Are you looking to attract millennials to your company? This generation is often misunderstood, and sometimes unfairly so, but they make excellent employees who are willing to give their all in their workplace and to contribute a high level of creativity. And given that they are digital natives and understand this language of the future, can your business afford not to do everything in its power to attract them to work for you?
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Flexible working arrangements
Millennials want and even expect to be able to work flexibly. This is both in terms of the hours they work, and the location they work from. In fact, this is so important to them that they would rather be rewarded in this way than by monetary compensation. This generation expect to have a balance between their work and personal life, they do not feel they should have to sacrifice the latter in order to progress their career. Don’t take this the wrong way, millennials make incredibly hard working and dedicated employees, just don’t expect them to be to sacrifice their hobbies, offer them the flexibility to choose their own working hours instead. The way to garner respect from millennials is to treat them and their time with respect.
Working from home from time to time is something that millennials also greatly appreciate, as not only does it help them to manage other aspects of their life, such as getting their washing machine fixed, it also gives them the time and headspace to think more creatively and to focus on a task without the constant distractions that open plan offices afford.
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Work that makes a difference
In numerous surveys millennials have cited a key priority for them is work that truly makes a difference. This generation is idealistic and craves to make a positive impact on the world. The more that you as an employee can do to give millennials roles and tasks that have demonstrable positive consequences, the better.
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Reach millennials via social media platforms
In order to capture the attention of millennials your business needs to be where they are, and that is on social media platforms. Think Facebook for volume, and make sure you also utilise Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and LinkedIn to really give yourself the best chance of attracting this generation. Be sure that the personality of your company comes across in any posts that you are using to try to attract this generation. Not only are the values of a potential employer important to this generation, but a friendly, down to earth and even playful tone is expected from social media communications. Millennials want to know that a company is able to have some fun at the same time as getting the job done, and even as a means to getting the most out of its employees. It is also worth keeping in mind that this generation responds to visual cues, so be sure to include eye-catching images in your posts. Your business’s post needs to stand out among the many others on a millennials newsfeed after all.
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Foster personal development and reward strong performance
Millennials prioritise personal improvement and career progression; they are ambitious and have high expectations of themselves. If they feel like their working life is becoming stagnant, and they cannot see a way to develop their skills and to take on new challenges, they are likely to become bored or disengaged, and to seek an opportunity elsewhere. In fact, you may very well find that without a promise of a personal development plan in advance, they are unlikely to accept a job offer.
Why not consider a mentoring scheme in order to buddy up millennials with more experienced members of staff who they can learn from? This has the potential to be a highly effective business strategy, since the more senior member of the partnership is likely to benefit from the different perspective of the millennial. Also, two way communication and understanding between employees of different levels of seniority can have far reaching benefits for business effectiveness and productivity.
And make sure you show appreciation to millennials for their hard work. For example, fobbing millennials off with making them wait for promotions will not work; it won’t take them long to give up on you since they are well connected and savvy when it comes to mining other sources of opportunities that will get them where they want to be quicker.
About the Author
Cindy Parker is the professional writer and Content Specialist. She loves to write about small businesses, education and languages. Currently, she works for Learn to trade – a currency trading education company based in Australia.
Photo Credit: Flikr
