Old Recruiting and Retention Tactics Won’t Work on Today’s New Employees

If you’re looking to expand your workforce this year, it’s important to look at how to be an appealing employer to millennials in the job market. These younger employees are looking for different things from their jobs than baby boomers and members of Gen X, and the employers that understand that will have an easier time recruiting and engaging the best people from this young talent pool.

Notice I said “engaging” not “retaining” here. One of the first things employers need to understand about millennials is that they aren’t going to stick with the same job or company for years and years. Instead of fighting a pointless battle to retain them, you need to engage millennial employees to get the best out of them for the few years they do work for you.

This week I’ve been reading articles about how to recruit great millennials and engage them once they’re on the job. Read on to learn how to attract the best millennial employees to your company and get the most out of their talents on the job.

  • How Brands Can Attract Millennials Looking for Meaningful Work. Co.exist: “Millennial ideals are about to take over the workforce. This January, millennials began outnumbering their older colleagues in the workplace, and as a handful of studies have shown, this generation cares a lot about finding meaning in the workplace. That’s a big opportunity for nonprofits, B Corps, and other companies with social good missions. Over half of millennials are willing to take a 15% pay cut to work at a company that matches their ideals, research shows.”
  • Mobile Can Help Win the Talent Wars. Mobile Enterprise: “Invest, refocus and redesign talent acquisition – leveraging network recruiting, brand reach and new technologies: In addition to marketing their organization and career opportunities, organizations should also market their mission, purpose, leadership team and work experience. Millennials and high performers look at all of these factors in an employer today.”
  • 2015 Top 10 Emerging Threats: Number 7 — Expectations of Millennials. Channelnomics: “‘It is truly a huge challenge – keeping and motivating technical staff, particularly the millennials,’ says Norrie Davidson, CEO of Burlington, Ontario-based solution provider WW Works. ‘When recruiting it is no longer enough to have the basics – vacation, benefits, great work environment, flexibility in work shift, work at home and so on – all of these are a must and millennials don’t even look at potentially working for you if you don’t offer more. You have to show that your culture truly supports what you are saying from the moment they walk in.’”
  • What Millennials And Their Leaders Must Know To Succeed. Forbes: “Embrace opportunities to coach, mentor, develop, motivate and have fun within your work environment with them. Leadership expert John C. Maxwell once said eloquently, ‘Leaders must be close enough to relate to others, but far enough ahead to motivate them.’ You can motivate millennials responding to their needs and desires. If you can’t advance them quickly, perhaps you can provide them with more flexible work schedules or a more relaxed work environment. Being a good leader requires a true commitment on your part. You must be willing to put in the necessary time to take your employees to the levels they can’t achieve by themselves. It’s essential that you develop and invest in your workforce.”
  • 4 Tips on Keeping Millennial Employees Engaged. Millennial CEO: “Amongst Millennials, just under 90 percent would prefer to work at a time of their choice as opposed to 9-5. Nearly half of Millennials would take flex time or more vacation over increased pay. This generation is highly motivated by flexibility. For most integrators, there are some positions that don’t fit well with this line of thinking; however, for sales pros, programmers or financial managers, is it possible to offer a little more schedule flexibility as long as the work gets done?”

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hi, i'm lindsey!

Lindsey is a globally recognized career and workplace expert and the leading voice on generational diversity. She has spoken for more than 300 audiences including Google, Goldman Sachs, Estee Lauder, Stanford and Wharton. Lindsey is the author of four career and workplace advice books, and her insights have appeared in media outlets including The TODAY Show, CNBC, NPR, the Harvard Business Review and the Wall Street Journal.

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