Recruiting Millennials

Stats have it that by 2025, Millennials will make up 75% of the global workforce.

So if you think, we are already having too many young people in workplaces, expect younger people to take up more prominent roles as each year passes. The Nigerian workplace has not been excluded from this trend at all as we now have more young people in their 20s and 30s doing exploits in their various fields (#Nottooyoungtorun).

Some of the most popular fields filled with millennials in Nigeria are Entertainment, Fashion, Sports, Blogging, Social Media Marketing, and the last but by no means the least is technology (software development).

As a HR in tech and a millennial myself, I have been involved in the recruitment process of over 50 millennials so far. My work experience in HR has been with just millennials so far (but I have had to relate with clients and business partners who are not millennials, so don’t worry about the imbalance..LOL).

Recruiting and working with Millennials for the past three years has given me a lot of insight not only into this demographics, but also so much insight into myself.

I would love to share some of these insights about recruiting Millennials;

1. Ambition: It’s the most ambitious age group and demographics, life is only just beginning and it’s normal to have big plans for your life. Every millennial wants to do great things and be part of something great and ambitious. If you are a start-up, they are attracted by the size of your vision, the scalability of your product, the prospects of your company. They want to be part of a team earmarked for greatness. This is important in the way you present yourself as an employer to millennials.
2. Sincerity: Never promise what you can’t deliver. Be creative about how you present yourself as a company, but avoid telling lies. Nothing you say or promise is forgotten. You might be able to lure them into your company with it, you can’t keep them that way. In our earliest days as a company (cos we are still in early days), I was privileged to recruit young guys and ladies who worked With us basically because they believed in our dream and knew where we were currently with respect to what we could offer them at the time. A millennial would not hesitate to quit once they sense some form of foul play going on. Be sure to go through your compensation and perks before going public with it.
3. Recognition: Every millennial wants to be respected based on the value they bring on board. We all know how traditional things could be at times. Here is how the millennial’s mind works; “ My place in this team or company should be a direct reflection of the value I deliver. So it’s best to have recognition systems in place that appreciates landmarks, feats, job well done. Do not hesitate to mention this when recruiting them too. It means a lot. Let them know that they will be valued for what they can offer irrespective of how young they are. Create a culture where everyone feels they are valued for his or her ingenuity and extra efforts (you can read about culture from my previous article).

 4. Agile Recruitment (Quick Feedbacks): The hallmark of the agile methodology to management is quick feedback on whatever task the team is working on. When millennials apply for a job with your company, know that they must have also applied in other places too. Since I qualify as one myself, I know we never like being idle for long. We want to get things done. So at times, millennials opt for places where they get the fastest feedback instead of having to wait at home for extra months. So, when recruiting millennials, ensure you provide them with quick feedback on their status with your recruiters. If they have to go through several stages, let them know in time so they can be prepared.

5. Flexibility: Flexible working hours is no longer a new thing even in Nigeria and Africa. So many millennials work remotely from home and are also attracted by offers that would allow them to work from home periodically too. If you want to attract the best Millennials to your company, flexible work arrangement is all too important these days. It might be the final deciding factor on why they choose between you and another company also fighting for them.

6. Social life: The modern workspace is also a great spot to be social too. If you doubt this, go check out Andela, Paystack, Cregital, Farmcrowdy and of course Mettalloids. Millennials go to social media to make their findings of companies these days. They check out your Instagram account, Facebook account and definitely LinkedIn. They want to see how the atmosphere at your company is. They look out for things you do for fun. ( I must say BIG UPS to the likes Cregital and Andela for this, I think they take the lead when it comes to this). When Millennials are not working, they want to have fun. It’s best to make sure you provide a fun atmosphere within your company’s budget (this is all too important). The selling point is to boost your appeal to millennials with these perks by raving about it regularly on social media (Instagram is the happening place for companies, it’s also the happening place for millennials). Take random fun pictures at the office and write something about them (I think I’m gonna write about HRs and need for social media skills soon).   

Millennials are not just all about having fun, they love to get work done and most importantly they are passionate about making an impact with their work. I hope these points help you gain some more insights into things to consider when recruiting millennials.

Reference(s)

1. (https://www.optimalnetworks.com/2017/11/30/millennials-workplace-stats/).