The new school year brings a new college recruiting season. Company recruiters are heading to college campuses around the country to meet potential employees and talk about life after graduation.
But face-to-face recruiting is on the decline. Millennials use social media to find jobs, so an employer’s presence on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram can make or break a recruiting season. This week, I’ve gathered advice on how employers are updating their social media profiles — and their hiring processes — to attract millennial job candidates.
Millennials Are Transforming Recruiting as We Know It. Recruiter: “Research from Staff.com shows that 14.4 million people in the U.S. have used social media to search for a job and 29 percent of job seekers use it as their primary tool for job searching. Jobvite’s ‘2014 Social Recruiting Survey’ points out that more than 93 percent of recruiters use or plan to use social media to support their recruiting efforts. Social networks are no doubt great tools for connecting with other professionals and prospective candidates. In fact, 73 percent of recruiters have hired candidates through social media. […] Millennials have grown up using social networks and technology. Savvy recruiters who understand how to connect with this age group in the places where they’re already hanging out will definitely have the advantage.”
Common Challenges in Recruiting Millennials and Tips for Overcoming Them. Spark Hire: “Millennials can add a valuable perspective to your office. However, recruiting this generation is different than recruiting other generations. You also may have heard some stereotypes about them that makes you a bit hesitant to go after the millennial age group. Separate fact from fiction and strategize your recruiting efforts properly and you’ll be able to add millennials to your team who help make your business a profitable and exciting place to work. The stereotype: Millennials are job hoppers, so don’t waste your time recruiting them. In reality: While some millennials do have a tendency to move from job to job, there are many who would be happy growing within one company. To encourage them to do this, present your millennial employees with opportunities for professional development.”
Want to Attract Millennial Employees? Enlist Your Marketing Team. Profiles International: “Simply put, make it easy for people to actually apply for the job. If you don’t already have a way for people to apply online, get one soon. No one wants to print off an application, scan it and email it in. Have your marketing team build an online application that users can easily complete. Or, better yet, let job applicants apply using their LinkedIn profiles. On a related note, if you don’t have any job openings at the time, you might consider creating a career interest form where people can provide you with their name, email address and resume.”
How Companies Are Changing Their Culture to Attract (and Retain) Millennials. Business.com: “Millennials are continuous learners, collaborators, achievement-oriented, socially conscious and highly educated. As a result, they are looking for more than a paycheck from their jobs. According to Business Insider, nearly 20% of Millennials say Google is their ideal employer, 13% said Apple and 9% listed Facebook as their ideal place to work. All three of these companies share one shining point in common, and it’s the strength of their respective company cultures. This is important, because it transcends the idea that Millennials only want to flock to the biggest firms, and actively supports the idea that these companies got as big as they are because of they offered a more enticing working environment–– and your business can too.”
How have millennials made you rethink your recruiting strategy? I’d love to know — please share in the comments!
Lindsey Pollak helps the world’s top organizations understand the millennial generation and thrive in today’s multigenerational workplace. A New York Times bestselling author, Lindsey began her career as a dorm RA in college and has been mentoring millennials — and explaining them to other generations — ever since. Her keynote speeches have audiences so engaged that, in the words of one millennial attendee, “I didn’t check my phone once!” Contact Lindsey to learn how she can help your organization understand and connect with millennials.
