Millennials are no longer the "young crowd". As it stands, they are now the most qualified, as well as a significantly large slice of the working force given their age, their thinking process and the unrivaled creativity that seems to come along with their generation.
Millennials have graduated and they've become the most sought-after employees. By the end of the decade, they would make 75% of the world's working force.
It's common knowledge that they have different expectations for their careers. Be it the environment, the company's dynamics, the vision, or even the values that the position supports, this is a generation that's changing the professional landscape.
What does that mean for the companies recruiting Millennials?
It means you need to revisit your HR practices, your approach to recruitment, and how your company is perceived by the new generation dominating the workforce. This doesn't always mean change on a large scale. It could be that your company is already the perfect fit for Millennial employees. More often than not, small businesses and startups find themselves adopting these changes without even knowing it. There's a lot more to retaining employees than simply signing a contract. Remember, Millennials take advantage of their modern appeal and are known to change jobs often.
With that in mind, here are our 4 tips for successful Millennial Recruitment:
1- Define Their Purpose
This goes for Millennials as it does for candidates of any other generation. No one wants to work without purpose. This is best made clear early on in the process, as early as the initial interview. Giving your employees purpose (especially purpose that they believe in) boosts productivity and enthusiasm. Define the purpose behind the position before your HR department lists the open position. Millennials like to know what they're working to achieve. A well-defined purpose allows them to focus on the "how" of it all.
2- Hire for Growth
Hiring for growth means shortlisting candidates you believe you would like to work with for a long time. The best way to achieve this is by hiring Millennials whose values and goals align with the company's own. This is a generation that has the luxury to choose work that they believe in. In a lot of cases, the industry ends up playing a vital role in that decision. The way you shortlist applicants, however, can help you put together an influential and creative core team.
Manatal's social media integration, for example, is one of the best ways to get to know your candidates on a deeper level. You can learn a lot about Millennials from their social media. Manatal's feature allows you to discover what drives their interest and passion. A candidate’s hobbies, for example, can give you a solid idea of how to interact with them. Generally speaking, getting to know applicants on a human level - a social level even - can give you a sense of what they value the most, what they pour their energy into. This goes far in helping companies make their offices a comfortable working environment, or dictate how certain topics or interactions are approached. This makes hiring for growth a simple task.
3- Cultivate Company Culture
Though company culture does include the purpose we discussed above, social interaction is the key to its success. Company culture refers to the unique social and psychological environment that is your workplace. Studies have shown that this is vital for morale and productivity. When your employees are most comfortable socially and psychologically while at work, you can expect loyalty and engagement to soar. Their statements go from "I am X and Y" to "We are X and Y."
While this is all well and good in theory, if your company culture isn’t well-defined, you might be turning away Millennial applicants without knowing they were even there. Three words: “Your career page”.
Company culture can be an exciting aspect, an enticing factor that wins employee loyalty and a steady stream of eager applicants. It can also be the destination where your website traffic goes to die, or the reason applicant interest suspiciously disappears.
Your career page needs to be a well-thought-out portal. It needs to capture the company culture you’ve poured effort into developing. It’s the page where applicants interact with your company on a serious note. Sure, potentially interested applicants will take the time to do some research. They’ll most likely browse your website, check your product/service, and even attempt to find employee reviews or employee profiles for reference. They’re considering you.
An applicant on your career page is at the final stage. Of course, they will be interested in the positions advertised, taking the time to consider whether they can envision themselves as part of your team. But that doesn’t mean they are no longer paying attention to your branding, company culture, product or details. In fact, this is the point where they absent-mindedly consider all of those factors.
A very effective method to maximize your potential for motivating possible candidates is to ensure your career page reflects your brand and reinforces your company values, vision, and culture. This can be done by crafting compelling content or displaying certain imagery, or even getting creative with the designs.
One thing is certain, your career page can be leveraged in more ways than a simple vacancy posting. It can be an inviting factor designed to display who you are.
Our own experience with developing such portals through the Manatal platform taught us the importance of a well-designed, branded, and compelling career page. It was the main reason we developed our career portal creation feature, to allow companies that once overlooked this important channel, to create or link their own pages to our platform. This allows them to automatically receive applications on the Manatal platform, which in turn indexes all data within and creates detailed candidate profiles for the job in question.
4- Define and Emphasize Your Vision
Every company needs a mission statement and a vision statement. While your mission defines what you're doing, your vision is all about why you're doing it. Vision is a question of personal value. Millennials like to have faith in what they do, and the why of it is at the core of your company's identity. This should be well-communicated at all times through your Human Resources department on every email, every job ad, and every workplace interaction. Give your Millennial employees something valid to believe in, and they will work tirelessly to make it happen.
It's undeniable that Millennials will be the generation that shapes the professional landscape over the next few decades. Implementing these changes early on, and applying them in your recruitment process can give you an edge in finding the employees to drive your company forward.
Click here to read more about Manatal's social media integration and AI recommendations.
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