Perhaps the most important demographic driving this shift — and thus recruiters’ interest — is Generation Y, also known as the millennial generation, those born between 1976 and 2001.
Perhaps the most important demographic driving this shift — and thus recruiters’ interest — is Generation Y, also known as the millennial generation, those born between 1976 and 2001.
This group accounts for some 80 million potential employees and is projected to represent nearly half of the U.S. workforce by 2020, according to data from the UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School and Young Entrepreneur Council, a nonprofit.
Amy Wittmayer, director of Kenan-Flagler’s MBA Career Management Center, said one of the biggest values Gen Y job seekers want is flexibility, both in terms of the day-to-day nature of the job and in a career.
Wittmayer said she rarely encounters a student professing to want a 30-year career with a single company. Many of those she works with are turned off by that idea, which is a significant shift from a few decades ago, when the security of being with one company for an entire career was ideal. Millennials prefer firms that offer lots of experiences, perhaps in different markets.
“Just a few years back we had an employer [on campus] that was talking about the long tenure of its employees as an asset,” Wittmayer said. “And it turns out in the minds of young folks that was not actually an asset — it felt like a trap.”
Jobvite’s Finnigan points to the increasing amount of job churn — or rate of turnover — that has followed every economic recession since 1971 as the driving force behind millennials’ penchant for seeking multiple job experiences. He said the most recent recession in 2008, in which millions of workers were laid off in a matter of months, had a dramatic effect on Gen Y’s idea of a career.
What resulted became the new normal. Finnegan said he projects millennials are likely to have as many as 14 jobs with different companies before their careers are over. “They’re looking to consume the job almost like a consumer, as opposed to purely see it as a job where they work and get paid,” he said.
This gives a significant advantage to companies that can advertise expansive learning and development programs, said Michael Tresca, a communications manager with General Electric Co. who leads the organization’s recruitment engagement efforts.
Having these programs front and center in a recruitment strategy helps sell top talent on the prospect of development and career advancement, even if the advancement ends up being with another company. “They don’t care about the whole company,” said Tresca, who runs GE’s careers website and blog, as well as its social recruiting efforts. “They care about the company that is going to match their needs … You have to sort of pitch that first.”
Further, while compensation is still important, top job seekers are increasingly looking at things like company mission and corporate social responsibility, diversity and company culture when it comes to weighing job offers, said Paul Harty, president of recruitment process outsourcing firm Seven Step Recruiting.
Those other components are often the selling points that make a company stand out. Slalom Consulting’s Donlon said work-life balance — typically viewed as a hard-to-achieve benefit in an industry as demanding as corporate consulting — has become the differentiator it sells to prospective hires, many of whom are already comfortably compensated.
Slalom, for instance, promotes a zero-unwanted-travel perk as part of its work-life balance culture. Most big-firm consultants are almost exclusively on the road working with clients during the week. But because Slalom considers itself a localized consultancy, consultants will never be asked to travel to another market for work unless they “really, truly want to do it.
“If I’m getting into buying talent, then we’re going about this the wrong way,” Donlon said.
Today’s skilled knowledge workers seek opportunities that allow them to find passion and meaning in work. To attract the best, organizations must create work experiences that allow people to contribute their passion, said Paul Alofs, author of Passion Capital: The World’s Most Valuable Asset.
“If smart, accomplished and entrepreneurial people can’t bring their passion to work, they’ll leave,” he said.
This group accounts for some 80 million potential employees and is projected to represent nearly half of the U.S. workforce by 2020, according to data from the UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School and Young Entrepreneur Council, a nonprofit.
Amy Wittmayer, director of Kenan-Flagler’s MBA Career Management Center, said one of the biggest values Gen Y job seekers want is flexibility, both in terms of the day-to-day nature of the job and in a career.
Wittmayer said she rarely encounters a student professing to want a 30-year career with a single company. Many of those she works with are turned off by that idea, which is a significant shift from a few decades ago, when the security of being with one company for an entire career was ideal. Millennials prefer firms that offer lots of experiences, perhaps in different markets.
“Just a few years back we had an employer [on campus] that was talking about the long tenure of its employees as an asset,” Wittmayer said. “And it turns out in the minds of young folks that was not actually an asset — it felt like a trap.”
Jobvite’s Finnigan points to the increasing amount of job churn — or rate of turnover — that has followed every economic recession since 1971 as the driving force behind millennials’ penchant for seeking multiple job experiences. He said the most recent recession in 2008, in which millions of workers were laid off in a matter of months, had a dramatic effect on Gen Y’s idea of a career.
What resulted became the new normal. Finnegan said he projects millennials are likely to have as many as 14 jobs with different companies before their careers are over. “They’re looking to consume the job almost like a consumer, as opposed to purely see it as a job where they work and get paid,” he said.
This gives a significant advantage to companies that can advertise expansive learning and development programs, said Michael Tresca, a communications manager with General Electric Co. who leads the organization’s recruitment engagement efforts.
Having these programs front and center in a recruitment strategy helps sell top talent on the prospect of development and career advancement, even if the advancement ends up being with another company. “They don’t care about the whole company,” said Tresca, who runs GE’s careers website and blog, as well as its social recruiting efforts. “They care about the company that is going to match their needs … You have to sort of pitch that first.”
Further, while compensation is still important, top job seekers are increasingly looking at things like company mission and corporate social responsibility, diversity and company culture when it comes to weighing job offers, said Paul Harty, president of recruitment process outsourcing firm Seven Step Recruiting.
Those other components are often the selling points that make a company stand out. Slalom Consulting’s Donlon said work-life balance — typically viewed as a hard-to-achieve benefit in an industry as demanding as corporate consulting — has become the differentiator it sells to prospective hires, many of whom are already comfortably compensated.
Slalom, for instance, promotes a zero-unwanted-travel perk as part of its work-life balance culture. Most big-firm consultants are almost exclusively on the road working with clients during the week. But because Slalom considers itself a localized consultancy, consultants will never be asked to travel to another market for work unless they “really, truly want to do it.
“If I’m getting into buying talent, then we’re going about this the wrong way,” Donlon said.
Today’s skilled knowledge workers seek opportunities that allow them to find passion and meaning in work. To attract the best, organizations must create work experiences that allow people to contribute their passion, said Paul Alofs, author of Passion Capital: The World’s Most Valuable Asset.
“If smart, accomplished and entrepreneurial people can’t bring their passion to work, they’ll leave,” he said.
Source: http://humancapitalmedia.com
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