How to Recruit Top Young Talent for Your Company
After speaking to a group in South Carolina, I was inspired to write this article to help those struggling to find and recruit top young talent. Never before has the war on finding talent been so fierce. Recruiting and retaining young professionals is not easy. It is difficult to get the competitive advantage in a climate where quality candidates are being sought after by so many companies with a strong financial background, credibility, and with great philanthropy.
Let’s be honest, most millennials are not going to jump into just any job. You need to get them to WANT to jump on your team! Here are my top 5 ways to recruit the top talented millennials:
1. BUILD A DEMAND – think of “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,” by Mark Twain. Tom was caught playing hooky from school and had to whitewash the fence as punishment the next day. He cleverly persuades his friends to help paint the fence. His friends tease him at first but then he says he is having a great time painting the fence and that even if his friends wanted to he wouldn’t let them help. He soon “gives in” and allows others to essentially do the work for him.
He built a demand and by doing so he actually got the others to do the boring hard labor. When millennials ask about positions within your company, tell them there’s a limited amount of spaces and that they need to apply ASAP. Everyone is somewhat familiar with the hospitality industry. When you’re at a restaurant, where is the hostess stand at? It’s near the door where people have to gather making the restaurant appear popular. Where is the door located? Near the busiest street so people drive by and see the “demand” for their place. Furthermore, do you notice how the hostess sometimes won’t seat you even when there are tables available? She is encouraged to let people gather to increase the demand and hype before seating groups.
2. MARKET TO MILLENNIALS – You don’t expect a cow to come to you to get milked, so don’t market to millennials and expect them to find it. You have to go to them and recruit where they will be.
a. Use technology – create a short video using pictures and clips (Animoto is very user friendly).If you don’t feel up to creating a video then have a millennial on your team create a social media site that is linked into your company’s website and social media pages. You can post on virtual job fairs!
b. Speed dating concept – have your current millennials talk about their experiences to potential candidates at a job or career fair. A candidate may back out or not go in at all because of what your worker may say but that’s good! You probably just weeded someone out that would have quit later anyways.
c. Talk to the parents – recognize the parent’s involvement and use them as an asset. Parents want the best for their children, so talk to them about why a position within your company will jumpstart their career. Parents are so involved in their kids’ lives; once I had a parent come and talk to be after I sent their kid home from work for poor behavior! Here are some stats to help drive this point: The Collegiate Employment Research Institute reports that, “Nearly a quarter of all employers have ‘sometimes’ or ‘very often’ seen parents involved in the recruitment and employment of recent college graduates. Forty percent of employers report that parents have called them requesting information about the company; 4 percent report parents actually attending the interview.”
3. BUILD MEANING – This is something that I hope I have driven into the minds of many learners. Do you know the premise behind Tom’s Shoes? (Tom’s Shoes will make another pair of shoes and send them to a third world country for every pair sold) A normal everyday shoe has sold 10s to 100s of millions of dollars’ worth because they had a cause, a “meaning” behind their business. Success will come when you can differentiate yourselves from your competition.. You need to get them interested early on. Like the cause behind Toms Shoes created a positive “buzz”, you can too. Here is how:
a. Explaining “WHY” they should be a part of your company.
b. Setting expectations for position: the good, the bad, and the ugly.
c. Remembering that your “WHY” is not the same as your employees and your employee’s “WHY” is not a one size fits all.
A learner in a recent talk I gave said, “Chris, you millennials aren’t much different than previous generations, we have all done those things and we, too, expected respect and recognition. We just didn’t have the technology capabilities to get things as quick and be as social about it.” I want you all to be as successful as possible. I want to see you all be profitable and hire more millennials!
I encourage you to contact me with any questions, comments, or concerns you may have. Remember, I am a millennial so I expect quick feedback! ;)
PS check out this YouTube video of where millennials come from and why they are the way they are.
Chris Langlois
chrislanglois.com
extremeEDvantage.com
