Attracting Millennials to Work For You
In this – part two of our series decoding the Wicked Millennial Problem – we take a look at recruiting a Millennial workforce. In part one we attempted to understand the Millennial workforce. Now, we look at how to attract them. It’s a wicked problem, as a majority of hiring managers say it’s difficult to find and retain Millennial talent. It seems employers and Millennials aren’t always looking for the same thing. With most of the work force now made up of Millennials, employers need to catch up if they want to attract the best future talent.
Millennials are nosey, and they want to know everything up front.
A compensation package is the number one thing recruiters should highlight, and that means more than just the salary. They want to know about professional development, advancement opportunities and mentorships available to them as well. Make sure you show them around when they interview too. They’ll be concerned about the environment and how people interact day-to-day.
Work-Life balance is important to them.
If you don’t have a clear plan on this, develop one immediately. Millennials are influenced by far more factors than just how much money they’ll be pulling in. This is a work to live and not live to work generation like no other before it.
Making a difference in the lives of others is important.
Highlight your company’s CSR initiatives and make sure you include the role they can play in helping you achieve multiple bottom lines. It may sound counterintuitive but lean into the narcissism and let it drive their engagement.
Create the space necessary to be entrepreneurial.
The perception is that most Millennials believe they should already be the CEO. This isn’t the case. They just want to have room to be innovative and independent in the way they approach their work, and they want that to be valued. It’s a pretty fantastic trait because it’s fueled by an agile approach to idea emergence and implementation.
Go where they are.
Millennials are job hunting on mobile devices, and they’re using LinkedIn to search for openings. There are two lessons here: make sure you’re promoting opportunities on LinkedIn and expect them to open your website on their phone. Make sure it’s mobile-friendly, because they’ll be judging your “techability,” which is extremely important to them.
Don’t forget about social media.
A solid 62% of Millennials report investigating a company’s entire online presence when looking for information about a job.
Finally, be genuine.
Millennials are incredibly aware. They’ll see right through you.
AKCG is a multi-generational, multi-cultural, global workforce that loves wicked problems like decoding the values, passions and struggles of an entire generation. This article is part of a series we’re writing about the Wicked Millennial Workforce Problem. If you’d like us to let you know when we’ve added to this series fill in the form below to subscribe to our e-newsletter.
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