Are you looking to hire more millennials? Or are you wondering why you’d want them in the first place?
For those of you who are unaware, a millennial usually applies to professionals who were born roughly between 1981 and 1996.
While this generation has sometimes been labelled as lazy or disloyal (sweeping generalisation), there are a lot of key benefits to hiring an employee falling under this age category.
We currently have a few very hard-working millennials at our business, so don’t believe the hype.
Here’s the how and why your business can and should be attracting more millennials.
Why does your business need millennials?
Before I can discuss the how, it’s important you understand the positive significance a millennial can have on the output of your business.
For instance, many millennials have been to university and lead the way in the digital industry.
If you can tap into that natural and raw experience, your business can start to find new, fresh angles to operate in.
What many business owners don’t realise, and this is where the ‘lazy’ stereotype comes in, is that these employees need empowering.
So if you give them a mundane job without any fulfilment or goal to aim for, you’ll probably get poor results.
The CEO of Magellan Jets, Joshua Hebert, says: “Give millennials a boring task without a reason, and they’ll give you boring results. Give them a share in the idea you’re putting into play, however, and they are more likely to turn in work you never imagined.”
Millenials desire to achieve
Another element to consider is their desire to achieve and get work done.
With a natural flair for digital and willingness to learn, especially when they’re straight out of university, they will pick things up quicker than most employees. As a result, they’ll be able to get cracking on projects at a quicker rate and send your productivity levels through the roof.
And if that wasn’t a good enough reason, perhaps their need to constantly improve themselves might help.
According to research, 95% of millennials said they are more motivated to work harder when they understand the importance of a particular task within the context of a company’s future goals.
So if you are transparent and give them a reason to work harder and better themselves, your business will also profit too.
Last but not least, millennials are beneficial to the future of your business too. By employing a younger person who you can retain, you’ll potentially get a lot more years of work out of them.
This will certainly reduce staff turnover rates and give your HR team or recruitment agency a nice break.
How to attract more millennials to your business
Now I’ve covered the why, hopefully you’re itching to find out how you can encourage more millennials to apply for your current or future vacancies.
To achieve this, you need to offer them a few things which appeal to their personas.
For example, I previously mentioned how millennials are often ambitious and want to constantly better themselves.
So if you post a job advert and fail to give candidates a true, transparent reflection on what they can do in the future, you might put off loads of great employees from applying.
Or in the context of current staff, you should always look to address their individual goals. You can do this via regular reviews or informal one-to-one chats.
A millennial will stay loyal or eagerly apply for a new role if they know there is a long-term path towards bettering themselves attached.
Need some extra help in creating a perfect job ad? Then take a look at our previous post: ‘Your Essential Checklist For Job Advert Success’.
Including a great benefits package can have a positive impact on maintaining and attracting millennials too. However, creating the right work culture is often the key element in their decision process.
The CEO and co-founder of study.com says: “perks do help, but building a fun, friendly and collaborative company culture is key”. "Millennials want to feel connected to their company and their team, so plan company outings [and] team-building activities to keep employees engaged and allow them to bond with their co-workers outside of a work environment."
Recruiter pro tip To build the right work culture, you need to consider:
- Using your experience to apply positive elements you enjoyed about your previous jobs.
- Hire a variety of employees who complement each other, instead of clash.
- Adopt a simple and easy channel for employees to communicate with the decision-makers in the business.
- Invest time in employees and their families.
- Keep every department within the business connected and made to feel like one big family.
You can find out more about creating the right work culture here.
Part of something bigger
My final tip to successfully attract top millennial employees is to make them feel like they are a part of something.
This generation wants to make a difference, so it’s your job to sell your business to them.
Make them feel like they are doing something great and they’ll fall in love with your company.
The result?
Your dedicated team of millennials will bend over backwards for the business.
That's because they know that they are making a positive impact in the world.
Whether that’s working for a charity or simply selling toys and bringing joy to a child’s face.
Final thoughts
As a business, it’s about knowing millennials and how you can make them tick.
Take Gareth Southgate’s World Cup 2018 England side for example. He shaped a team consisting of mostly millennials, bringing them together and tapping into their individual skillset.
If you can appreciate the fact that millennial employees might need more man-management and support, you’ll start to see results many other generations may struggle to replicate.
Nurture the employees and implement my top tips on how to attract them, and you’ll start to reap the rewards.
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