Tech-savvy young workers can use social media to become powerful brand ambassadors for your organization.Stuart Jenner/Getty Images/iStockphoto
Millennials are the future of the work force. Today, about 40 million tech-savvy millennials have entered the job market and by 2025 that number will skyrocket to 75 million. If you're looking in your company crystal ball, the odds are good you're seeing millennial talent as the future of your company.
Yet millennial workers already have a somewhat mixed reputation. Sixty-eight per cent of people surveyed recently thought millennial employees are less motivated to take on responsibility and 46 per cent thought millennials were less engaged in work.
Are these numbers true? Not remotely. Yet millennials have different working styles and needs than other generations. To tap into their future workplace power you need to know how to attract the best and brightest recent grads. Here are a few ways to find the best millennial candidates before your competition scoops them up:
Provide mentorship and feedback
Since millennial employees are most likely starting on the bottom rungs of their career ladders, these ambitious workers are looking for mentorship and employer feedback. Millennials want to know they're progressing in their career and that their work is truly making a difference for the organization. A survey by millennial-skewering channel MTV found 75 per cent of millennials are looking for professional mentorship at their current workplace.
When looking to attract the best millennial candidates, build mentorship, professional educational opportunities, and frequent workplace feedback into your company culture. By presenting a company culture where millennials can connect with co-workers and further develop their professional skills, you'll attract the millennial candidates looking to ascend the career ladder.
Allow flexibility
When it comes to the workplace, millennials crave more flexibility than previous generations. This is probably because these new grads and young workers have grown up with technological tools making it easier to work remotely and time-shift traditional 9-to-5 hours. Sixty-four per cent of millennials would like to occasionally work from home and 66 per cent would like to tweak their hours.
Thanks to new technology, workers no longer have to be married to the desk or cubicle. Managers that hire don't even have to meet with candidates in-person; they can interview talent through the use of online video interviews. By utilizing new technology, especially as early as the hiring process, you're showing millennials your company is willing to be flexible and adapt to new ways of facing old problems. You should also build flexibility into your corporate culture, whether it's a weekly telecommute day, a flexible vacation policy, or even just summer Fridays.
Embrace new technology
Having grown up as digital natives, millennials love technology. Whether they're texting, tweeting, or responding entirely in animated GIFs, young workers and new grads use technology to relate to their surroundings. It should be no surprise they would consider technology to be an important aspect of the workplace, even if older generations might not always entirely agree.
Forty-five per cent of young workers who responded to the recent Cisco connected world technology report put access to technology in the workplace above even salary demands. These workers would prefer a lower paying job with more technological flexibility than a higher paying but stricter position.
To attract the very best, offer flexibility when it comes to technology and social media. Develop a comprehensive social media policy to protect your company, but know these tech-savvy young workers can also take to the social airwaves to become powerful brand ambassadors for your organization.
Offer work-life balance
One of the reasons millennials and new grads love flexibility in the workplace so much, whether it's their physical location or their ability to use social media, is because these workers crave work-life balance. When asked what life milestones were most important, 30 per cent cited getting married while 26 said starting their career. Millennials are ready to dive into work, but they don't want to do so entirely at the expense of their personal lives.
If you want to attract and hire the best millennial workers and new grad employees, focus on your company's work-life balance. Make your company culture fun, and provide plenty of opportunities for workers to get to know each other outside of the office.
Millennials are also looking for great benefits. In fact, 81 per cent cite benefits as more important even than finding a job in a field they enjoy. So offer benefits that will allow young employees to strike a better work-life balance, and the best and brightest will be more likely to flock to your company.
Hiring great new grads and millennials isn't difficult, but it's important to remember every generation is looking for different things in their careers. If you embrace new technology and focus on providing mentorship and work-life balance, you'll snap up the young workers your company needs to continue thriving.