Overcoming recruiting challenges of millennials: The job-hopping generation

If you are recruiting currently then surely you are in the business of hiring millennials as well. Millennials constitute most of the workforce of today’s organizations. It is true that organization culture is changing with the entrance of this generation in the corporate as they come with different expectations as compared to previous generations. Millennials have a reputation of job-hopping, earlier they were considered as immature, casual, easily distracted, and impatient. It is also believed that millennials are curious, looking for social purpose and seek genuine feedback for improvement and collaboration. Given this dynamic behavior, organizations for all kind are keen to understand them in a better way. 

It is very imperative for recruitment professionals to understand millennials and their expectations before starting hiring them. Millennials are those people who were born between the early 80s and mid-90s, they range between early twenties and mid to late thirties in age. As they are born and brought in an environment with the latest technology, digital media, and communication so they have created a comfort zone revolving around the technology itself. There are different ways by which an organization and recruiters can make it attractive for potential millennials applicants to join.

Understand who they are 

Start with understanding different attributes that define millennials in a better way. As previous generations used to focus more on job security and high salaries while they emphasis more on work life balance and their life principles are individualistic and liberal. They prefer casual approach as compared to formal one and they are more likely to quit a job if it is not matching their workplace standards. They don’t actually want to switch jobs but when they doesn’t found compelling reasons to stay with an organization then they start looking out for better opportunity. They tend to have high confidence in their competencies to find a new job and willing to change more aggressively. No matter how great the organization and recruiter is, if they are not happy with what is offered to them then they will not even take the job in the first place. 

Invest more in technology and innovation

As Millennials have grown up with changing technology and they are very tech-savvy so they have created their comfort zone around doing things digitally. It would be challenging for organizations with manual work and outdated technology to attract and retain millennials if you do not have a creative social media account and engaging career site. During initial discussions, ask them to visit your social media accounts of Facebook, Instagram and twitter to give more insights about the organization. Millennials believe in the digital application process, transparent communication, easily access of data and simplified ways of doing things so organizations with innovative and technical advances have more potential to attract this generation. 

Stay connected

Millennials crave more to have effective, two-way communication and collaboration where they should feel themselves as valued. Communication from the recruiter should be timely and interactive, it is critical to provide them with constant feedback to stay connected with them. They are more responsive on text messages and mails and they believe in a friendly and casual way of communication rather than being formal all the time. Keeping sharing your social media pages, events and newsletters to engage during the recruitment lifecycle to differentiate your organization from others. Looking modern and flexible will have more chances to win potential applicants.   

Highlight growth prospects

The opportunity for career growth is one of the important parameters for millennials while choosing the organization to work with. Advise them on career paths available internally and how can they progress in the ladder horizontally as well as vertically. Emphasis on highlighting learning and training opportunities available within the organization and never forget to mention how you encourage open communication and collaboration across the organization.   

Culture that fosters trust, belongingness and help building their personal brand

Millennials want to be valued and trusted personally and they want to feel connected with the real people at work. They are good team players and work towards achieving team and individual success. They contribute in creating virtual communities sharing common interests and values and believe in making a difference in the work environment that can set you apart from other organizations. They are devoted to those organizations that nurture a culture of trust and transparency. As they are full of innovative ideas so they feel trusted when their inputs are heard and are taken to the next level. In addition to this, they believe in open feedback culture so keep communication that is open to feedback. As this generation likes open communication so take their feedback after each step of the process and give them feedback on areas where they can improve for better performance in further discussions. 

Loosen up your policies 

Millennials are not coming from that generation who are happy with eight hours desk job with minimal amount of work required. Millennials usually are not driven by money and they just look beyond salary when considering a new opportunity but that doesn’t imply that they are willing to work for less than their worth. They care mainly about perks and benefits which provide them with more flexibility, autonomy and work life balance. Millennials does not have mindset that they need to be in office to get their job done and they are not set to specific work hours. Younger generation values remote work and flexible scheduled wherein they are allowed to login when they want, where they want so that they can contribute some time to their hobbies, friend and families as well. Despite working remotely, they still value being part of the team, collaborate with managers and peers in a timely and efficient way.     

Strengthen review sites

A strong branding and good reputation is one of mandate to attract potential applicants. Millennials trust real time and user-written content than the marketing content designed by the organization. They would not prefer to apply for an organization with poor ratings and reviews on review sites. As review sites sends a compelling message to millennials so it is important for every organization to evaluate their reviews on different review sites on time-to-time basis. You should look upon your reviews and flag those that are false or not written by current or previous employees. These reviews are a powerful way that reveals which are your areas of improvement to be a better employer and which things you need to prioritize.  

It is not easy to group a large generation like Millennials into one category as they have witnessed many advancements and developments that have shaped their generation. Millennials have been through globalization and technology is inherent in their lives so that expect all this in a workplace as well. Even after following above-mentioned tips, it is worth evaluating how millennials feel. For personalized feedback, a candidate/ employee engagement survey can be used and you can add a question of employee age to it to filter it as per age group and see responses of millennials in particular. 

Generally, there is a generational gap between management and new hires. Regardless of this gap and difference of opinion, it is imperative for modern organizations to adapt and make changes wherever required post understanding expectations of millennials. Try creating a neutral workplace around policies that welcomes diversity and comfort everyone at work. More than ever, it is advisable to keep politics out of the workplace due to the damage that it causes in the long run.