"Pomp and Circumstance" may not be the jam of choice for your morning drive, but around this time of year, it's likely you've let this beat drop a few times on repeat.
And rightfully so.
With over 1.6 million college graduates entering the workforce in 2014, employers are ramping up their recruiting efforts to hire about 8% more millennials than they did last year.
Can your recruiting strategy keep up with the next generation of talent?
Sourcing from Generation-Y need not be a seasonal endeavor, but if what your team does best is procrastinate, check out these tips on hiring millennial talent, just in time for spring commencement.
Leverage your team's age diversity to take part in the engagement process as recruiter-confidants.
What this means is if your company already has millennials on board, ask them to help out the team's hiring goals.
Connect millennial candidates with current employees who are in a similar age range to encourage them to imagine working with your team. Candidates are likely to feel at ease discussing team members' roles, and what they like about working for the company.
Also, by no means are we suggesting you completely jump ship from your company image, and try to appeal to what's considered hip and trending...whatever that may be.
Young professionals value authenticity (although it's probably safe to say that most people do) and if the information about your job opportunity sounds like it was pulled from an overused template, that candidate outreach and engagement ship has sailed.
Approach candidates as you would a colleague in-person — casual, conversational, and maybe even candid. Recruiters aren't robots, but have a tendency to switch on job-speak when communicating with talent, which is a bigtime turn-off with candidates.
The key is to keep your job ads, descriptions, and messages natural, and millennial candidates will appreciate you interacting with them in a personal and personalized manner.
Get the company onboard with community service organizations or humanitarian causes.
The quality of your company's branding is its best bet for communicating to millennials that the organization is aware and focused on its clout, social and online presence, and reputation.
According to Deloitte's 2014 millennial Survey,
"Millennials are eager to make a difference. Millennials believe the success of a business should be measured in terms of more than just its financial performance, with a focus on improving society among the most important things it should seek to achieve. Millennials are also charitable and keen to participate in ‘public life:’ 63 percent of Millennials gave to charities, 43 percent actively volunteered or were a member of a community organization and 52 percent signed petitions. One way to solidify your company's identity among the younger crowd."
Does your company volunteer at the local homeless shelter during the holiday season? Is there a running group on the team that frequently participates in cause-driven marathons? How many hours a year does the organization dedicate to building a home with Habitat for Humanity? Does the company offer donation matching?
Give millennials an in-depth look at the company's ventures to improving local surroundings and communities abroad to share insight to values and a demonstrated mission for philanthropy — not (entirely) profit.
Implement a leadership nurturing program specifically for new college graduates.
With millennials, the bigger picture is the best picture, and prioritizing an optimistic outlook on a potential employer and career developments, over solely the position itself, can get candidates enthusiastic about the opportunity.
It's not purely about the money, and excessively highlighting compensation in your pitch cheapens the breadth of the role and gives the impression that the company's recruiters mistakenly believe all millennials are concerned about is pay.
One way to emphasize the organization's commitment to helping a candidate build their career is by creating a program that fosters an employee's growth from the hire through the next opportunity. Just as many hospitals have new grad programs for registered nurses, which train recent graduates for a smooth transition into the working world, consider starting a similar development program for your company if the resources are available.
Got a tip you'd like to share about recruiting Gen-Y candidates? Tweet us @Entelo or share your thoughts in the comments section!
Have you heard the news? We just launched Entelo Diversity, a ground-breaking product for recruiters that helps their companies find and hire top talent from under-represented groups. Read about us in the Wall Street Journal.
