their DE&I strategy. They have already implemented several measures, such as establishing support groups and mentoring, or they offered special financial offerings for FGPs to ensure they are included in the best possible way.

The proposed contribution is based on literature analysis and reports from practice and elaborates on challenges and success factors for 2 important stages in career development: tertiary education in (regional) universities aiming to increase their graduation rate of FGPs and later stages in career development in corporations and Small and medium-sized companies.

Keywords: First Generation Professionals, career development, sustainable development.