Ensure your hiring methods match high-quality millennial candidates.
By positioning your company as a leader in engaged and technologically-savvy recruiting and employment, you can draw the best candidates in the new millennial labor pool.
We have all heard the stereotypes about millennials: they are entitled, lazy, and unskilled. However, in reality, the millennial generation is full of men and women who are perfectly tailored for the modern digital economy. They have the soft skills, flexibility, and creativity to succeed in the most demanding modern positions. So rather than getting caught up in the stereotypes, let’s talk about some of the basics regarding recruitment strategies for millennial workers in the current workforce.
This article will touch on two aspects of millennial recruitment and managing millennials. The first aspect centers on the expectations cultivated by millennials in terms of satisfaction and fulfillment in the workplace. The second aspect focuses on recognizing how digital technology can position your company as the place to work. If you and your company can leverage modern recruiting technology and digital tools, you will attract talented millennial workers
Things You Should Do When Hiring Millennials
Millennials at work expect opportunities for growth and success, not just a wage. So, what seems like a sense of entitlement can become a strong motivation for success. Hiring millennials means motivating them, and motivation is all about showing them that your company is a place with a bright future, a place that innovates, and a place that allows employees to take creative risks and find satisfaction in their work.
From the recruitment phase to the hiring phase: engage, engage, engage. Show potential millennial employees how you connect with social networks or cutting-edge digital services. Show them that you value soft skills such as communication, project management, storytelling, or interpersonal communication, and show them that your company continually promotes soft skills training and development.
Once you’ve made your millennial hires, you will want to keep up this level of engagement. Provide continuous employee feedback with a focus on positive reinforcement and constructive improvement. Retaining a millennial employee or managing millennial employees in the workplace simply means making sure that they are part of the team, and the best way to manage millennials is to stay in touch with them frequently.
Use Technology in Modern Recruiting
Obviously, millennials are comfortable with technology because they have not known a world without it, so your recruiting effort should always include digital recruitment through social media and online job boards. Demonstrate that your company is comfortable utilizing digital recruiting methods through LinkedIn and Facebook just as much as you are with Indeed.com or Glassdoor.
When recruiting, however, don’t think you can limit your search to traditional social media such as Facebook or LinkedIn. Use Instagram or Snapchat to recruit creative millennials who think outside the box or expect fun engagement with their work. Recruitment strategies should always include promotions that communicate clearly what your brand stands for and what you are looking for in a job candidate, but also shows that you can have fun or stay up-to-date.
Presenting a strong and coherent online brand is essential for attracting millennials because it shows that your company understands contemporary trends in digital recruitment and retention. If you can also provide information on diversity and employee satisfaction, or even better, demonstrate it through a strong online presence, you will set your company up as one of the best places for millennials to work.
And don’t leave potential hires hanging during the hiring process. Engagement doesn’t stop at the resume or the interview. Utilize an applicant tracking system so that potential hires can trace their progress. Using a tracking system that automatically updates applicants can make clients feel engaged even if the process is automated.
Once you have brought in your top prospects for interviews and made your decision, be sure to provide feedback for the unsuccessful individuals who interviewed but weren’t chosen. By giving feedback on the right fit with the company, interview style, and overall approach, you will start building a reputation with millennials at work who can spread the word of your personal and welcoming approach to hiring.
Recruiting and hiring millennials is not a streamlined process. In many ways, it can mean developing a whole new technical and interpersonal infrastructure that values engagement over automation and brand awareness over quick results. If you can show the millennial workforce that you are a company that supports employees, engages social media and other digital recruitment tools thoughtfully, and has fun in the process, then you will go far in pulling in talented and excited millennials to work at your company.
