How to connect with and recruit Millennials

Are you connecting to the Millennial workforce like you should to improve your recruiting? Generations, like individuals, have personalities, and Americans who fit in the Millennial age bracket have a certain way of thinking. Corporations have spent billions to identify what makes this demographic tick – so to speak.

According to Pew Research’s Social & Demographic Trends research, Millennials can be generally referred to as confident, self expressive, liberal, upbeat and open to change. This group is also more ethnically and racially diverse than older adults, less religious, less likely to serve in the military and expected to become the most highly educated generation of Americans in history to date.

Despite most from this age group starting their careers during the peak of the Great Recession, many are still upbeat about the future of their careers and their economic prospects as a whole. As a staffing professional, you can benefit from Millennials’ generally positive viewpoints about the market. Because Millennials can often be more confident in the marketplace and more willing to take a less straight-forward career path to get where they want to go, you may be able to better communicate how the position your client is trying to fill is the right solution. Studies indicate that Millennials are generally less attached to the concept of employer loyalty than previous generations and you can use this to your advantage. These workers may be expecting to hop around and play the employment field to the best of their ability, so if your client is offering an intriguing opportunity, has a great reputation, offers competitive compensation packages or has great perks, you’re going to be able to effectively communicate and market a career change.

Millennials also are often very comfortable with being in front of the public eye and self expression. According to Pew Research, in 2010, more than 75 percent of people between the ages of 18 and 29 had a profile on a social networking site and that percentage has undoubtedly grown since then. This grand use of social networking sites and blogs makes it easier for you to craft an idea about who a worker is before you ever have to contact them. Not only that, but the availability of information will help your recruiting team respond faster to client demands because you are better able to fill out and handle work-flow issues with recruiting software. If the information isn’t available online, you’re able to call or email Millennials and can generally expect them to contact you back in a speedy fashion (Millennials are, after all, attached to their smart phones greater than any other generation).

Think connections, because for Millennials, it’s all about communicating on their level. According to The Week, Millennials are making changes to the workplace – think Lena Dunham from the HBO series Girls. As a staffing professional, you can leverage overall generational trends to help you complete your staffing objectives. Millennials are generally seen as more open to change, more positive about the workforce, more adaptable, more connected and more willing to provide information about themselves – as long as the rewards comply with their need for personal freedoms, autonomy and create feelings of worthwhile productivity.

So, first consider adapting your social media profile to communicate more freely with workers that are included in this generation, learn to effectively scope out social media accounts, or “stalk” as the kids would say, and feel confident that the opportunity you’re offering them is something they most likely will jump at – or at least try for.