Final Four: How to Recruit Millennials in Your Workforce (and Retain Them!)

September 30th, 2016 by Veronica Blatt

recruit millennials

Today’s guest blogger is Alana Davis of MAU Workforce Solutions, specializing in staffing, recruiting and outsourcing solutions for employers across the US and around the world through global recruiting partners.

Google Millennials in the Workplace or any other search involving millennials and employment, and there will be no shortage of articles, studies, and other content offering insight and data on how this generation operates in today’s workforce. Fortunately, the older Millennial group has now been in the workforce for five plus years.

Whether you have figured out the magic formula to working with Gen Y in your organization, or are still trying to grasp social media (what’s Snapchat??) and understand how emojis work, as more Millennials join the workforce in the coming years, there are a few key items to consider.

Here are the final four tips to make part of your recruiting and retention strategy.

1. “Meet” them where they are. Since the birth of Facebook, Millennials have been glued to social media. And now, with Instagram, Snapchat, and even Facebook Live, social media is where we spend our time! As an employer, having a presence on social media is crucial. Job seekers not only look to a company’s social media presence to gauge a company’s culture, but they may also use it as a form of communication, such as Facebook posts and messaging, or making comments to an Instagram picture. And you want to be right there, ready to engage! A company may even want to dedicate someone that responds to these forms of communication so not to lose the opportunity to engage potential quality employees!

2. Make the initial application simple. This cannot be emphasized enough! In a recent post, we discussed how our attention span has significantly decreased and is now shorter than that of a goldfish. And this is true for more than just the Millennial generation. As consumers, we have accessibility to quick fixes, solutions, and service. The job seeker wants the same thing, especially when initially applying or showing interest in a position. Try to make the initial application simple by having a short form for the job seeker to fill out with maybe an option to attach his/her resume. Since we know most people apply on mobile devices, the simpler the process is, the more applicants’ attention you’ll keep to finish the initial app.

3. Culture, Culture, Culture! When Millennials are looking for a new opportunity, one of their top priorities is making sure that they will fit in with the company culture. They want to know that they will be able to believe in what they do. This is key both in the recruiting and retention strategy. Use the job description as a way to give snippets of your culture by including the organization’s mission and values. Also, use social media to share the company’s culture with both prospective and current employees. Post pictures of company and community events, office gatherings, or holiday celebrations. This will help the job seeker understand what the work environment might be like, while also reinforcing the culture to current employees.

4. Embrace flexibility. In a recent article from the Charleston Regional Business Journal, Peggy Frazier, global talent acquisition manager of Blackbaud said she is working to recruit recruit millennialsmillennials who want more balance between work and their life outside of it. Because of technology, remote work and working beyond the regular 9-5 hours is possible. More and more job seekers are looking for flexible work and as the job market tightens, employers that embrace the trend will benefit in the long run. Consider evaluating positions in your organization that could be done remotely or with flexible hours. For example, at MAU, many of our professional recruiters work remotely and/or part time, so they can be with their families more. Embracing this type of work not only has been successful from a business perspective but has improved the employee’s job satisfaction!

Hopefully you’re getting a handle on this multi-generational workforce we are all navigating in today’s world. As we continue on this journey, and work to continuously improve our recruiting and retention strategies, consider these final four tips.

Image Source:
http://d.fastcompany.net/multisite_files/fastcompany/imagecache/slideshow_large/slideshow/2014/12/3039939-slide-s-3-what-millennials-really-think-about-work.png

 


Re-Recruiting Your Top Talent the Right Way

June 15th, 2016 by Veronica Blatt

Image of Jane Prugh, guest blogger about employee retentionToday’s guest blogger is Jane Prugh with Corporate Strategic Resourcing  located in Chicago, Illinois (USA). Corporate Strategic Resourcing team delivers top IT and IS talent with the highest quality service and uncompromising professionalism and business ethics to small, medium, and large size companies. Her post about creating a strong employee retention program is available here:

Company loyalty is on life support these days. Downsizing, mergers and workforce redistributions have allowed Generations X and Y to become very comfortable with the notion of frequent job changes. This new culture can be a huge obstacle to retention efforts if a comprehensive plan is not put into place.

An organization can no longer trust loyalty to keep their team intact. This can be only achieved through a great retention program. Creating a culture of continuously re-recruiting existing staff is essential. The first step in a great program is to creating clearly defined goals for retention. This goal should include a percentage of top-performing employees to be retained each year.

The employer/employee relationship needs to be consistently nurtured. The second step in creating an employee retention program is to determine which relationships are most critical. Top talent is not always actively seeking new opportunities, but they are on the competitor’s radar. This list should include top talent that consistently meet or exceed expectations. Periodically revisit this list for new additions.

The next step in the process is conducting “stay interviews.” This is not the same as a performance evaluation. The goal of this process is to identify and minimize triggers that might cause someone to consider leaving. It is also a great way to test the temperature of the team. A stay interview may also be conducted when there is a new opportunity within the organization that this team member is being considered for. This interview should be no more than an hour and should feel like a conversation. While this may feel awkward for both the manager and employee, over time it will become second nature. For a great outline and possible questions check out this article from ERE.net.

The final step is to create a personalized employee retention plan. Use the information gathered in the stay interview to craft a retention plan for each person on the list of top talent to retain. This plan should include goals, measures for success and should assign people who are responsible for each aspect of the plan. It should also include any compelling offers presented to the employee during the stay interview. These offers could be more opportunities for professional development, flexible work hours or telecommuting options.

These four steps to retention will help identify, re-recruit and retain talent. It is important to view an organization’s employee retention plan as a living document. Stay interviews should be conducted periodically. Offers will need to be refreshed with each re-recruiting effort. Revisiting the individual retention plans and the employee retention program as a whole will keep it fresh and up to date with the latest changes in talent attraction in the organization’s specific industry.

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