Attract Millennials

3 ways to attract more Millennials to your organisation

Millennials have long been categorised as those born roughly between the early 1980s and early 2000s, or presently aged from their early 20s to mid-30s. The latter point is an important one, as Millennials can no longer be described as mere ‘up and comers’. Indeed, they are set to dominate the workforce by 2020, many of them having already been working professionally for a decade or longer.

By now, then, great numbers of Millennials aren’t merely entering the workplace – they’re also eyeing up leadership positions or contemplating the next big step to take in their careers.

But is your organisation in a strong position to not only lure, but also retain and develop such Millennial employees, so that you get the best long-term value out of your online recruitment? Even if you feel the answer is “yes”, it’s well worth considering the below tips for maximising your effectiveness and giving your Millennial candidates and workers a rewarding and holistic experience.

 

Give Millennials avenues for developing their leadership potential

Millennials have a reputation for being highly collaborative. The fact that according to the results of one 2015 study, 91% of them aspire to be leaders might therefore surprise you.

However, Millennials’ motivation for pursuing leadership opportunities doesn’t appear to be the same as was often the case for previous generations. When asked what most motivated them to be a leader, 43% said “empowering others”, with only 5% citing money and 1% power.

You should therefore consider how your firm can redefine leadership to enable your Millennial employees to hone their skills in this area. It isn’t necessarily about giving them a specific position, but may instead manifest in handing them responsibility for special projects and initiatives.

 

Flatten your organisational structure

Another revealing finding from the aforementioned study was that 83% of Millennials expressed a preference to work for a company with fewer layers of management.

This tallies well with the common observance that Millennials don’t tend to respond well to overly rigid hierarchical structures.

By flattening the leadership structure at your firm, you may therefore be greatly helping your Millennial workers to do what comes naturally to them, including building personal relationships with people throughout your business, and assuming greater responsibility for their own work.

 

Loosen stiff and time-honoured attitudes and expectations

It should be common sense, but Millennials are bringing attitudes to the workplace that differ from those of the generations before them.

It may be much harder, for example, to simply throw money at your Millennial employees to work overtime or unsociable hours than would have been the case for their counterparts of several decades ago – such is the value that they place on a healthy work-life balance.

Overly rigid schedules or old-fashioned rules with regard to clothing, tattoos or piercings are also likely to turn off Millennials, who often demand to be able to ‘be themselves’ at work.

We’re past the stage at which your organisation should be trying to adapt Millennials to its existing workplace. Instead, Millennials are likely to be shaping your workplace in their own images.

Give Millennial candidates opportunities that are in line with their values and that provide them with the right development opportunities, and your firm is likely to reap the benefits for many years after the online recruitment campaign that brought such 20 and 30-something workers into the company.



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