It’s no secret, millennials don’t look for work in the same way their parents did. Values and expectations have evolved, tech innovations have changed the way people work, and the most sought-after skill sets are not necessarily what they used to be.
Millennials make up the majority of the U.S. workforce today, and it’s expected 75% of the global workforce will be millennials by 2025. We are in the midst of a crucial time for organizations to find and retain top millennial talent in order to secure their chances at achieving long-term success. The next era of recruiting is here, and it’s important for companies to acknowledge this shift and adjust accordingly.
Your company’s recruitment process represents your front line in the war for talent. It is a critical opportunity for your organization to reinforce its image and promote its corporate culture, making a lasting impression on job seekers. Whether you choose to believe it or not, in today’s competitive recruitment landscape, old-school corporate values and outdated processes put your company at a clear disadvantage when compared to the more innovative and tech-savvy competition.
When it comes to recruiting millennials, there are a few things you need to consider.
Diversity is no Longer up for Debate, It’s a Standard in Millennial Recruiting
Studies have shown organizations that promote inclusivity and diversity in the workplace tend to see a positive impact on their bottom line. In fact, a recent Deloitte report states 83% of millennials feel they are more engaged at work when their employer/company actively cultivates a sense of inclusivity in the workplace.
So, how can companies promote a culture of diversity and inclusivity? The first step is to make sure your hiring process is producing the right results. Organizations must strive to establish a recruitment process that is fair, objective and enables hiring teams to engage with the right audiences.
The reality is no matter how much of an effort your recruiters are putting into being objective, the traditional recruitment process will always have its limits and tends to open the door to personal bias.
Anna Peters from CollegeRecruiter.com explains, "Recruiters and interviewers should assume there is at least some bias embedded in their hiring process, not because they must be bad people but because statistically speaking, bias is there."
Address Bias in Your Recruitment Process to Promote Diversity
Millennials expect more from their employers, they look for an environment where people from all walks of life are welcome and valued.
The new generation of workers and college grads entering the workforce look at diversity and inclusion differently than older generations. It’s about more than just age, ethnicity, gender, religious belief, or physical ability. It’s also about how people with different point of views confront and interact with each other, and whether or not certain views are accepted and valued by the organization.
A good first step is to address bias in your recruiting process by implementing a structured interview system which fosters objectivity and equal opportunity.
Standardized structured interviews give all candidates the opportunity to be evaluated on a level playing field. It’s the best way to ensure a completely objective and unbiased recruitment process.
The Candidate Experience is Key: Get Social, Go Mobile and Modernize Your Recruiting
The days of collecting paper resumes are over. A large proportion of young workers are now conducting their job searches entirely online and your company’s recruitment process should reflect this new reality. The candidate experience is more important now than ever before, and how your company stacks up to the competition can have a significant impact on what kind of talent you manage to attract.
Having a website which is optimized for mobile or tablet use is critical, especially since 90% of job seekers now browse for jobs on mobile devices. This small action can prevent massive drop-off rates and increase candidate conversions.
But that’s not all! Many millennials will visit your company’s social profiles to find out about job opportunities and gain a window into your corporate culture. By making your presence known on social media and using the tools that are available to your advantage, you can connect with and engage young job seekers where they spend a majority of their spare time.
LinkedIn is always a great place to start, but even platforms like Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook have been making ground with recruiters to engage with more candidates in broader regions.
Consider Recruitment Software To Enhance The Candidate Experience
Younger generations will judge a company’s culture based on their experience during the hiring process. The first impression you leave with candidates could be the difference between landing top performers or benchwarmers.
Consider allowing your applicants to go beyond traditional resume submissions and provide them with a unique experience in the early screening stages of the hiring process. Tools like asynchronous video interviewing have been gaining popularity amongst recruiter circles.
On one hand, the software gives candidates the freedom and flexibility to complete applications and interviews at their convenience. On the other, it reduces the recruiter’s administrative workload significantly by not having to be present at interviews in the early screening stages, as well as automating tedious tasks like scheduling and applicant updates to keep candidates engaged and informed throughout the process.
Unlike their predecessors, millennials grew up in the digital age, and therefore, they expect quick turnarounds. When it comes to top talent, the faster you can assess their qualifications and engage them, the better your chances of winning them over.
The ultimate goal is to set your company apart in an extremely crowded market. It’s your one and only chance, so make the candidate experience memorable and stand out as an innovative and desirable place to work.
Anwar Khalil, CEO of MyRecruiterPlus.com, wrote “HR leaders and teams must understand how to leverage technology. It’s a given they should know which tools to use for recruitment, onboarding, workflow, etc., but they should also learn how to use analytics to assess the performance of their company’s careers pages and social media.”
Delivering on millennial expectations with regard to your recruitment process is not easy, but modernizing the way you hire and leveraging technology will make a world of difference in terms of what you can learn from your candidates and the emotion you leave with them. If you’re looking to make a lasting impression on the new generation of leaders, you need to, at the very least, keep up with the competition.
Recruiting Millennials Is Only Half the Battle
While attracting millennials has become the primary concern for many organizations in recent years, the challenge gets a bit more complex when it comes to employee retention. With the rise of the gig-economy and an average tenure of about three to four years at one company for most young workers, the real challenge lies in offering the necessary incentives and cultivating a culture that makes millennials want to stay.
There are a few things you should consider when it comes to the retention of millennials in the workplace. A positive company culture will go a long way, and professional learning and development opportunities, as well as a clear-cut path for progression, are not only valued but expected. In fact, a recent report by Gallup shows 87% of millennials rate career growth and ongoing professional development opportunities as essential to them in a job.
Perhaps even more surprising to some, money is not the main motivator for members of this generation. According to an Intelligence Group study, 64% of millennials said they would rather make $40K a year at a job they love than $100K a year at a job they think is boring.
What Should Your Company do Next?
I encourage HR leaders to take a deep dive into their own recruitment methods and evaluate whether or not these practices are giving them the competitive advantage they need to land the best possible people for their operation. Try new, different and innovative ways to attract talent and it will almost certainly pay off in the long run. While needs can vary significantly from one organization to another, most companies will benefit greatly from exploring new technology.
And if at first, you fail, take a step back, reevaluate, realign, and try again, because the cost of inaction is often far greater than the cost of making a mistake.
JF Poirier is a Recruitment Process Analyst at VidCruiter, an industry leader in video interviewing & recruitment software. He has extensive experience consulting with HR executives and global talent acquisition leaders to enhance the candidate experience, increase candidate conversions and streamline hiring efficiency by leveraging the power of HR tech. He tweets @VidCruiter
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