Hiring millennials

Millennials Aren’t Sure They'll Fit In at Your Company—Here Are 5 Ways to Show Them They Will

91% of Millennials are open to hearing about new job opportunities. And on top of that, 68% of them feel flattered when a recruiter reaches out to them. That’s according to our recent report, Inside the Mind of Today’s Candidate, which surveyed over 14,000 professionals globally.  

And, with Millennials projected to make up half of the global workforce by 2020, this is all good news for recruiters.

However, while you might be able to get Millennials attention, our survey revealed that they are less likely than older generations to have heard of a company and are more likely to have difficulty visualizing what working at the company would be like. In fact, millennials ranked this as their #1 pre-application challenge.

This means that any company recruiting millennial talent needs to paint a clear picture of your culture and what the day-to-day job will look. They good news is that our survey also revealed some of the top ways companies can show Millennials what it’s like to work their in order for them to get a clear picture and, hopefully, say yes to your offer. Below are five tips for showing Millennials how they will fit in based on our survey results.

1. Give them a tour of your office and invite them to events

According to our survey data, 51% of millennials found visiting the office to be the best way to learn what a company’s culture is like.

For onsite interviews, showing them around the office is easy and super effective. You can simply walk them around after interviews, showing them where their potential team sits and anything else that employees love about your office. If the candidate can see themselves in the role, they’re more likely to accept an offer. And even if they aren’t hired, a pleasant visit can really improve their opinion of the company and their overall experience.

Beyond the office tour, you can give Millennial candidates a real sense of your culture by inviting them to things like open houses, lunches, and even open mic nights, all of which allow candidates to see your work space in-person while experiencing your authentic company culture. Experiencing your culture first-hand forms more vivid memories and better judgements about fit.

And, when in-person tours and events aren’t possible, go virtual—use video and virtual reality (VR) to bring the office space to life for candidates in different locations. Read how Atlassian uses video and virtual reality to do just that.

2. Make sure they have truly valuable conversations with hiring managers and other employees

After office tours, millennials said that speaking with the hiring manager and other employees helped them get a sense of what it would be like to work there.

According to our survey data, millennials are the least likely to have existing contacts at companies that they can go for advice and answers to their questions. This makes sense, as they have been in the workforce for less time than Gen X and Baby Boomers, and shows just how important conversations with potential co-workers are to their decision making process.

You can make sure that candidates get the insights they need during interviews by assigning topics to different interviewers so that each is covered more thoroughly. It’s also a better candidate experience if they aren’t being asked the same question over and over.

Panel interviews are also a great way to allow Millennial candidates to meet more people and get a sense of how the team interacts with each other. It’s also good for interviewers, as it allows everyone to debrief on the same conversation and make sure no one misunderstood or missed anything. Just make sure that the candidate doesn’t feel like they are being grilled—and be sure to allow time for them to ask questions.

In that vein, make sure anyone running an interview is prepared to answer common candidate questions and easily explain your companies mission and vision so that it’s compelling and gives them a real sense of what you’re all about.

3. Use your company site and social media channels to showcase your culture in an authentic way

55% of Millennials we surveyed said that the company website is their first stop when applying for a job. And, 27% want to learn about your culture when they the visit the site.

Pictures of employees, your employee value proposition (EVP), a day-in-the-life of an video, and your blog are all great ways to showcase your culture on your website.

For example, take a look at Lyft’s career page video, which perfectly showcases the company culture, without sacrificing any important information. Spotify is also clever and gives candidates a glimpse of what employees are like by showing their employee’s own Spotify playlists on the website.

When it comes to social media, 15% of millennials say they go there to discover more about companies, compared to 9% of Gen X and only 2% of Baby Boomers. The key to showing of your culture on social in a compelling way is authenticity.

Cisco is a great example of a company that has done this really well by letting their employees tell their story across their social platforms. They do this by encouraging employees to share their stories by authoring blog posts on the Life at Cisco blog and by letting employees take turns running the company Snapchat.

For Instagram and other channels, they have employees send videos, pictures, and ideas for stories and gather them together to publish. Doing this paints an authentic picture of what life at the company is really like. After all, your employees are your most trusted source of information—3X more trusted than your CEO.

4. Show them that you value opportunities for growth and skill development

42% of Millennials in our survey said they took their new role because the company offered more opportunities to advance their career. Only 32% of Gen Y and 13% of Baby Boomers said the same, showing that Millennials are especially motivated by opportunities to challenge themselves at work and value a culture of continuous learning.

So, if your company is all about new skill development, make that clear on your website, social media, and when talking to candidates. This could look like support for continuing education programs and access to online learning platforms like Lynda.com. Or it could be simple things like lunch and learns, employee mentorship programs, office workshops, and guest speakers.

With their careers still ahead of them, Millennials are especially eager to learn from experienced professionals and subject matter experts. Use this to your advantage by showing off the great talent already working at your organization through “meet the team” pages on your website, employee highlights, or by giving candidates a chance to meet experienced employees with specific expertise they are interested in during the interview process.

5. Highlight a culture of consistent feedback and coaching to make them feel like they will belong

Millennials love feedback—so much so that they seek out employers and managers who provide continuous coaching and constructive criticism.

In fact, according to our survey, 47% of millennials say feedback on their personal growth contributes to their sense of belonging in the workplace. This is compared to 35% of Gen Y and and 26% of Baby Boomers.

You can harness this by highlighting the ways your organization provides honest and constructive feedback in real time (annual performance reviews aren’t enough feedback for Millennials.) And if you’re from a company that doesn’t provide constant feedback, consider becoming more consistent and experimenting with new tools in order to attract and retain millennial talent.

As a recruiter, you can show Millennial candidates that you value feedback by keeping them updated throughout the interview process. 43% of millennials say that receiving a prompt follow-up after each round of interviews was important for them to have a positive interview experience, so be sure to set aside some time to send them a note.

While there are a lot of stereotypes about millennials (think avocado toast) this data gives us insight into Millennial candidates’ unique mindset and what helps them picture themselves at a company, which you can then apply to your recruiting strategies.

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