As a global career platform helping both candidates get job opportunities and recruiters reach out to them through optimized campaigns, Talent.com often receives questions from clients and partners about recruiting specific generations. In this article, find four factors you can apply to your recruitment strategies specific to hiring Millennials, who make up the largest portion of the workforce, and Zoomers, who are coming of age and gradually entering the workforce. 1. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Generally, Millennials and Zoomers tend to want to work for companies whose values are aligned with their own. This trend is often represented in their desire to join a company with a strong stance on diversity, equity, and inclusion. In fact, according to a 2020 survey from the National Association of Colleges and Employers, 79% of new graduates consider a diverse workforce to be ‘’very important.’’ However, as an organization it’s vital to stay away from pseudo-activism and make sure your efforts are authentic. This can be accomplished by using real employee pictures, videos, and quotes on your career page and in your job adverts to highlight your existing diverse workforce, for example. Also, leveraging new technologies now available can be of great help with diversity initiatives. For instance, you can use a programmatic platform to get your job advertisements on niche job boards to diversify your talent sources. Utilizing blind resume screening methods to block out demographic information, or editing tools that make your job descriptions more inclusive, are other ways to make the recruitment process more equitable. 2. Mobile First Approach It’s no secret that mobile technology is transforming the realm of recruitment. An average of 70% of job seekers are searching and applying for jobs on their mobile devices according to Talent.com data, and that percentage will no doubt increase over time. Therefore, to attract Millennial and Zoomer talent, it’s important to begin adopting not only a mobile-friendly approach, but a mobile-first approach. A fully mobile-responsive website is a must. Plus, with texting as the preferred form of communication for Millennials and Zoomers, now is the time to include it in your recruitment strategies. This can be accomplished by leaning on the technological capabilities of your existing job platform partners, such as using SMS job alerts. For example, candidates can sign up to receive relevant, daily job ads directly on their phone as they job hunt on the go. What’s more, engagement with SMS alerts is on the rise. On Talent.com, the delivery rate of SMS job alerts has increased by 29%, while the click-through-rate has seen a 10% increase since 2019. Lastly, have you ever heard of recruitment chatbots? These digital assistants can be useful for busy recruiters looking to save time, send mass texts, and reach younger generations. Chatbots can schedule interviews, help with pre-screening candidates, and are available 24/7. 3. Flexible Work Advantages The COVID-19 pandemic has changed many aspects of our personal and professional lives. The world is now learning how to better foster a more flexible work environment, something that Millennials and Zoomers have long preferred. Adjusting work hours to fit an employee’s needs is one example and, of course, working remotely. The option to work remotely from any city or even country is a highly coveted perk for a young workforce. This preference for remote work is clear from job seeker behavior on Talent.com; jobs advertised with ”remote work” options are getting more clicks. If you have remote jobs to recruit for, don’t be afraid to include “work from home” in the job titles, as well as geo-expand your advertising. This means using your job platform to post your jobs in multiple locations at the same time to reach top talent in various cities. 4. Salary Transparency Through Talent.com’s periodic user experience research, it was discovered that job seekers, by and large, want to see the salary associated with a job. Disclosing salary information early on (for example, directly in the job ad) saves time for candidates and recruiters. Plus, if the salary is competitive, it can give you an edge over other employers and even attract passive candidates. While a high salary is a great tool to attract quality hires, it certainly isn’t the only one and, sometimes, isn’t even the most attractive. In fact, Millennials and Zoomers report paying great attention to benefits and perks, such as pet-friendly offices or student loan repayment assistance, when evaluating a potential future employer. Connecting with Technology Take away with you one or all four of these tips, but know they are not the only tools available to you for recruiting young job seekers. Updating your recruitment strategy to be more inclusive, mobile first, and targeted to the aspects of work that appeal most to Millennials and Zoomers can be a complex task. It requires a multi-level strategy, and you can and should utilize technology to help. Another area to explore, for example, is the power of social media platforms for attracting Millennial and Zoomer candidates, from Instagram to TikTok and beyond. The young people entering the workforce are digital natives who grew up on smart phones and with the internet at their fingertips. Meet them virtually where they’re at to find success in recruitment in 2022 and beyond!
