Attracting and retaining young talent requires businesses’ Blood, sweat and tears
Why is this happening?
It could be due to differences between what recruiters offer and young workers’ aspirations. These days, it is simply not enough to post a job opening and then select the best talent from the numerous candidates that apply. In any case, competition for these young workers is high, and they know it. They are looking at who offers the whole package - not just monetary value.
By expanding professional development, giving millennials a sense of purpose and offering them job flexibility, there are several ways to attract quality young talent.
How do you ATTRACT the right quality talent?
1. Begin With a Well-Defined Job Description
Hiring people with a broad idea of what you need will be difficult. For example, a social media manager is an expansive title. Many millennial are well-versed in social media, but to attract exceptional talent, you need to pinpoint what tasks the job entails and ask specific questions during the interview.
Asking about their biggest failure and how they dealt with it allows you to understand the steps they took to manage something that did not work. If they say they took all the credit without any help, it would be better not to hire them. (Check out this video on interviewing tips)
Millennials are a confusing and sometimes frustrating generation; unfortunately, many of them have been failed by higher education. Often, individuals who have made professional progress outside of college have more drive and real-world experience.
If someone is good at what they do, they know they will eventually make money, so give them more than just a salary. This could include health benefits, ownership, travel compensation, shares, or anything that might apply; consider what your competition is offering. (Watch our video series on recruitment strategies here)
Express your brand story across all channels that can reach millennial - blogs, social media and your website. To attract the right talented millennial, you need to inspire them with your purpose and brand story.
Some other recruitment strategies are:
Find innovative recruitment processes - think outside the box to see how potential hires react to the non-status quo
Seek a passive candidate - short list quickly and propose an offer faster.
Use appropriate yet specialized job boards - posting a job for a Java developer with 5 years of experience on LinkedIn would be ineffectual when a more definitive posting could be on StackOverflow
Reaching out to previous employees
Host a meet-up - send a representative to a nearby event happening, which will potentially be attended by people with professional talent.
Adopt an hourly remuneration - some millennial may be attracted to a shorter commitment
Attend job fairs.
Reaching the right talent is not sufficient. Retaining them is equally important. What appeals to young professionals is ever changing , so let us, Bickert Management Inc. share a few suggestions on how you can bring in young, suitable professionals and retain them for the long term.
How to retain the right talent in your business
It has recently come to light that a great number of employees are willing to explore the gig economy (a labor market characterized by the prevalence of short-term contracts or freelance work as opposed to permanent jobs), abandoning the traditional 9-5 hours, leaving CEOs and business leaders anxious about the future of their ventures.
Does that sound disheartening?
Be comforted by the fact that there are still high-performing millennial and Gen Z employees who are eagerly looking for a stable company with which to build a long-term career. We just need to turn the tables to retain these top players. Get to know what they are looking for in a company, manager and a career. If we cannot adapt and provide the younger generations with what they want, we make it too easy for them to jump ship and join a competitor.
So, what exactly do millennial look for in a career? Certain themes come up time and again, which we will explore below.
Nowadays, young employees do not just want to complete their assigned tasks and go home at 5 pm. Instead, they look for regular, meaningful feedback and reflection from their managers. They want to know how they performed throughout a day or week. Many companies have transitioned to a performance management process known as Agile, which is the abandonment of single annual appraisals replaced with regular performance discussions. This can also be backed up by real-time communication and an open-door policy, which modern software can facilitate. It means that rather than feeling like a small cog in a big machine, employees feel as if they are a valued part of a well-functioning team.
The days of tyrannical managers are over; young talents are rejecting such managers and are seeking authority figures who can play more of a coaching role.
Helping employees in learning new skills while on the job is an investment, where the return is the more productive and better-performing workers, and an increased respect for the company.
Otherwise, prepare for the reality that they may - sooner or later - leave. Many young, talented managers switch jobs specifically due to a lack of thorough training and mentoring from their direct superiors.
According to Harvard Business Review, more than 1,200 high-performing millennial complained about an expectations gap between the type of coaching they thought they would get, and what they received in reality. This results in frustration and higher turnover.
Another study by Deloitte has shown that millennial with a mentoring relationship with their managers report higher satisfaction rates.
With that in mind, managers have to be forward-thinkers, helpful and avoid being retrospective and critical; instead of informing them of their under performance, work with them and assist them in helping them improve.
Managers also need to take a step back and let employees develop their own approach to the assigned tasks while providing guidance when requested along the way.
The third fundamental aspect of attracting a young candidate is all about flexibility, trust, and kindness at work; after compensation, the next thing millennial look for is flexibility.
What many professionals seek in a job -
A business culture where it is easy yet natural to integrate responsibilities (both professional and personal).
Work-life balance is becoming an important issue for new generations; young experts prefer to be “nomadic” and leave behind the hassle of everyday working life. That is the reason why many jobs allow physical absences and flexible schedules; all credit goes to the internet for making communication instantaneous and seamless.
SHRM’s study of job satisfaction shows that over two-thirds of workers value mutual respect more than their remuneration; all the studies on younger generations tend to show that they find the work atmosphere and the relationship with their managers equally important.
It is almost impossible to attract young talents with old school approaches based on permanent control, lack of feedback, distrust and lack of good communication. It is time to focus on “dialogue”, “openness” and “transparency”, to bring out the best of your teams’ creativity, passions and intellect, giving them a voice and recognizing their contributions.
Businesses must be sure that their young employees do not become the next start-up competitors by following Family-Friendly Policies - sabbaticals, paternity leave, job sharing, and telecommuting - are all paramount.
Most of today’s young talent believes that the skills needed today are vastly different from those needed previously, and their approach to tackling challenges at work or sharing knowledge is also different.
According to the CEO of Goodwall,
"Today’s young talent is diverse, entrepreneurial, and more tech-savvy than previous generations... Young professionals bring a strong digital mindset and a wealth of experience and achievements to today’s workplace. To attract them, you’ll need to craft a talent recruitment strategy that engages them in new and unique ways."
Today, many young professionals prefer to be remote, surf the net, code, have co-working spaces or freelance. So, to retain them, dance to their tune, or at least make a few adjustments by hiring more remote talent or replacing physical meetings with online alternatives.
Although they are often accused of lacking purpose, both purpose and meaning are core to young talent; the desire to create real meaning for themselves and others contradicts how millennial are frequently stereotyped.
A work environment rich with purpose and addressing something they are passionate about helps in retaining employees.
Let the young talent contribute his or her abilities to the attainment of goals, allowing them to imprint real changes to the world.
This quest and desire for meaning and purpose is always backed by a dose of energy that must be tamed and channeled for productive purposes. Great leadership encompasses exuding business values, upholding integrity and commanding obedience if necessary.
Last but not least…
Be attentive to your young employees and the culture of the company, usually in the form of support and training (money doesn’t hurt either) and the result will be a happier yet talented workforce focused on moving the company forward instead of what competitors are offering.