On my website, CoachingMillennnials, you can find an overview video Neil Howe and I produced called Recruiting and On-boarding Millennials. This video will get you oriented about best practices for recruiting and on-boarding Millennials, but I also wanted to point out a really comprehensive article on the same topic published just recently by Saeculum Research. Its called “Welcoming Millennials Onboard“. It is a great article because it provides actual, actionable ideas you can use to attract Millennials. Here’s a summary:
Invest in Swag. Show Millennials you care about them. This is easy, and it doesn’t cost a lot. LinkedIn welcomes employees with a swag bag of goodies that are customized to the person being hired. It’s simple swag– like include a personalized greeting card, copy of LinkedIn founder’s book, “The Start Up of You“, and a water bottle. It doesn’t need to be fancy, but ideally, should be personalized. Online care medical scheduling service provider ZocDoc invites new employees to dine out with the executive team for lunch.
Offer Professional Development. General Electric and Caterpillar have professional development programs that emphasize mentorship by top executives and senior management. NYU assigns each new hire a mentor-buddy for the first two months on the job. Millennials like to gain new skills, and are much more likely to stick around if you invest in their professional development.
Build Relationships Quickly. The faster a new hire bonds with his or her immediate co-workers, the more likely me or she is to stay and be a productive member of the team. As the article states, “Deloitte divides new hires into groups to play a board game that not only teaches newbies corporate policy, but also allows them to bond with their co-workers. Internet marketing company Bazaarvoice even sends new employees on a weeklong scavenger hunt to learn the ins and outs of the company. Although these practices are rather unconventional, they take advantage of Millennials’ team-oriented nature and facilitate stronger ties to the organization.”
One other key point the article makes to keep in mind when you are recruiting millennials… keep the parents involved! Boomer and Xer parents are with their Millennial kids at all the big milestone events, and their first job is no exception. And don’t think less of your Millennials because they want to involve their parents. Chances are, you have a very different relationship with your Millennial child than you did with your parents. The Army slogan is highly instructional as you think about including parents as part of your recruiting strategy: “You make them strong, we make them Army strong.”