Attracting millennials

Creating a workplace that is attractive to millennials and centennials, or any specific generation, is crucial to the long-term achievement of organisational goals. Why? Well, millennials have now overtaken baby boomers as the largest generational group in New Zealand – they are the future of your workforce.

Millennials (born between 1981 and 1996) and centennials (born after 1996) are predicted to be the world’s largest demographic by the year 2020. Global brands are watching these groups very closely to better understand their language and win them over as future consumers. A path of ‘business as usual’ in terms of your employment brand (your reputation as an employer) could severely impact your ability to attract talent to your business.

Push aside demographic stereotypes and instead look for insights that can help your business evolve and continue to attract top talent into the future.

Statistically, millennials are more likely to switch jobs. They are likely to shop around for roles, similar to how they consume goods. What’s important for businesses, is to understand what they are looking for, which for millennials are things like opportunities to grow and learn.

Income is important to any employee, the one point to remember is that millennials are more likely to have higher levels of student debt than for example baby boomers. In saying that, millennials also value other benefits. Using the example above, perhaps in your business there are more opportunities for learning and advancement, that may be attractive to this generation.

Again, not necessarily generationally specific, but especially prevalent in millennials is the desire to be part of something bigger by working for an organisation with purpose. Your business is likely doing this in some small way, sometimes it’s simply a case of making sure you are sharing this message both internally and externally.

To attract millennials to your business you need to understand what they expect from their leaders. A recent Deloitte study identified that millennials define true leaders as strategic thinkers who are inspirational, personable and visionary – rather than visible, well-networked and technically-skilled.

Laying the foundations for attracting millennials to your business, represents the biggest opportunity for you to compete in the future talent market.

If you are looking for direction and assistance with understanding your employment brand and the steps you need to take to secure top talent into the future, get in touch with us.

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