The next big wave of job-seeking talent is upon us. Millennials, or those born around 1981-1997, are descending upon the American employment scene in numbers rivaling the last massive generational phenomena, the Baby Boom generation. And with this seismic shift in the workforce population, the need for new approaches to recruiting and attracting talent must be acknowledged and acted upon in order to identify and retain the cream of the crop.

While any astute enterprise would be well served, for business and legal reasons, to focus on hiring the best candidate regardless of their date of birth, the fact remains that the bulk of new technical and business talent will be drawn from the Millennial job seeker pool. And while presenting your company and job openings in the best light is an age-old truism for any successful recruiting effort, there are some shifts in strategy and tactics that will help you reach these younger aspirants.

• Build Your Employment Brand – If you want to attract, you must be attractive. Sounds a bit silly, but if you haven’t established your company as a place where a Millennial job seeker would want to work, you just aren’t going to get the desired results. Your employment brand is reflected in your job postings, website, company news, recruiting collateral and social media presence. Your job then is to make sure that all of these channels point to a company that values the collaborative, team-focused learning environment that Millennials desire.
• Get Social – Anyone can tell you that the days of posting job openings in a local newspaper and calling it a recruitment effort are long gone. Today’s Millennial job seeker must be reached through media they actually use. According to a recent study conducted by the Pew Research Center, Millennials use virtually all of the social media tools available, so if you’re not getting your employment branding out through Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and the like, you’ve already missed a large swath of the audience you seek.
• Get Mobile – According to a comScore report, smartphone usage has increased by 78% from 2013-2015, with 56% of this time spent on app usage as opposed to transactional communications. If your company website isn’t mobile friendly and you’re not using recruiter apps, or using an employment agency that understands and uses them, you are simply not communicating to Millennial job seekers.
• Re-think Your Benefits Package – Although previous generations could traditionally be motivated through purely transactional means like salary and bonus opportunity, today’s job seeker increasingly values a work-life balance and will seek opportunities that respect that balance. Communicating this value without backing it up with reflective benefits will not get ideal candidates through your door. Offering perks like in-house daycare, on-site healthcare, paid family leave and complimentary shuttles and even gourmet breakroom coffees reflect your commitment to encouraging a work-life balance that can really work out.

Attention to the interests and motivations of any job applicants will create better morale and job satisfaction. Specific Millennial recruitment however will point toward your sincere interest in providing a rewarding, challenging work environment for the young job hunter. If your company’s recruiting and employment culture is truly focused on relating to and attracting this vast surge of talented applicants, you will be in the best position to attract the best people for the best company…yours.

AimHire is a Denver employment agency looking to pair enthusiastic and knowledgeable candidates with quality employers. Contact AimHire today to learn more about how a staffing company can support your goals by pairing you with top talent.