Recruiting Millennials: What do recruiters need to know?

Who are Millennials?

Millennials, also known as Generation Y, are those born in the early 1980s to late 1990s and early 2000s. Millennials may struggle to recall a time without the Internet and have certainly witnessed the birth of a truly socially-networked world. In terms of exposure to technological change and social development, Millennials are, by far, the most diverse of the generation groups and possess a natural affinity for continued development.

When compared to other generations, Millennials are considerably different. Known for their willingness to shift between jobs and ‘slash culture’ where workers handle more than one job simultaneously, Millennials are very much inclined towards flexible/mobile working.

It’s important to appreciate that Millennials will soon make up 50% of the workforce. With that in mind, it’s vital that recruiters have a comprehensive understanding of how Millennials operate when it comes to searching for a new job. In this blog, we will discuss recruiting Millennials as well as how recruiters can engage with them effectively.

Employment expectations and values

More so than any other generation, including Generation Z, Millennials are passionate about values and ethics, want to work for a business which stands for a cause and that regularly works towards bettering itself and its workforce.

When it comes to a job search, Millennials will dedicate more time to analyzing the business and job role they are applying for, determining exactly what the business provides, its culture and why they, the candidate, should work for them. For recruiters, when recruiting Millennials this means providing job opportunities where the corporate objectives and key values of the business are clear. Millennial candidates are the new starters in the workforce, therefore onsite training and professional development is high on their list of job role priorities.

Temporary employment is popular

Job hopping, or the juggling of more than one job, has rapidly risen in popularity among Millennials. As a generation motivated by continuous, all-round self-improvement, temporary work offers Millennials the opportunity to diversify their portfolio of skills, and experience different working environments.

This has resulted in Millennials being shifters – moving from one job or industry multiple times over their short period of time in the national workforce. On that basis, Millennials are more suited to filling temporary opportunities where flexible/mobile working is available, and also the opportunity to quickly learn and develop new skills.

Social media is key to recruiting Millennials

Having grown up with technology, Millennials are tech experts and digitally inclined. They have witnessed the growth of social media to its current dominance today. Yet, while the adoption of social media by candidates for job searches has yet to take off, according to our recent market research report, those aged between 25-34 are the most likely to use LinkedIn as a platform for a job search – highlighting that social channels can still be leveraged to find talented Millennials.

Also, social media platforms provide recruiters with not only the opportunity to engage with Millennials, but also to investigate a candidate’s profile and share content relevant to their interests.

One thing to note however, is that Millennials share some of the challenges of communicating with Generation Z – e.g. a preference for short form methods of communication. Meaning that ongoing engagement may be difficult to achieve and instead recruiters should consider engaging with Millennials through instant messaging platforms such as WhatsApp, or use text messages to get a response as opposed to email.

If you want to learn more about attracting and recruiting multi-generational candidates, download our free eBook in our resource section.