Your Digital Presence Is Key To Recruiting Millennials

Millennials (typically people born in the early to mid 80’s up to 2000’s) have attracted some bad press in terms of their attitude to employment. A number of industry commentators have thrown out labels such as ‘lazy’, ‘spoon-fed’, ‘narcissistic’ and ‘disloyal’ and use a mix of research and anecdotal evidence to back this up.  However, the concept of a younger generation being scrutinised and criticised by their ‘elders’ is nothing new and there are sufficient counter arguments that indicate the positive impact that millennials bring into the workplace.

Regardless of what side of the fence you sit on, organisations must live with the fact that millennials will account for around 50% of the workforce in the next few years and there is an absolute requirement for organisations to think about how best to attract the best talent from this generation.

The fundamentals of attracting talent are centred around understanding the motivations.  Of course, there is a danger in generalising here and it is important to note that there is never a one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to recruiting.  Every individual will have specific motivations, but there is merit in understanding the baseline motivations on a general level.

A recent Linkedin survey found that the primary motivator for millennials is, perhaps unsurprisingly, compensation package. The interesting note here however is that this refers to the wider benefits, perks and other trimmings rather than just pure salary.  A further exploration of this highlights that millennials are motivated by peripheral benefits such as gym membership, discount schemes and schemes such as ‘Bike To Work’ that often have a nominal cost but demonstrate a considerate and caring side.

The second and third most important motivators are ‘Professional Development’ and ‘Career Advancement’.  The criticism of millennials is often that they come in with unrealistic expectations based on level of experience. Millennials are motivated to develop and move through the ranks of an organisation – is that such a bad thing? 

Organisations with a clear career path with tangible steps of progression are often perceived more favourably by millennials. It also helps to have a commitment to professional development through affiliations with professional bodies and offer support for employees seeking to advance their education or gain relevant qualifications.  Having a recognised mentoring program in place is another mechanism for attracting ambitious millennial talent.

Millennials are also much more likely to be socially tuned than previous generations and have a growing expectation that employers have a high level of Corporate Social Responsibility.

Knowing what motivates this generation is one half of the equation, the other is focused on how we communicate and engage them in the first place.

The millennial generation is often criticised for its downward facing posture and infatuation with frantically punching the screen of a mobile phone with a supersonic thumb.  To be fair, other generations are catching-up with their reliance on technology and we have to appreciate that digital media is here to stay. An organisation that fails to invest in its digital media, runs a high risk of completely alienating the millennial talent pool. 

Prospective employees from the millennial generation will almost always visit a company website for some background information.  However, they don’t stop there.  Websites like ‘Glassdoor.com’ and other reference sites will equip this generation with information on your organisation that is more ‘off the record’.   LinkedIn's 2015 Talent Trends Report shows that 62% of millennials visit a company’s social media sites to find out information about jobs and there is an increasing expectation from this generation that you will be on the likes of Facebook, Instagram, Youtube and not just traditional business forums such as Linkedin.  Millennials want to get under the skin of the organisation and learn about the culture and the workplace environment.

Looking at best practice, from organisations that lead the way in attracting millennial talent, here are a few pointers that are worth considering.

• Highlight the ‘peripheral’ benefits on offer – ‘bike to work scheme’, ‘corporate fun days’, ‘gym membership’, ‘working lunches’.
• Highlight examples of career progression within your organisation – case studies on your team.
• Showcase relevant affiliations with professional bodies and/or training partners.
• Illustrate your affiliations/support of just causes and/or charities.
• Integrate all of this on the company website with images and preferably video content that will engage your target audience.
• Don’t rely on your company website – there are ways to efficiently share content on Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube etc.
• Encourage your existing millennials to post relevant content on their social media platforms – striking the balance of making it personal and keeping it professional.

Millennials are content hungry – so organisations must work hard to ensure that the content they provide is compelling and engaging. They want to see the nuts and bolts of your organisation, not just the glossy exterior.   If you are not showcasing your organisation through digital media, millennials will be inclined to ask ‘what are you hiding?’