Recruiting Trends

Every company has a special way of reaching out to its potential employees. They are all trying to find the Mecca of recruiting trends to reach that golden audience that they believe will elevate their organization to the next level.

While there are many different ways recruiters are reaching out to candidates, there are three specific trends that are seeming to sweep the recruiting world as we know it. 

These trends include:

1. Employment Branding

2. Strategic Workforce Planning

3. Social Recruiting

This blog post will discuss exactly what these recruiting practices are and illustrate what companies are excelling with the practice.

1. Employment Branding

Employment branding is a combination of things that work together to form a single calculated impression that works the physical feelings, the intellectual impressions and emotional experiences of current and potential employees. 

There are three main qualities that powerful brands possess:

Functional Benefits: these include tangible rewards for employees, which include but are not limited to salary, healthcare, a clean and safe workplace, and a good location.

Emotional Benefits: these are made up of the mission, pride in the company, job company status, job satisfaction, camaraderie, etc.

Reasons to Believe: this basically is proof by word of mouth or concrete evidence that the organization is a great organization to be a part of. (Ropello, 2013).

A company that really embodies the idea of successful employment branding is Google.

GOOGLE

Recently, BusinessWeek conducted a survey that provided that Google was rated the number two choice among college students as a place to begin their career.  As a fairly young firm, Google’s brand recognition is hard to compare. Google has dual meaning as a noun and a verb.  What sets Google apart from other companies focusing on their employment brand is the untraditional medium in which its management practices are discussed. Google allows for schools to tour their facilities.  My sister attends a school where they take educational trips each year that supplement their studies in some way.  As a student interested in coding, my sister chose to attend the San Francisco Technology trip option.  During her travels she took a short 35-minute drive to the Googleplex in Mountain View, California.  She could not stop gushing about this place. Everything was cutting edge and laid back and “just fun.” She said that it made sense to have this sort of environment for a cutting edge innovation company because, “In order to come up with creative and new ideas, people need to be in fun, relaxed, and uplifting environments like this,” (Maria Garippa, age 16).  While not everyone has opportunities like this to visit the headquarters, Google let the entire world into their home in the recent movie, “The Internship.” This is the type of medium that everyone else dreams about in the quest to improve their employment brand.  What this movie did was introduce the Google culture, what they stand for, what they’re looking for, what the environment looks like and most importantly, what the company itself offers everyone else. (Sullivan, 2006)

2. Strategic Workforce Planning

“Strategic workforce planning is the analytic, forecasting, and planning process that connects and directs talent management activities to ensure an organization has the right people in the right places at the right time and at the right price to execute its business strategy” (Santonocito, 2010).

Strategic workforce planning is exactly what it sounds like it’s the “grind.” It is made up of the metrics and statistics that help forecasting become more accurate, and that most recruiting managers completely dread.  What is important for recruiting managers is to not get overwhelmed by these metrics and statistics to the point that they start becoming irrelevant.  Recruiters must find connections between metrics and stats that are going to provide a means for improvement or efficiency for the organization.  This is exactly what Starbucks’ Jason Warner did. 

STARBUCKS

As arguably the most well known coffee shop in the world, Starbucks has got quite the reputation.  With so many locations and so many employment opportunities all over the world, it only makes sense that somebody within the organization came up with statistical correlations between external and internal factors in regards to employment.  What Jason did was identify statistical correlations between external environmental factors like unemployment rates and the turnover rates of Starbucks’ managers and employees.  He illustrated the concept that as fewer people are unemployed, others realize that there is less competition and begin a job search.  This give Starbucks an upper hand in establishing the market in which they want to target their talent search in. (Sullivan, 2006)

3. Social Recruiting

Social recruiting is sweeping the nation.  It is key in attracting candidates like the millennials that were discussed in my previous blog posting.  There are many different takes on the definition of social recruiting. The best combination of everything that I came across in my search is this:

Social Recruiting is a concept not a term. It is a concept that job seekers and recruiters use to source and recruit candidates through social media sites like LinkedIn and Facebook. (Le Viet, 2013)

FACEBOOK

When most people hear the words social and recruiting together in a sentence, their brains jump straight to LinkedIn.  Stephane Le Viet, Founder and CEO of Work4 believes that LinkedIn is “out,” (Auf Wiedersehen).  I would venture to say that LinkedIn has established itself as the “traditional” professional recruiting site.  It serves as an online resume for its users and presents itself solely for recruiting purposes. In that respect, there’s not much room for evolution in that foundation.  Facebook on the other hand presents a more free form of possibilities. According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers, “Facebook allows a recruiter to cast a wide net and connect with more potential job seekers than other services because of the widespread use of Facebook; 70.2 percent of users cited this as one reason why Facebook is an effective recruiting too” (NACE, 2012).  With it’s easy accessibility and the astounding amount of users, Facebook has established itself as a new medium for recruiters and job seekers all over the world.

Works Cited:

NACE. (2012). Use of facebook in the talent acquisition

process. National Association of Colleges and Employers, Retrieved from http://naceweb.org/uploadedFiles/NACEWeb/Connections/social-jobs-partnership-executive-summary.pdf

Ropella, P. (2013). How employment branding attracts the

right talent. recruitingtrends, Retrieved from http://www.recruitingsites.com/how-employment-branding-attracts-the-right-talent/

Santonocito, P. (2010). Trends in strategic workforce

planning: Positioning your organization for the economic turnaround. recruitingtrends, Retrieved from Trends in Strategic Workforce Planning: Positioning Your Organization for the Economic Turnaround

Le Viet, S. (2013). There’s more to social recruiting than

linkedin: Why facebook is the next frontier. recruitingtrends, Retrieved from http://www.recruitingsites.com/theres-more-to-social-recruiting-than-linkedin/

Sullivan, J. (2006). 12 best recruiting practices to copy.

ere.net Recruiting Intelligence, Recruiting Communiy, Retrieved from http://www.ere.net/2006/09/25/12-best-recruiting-practices-to-copy/

Millennials Want to Dive In

Who Are Millennials?

Millennials are made up of individuals who were born between the years 1980 and 2000.  They are referred to as Generation Y, a product of Generation X and the Baby Boomers. These individuals are essentially what they are referred to, the children of the new millennium.  

Millennials have been raised connected.  They've been fully immersed in new technologies, gadgets, and social medias so much that these things have helped to define who they are as a person. "Roughly a quarter of those under age 30 [millennials] say that technology is what sets their generation apart" (Taylor, 2010)- and it is.  

Growing up in this millennial time has not been all rewarding for millennial job seekers. Unfortunately for recent grads and the recently unemployed, recessional setbacks have made job opportunities less plentiful.  However as a result, Millennials are on track to becoming the "most educated generation in American History" (Taylor, 2010).  More and more millennials are taking the time they would be "wasting" not finding a job to concentrate on beefing up their resume- making themselves the most wanted candidates for the jobs that aren't available yet to them. Millennials are known to aim high, expect a lot, and make things happen.  They are thought of by previous generations to have a sense of entitlement, and a weaker work ethic, however around 25% of millennials attend school full time while holding a full or part time job.  They find information faster, learn information more efficiently, and apply information in more creative and innovative ways that make them an attractive candidate to recruiters.  

What Recruiters Should Be Prepared For

Millennials are in a society where technology constantly evolving.  As a result, they are constantly learning new things. Millennials have a hunger for challenge and change. These individuals want to work for a company that speaks to the "inner animal" and markets itself accordingly.  It's been proven that millennials tend to stay away from companies that require them to put in their time and work their way to the top.  They want to use all of the skills they've been working to acquire and master to enter the market at the top and contribute immediately. (Downing, 2006)

According to Claire Raines, there are 6 things recruiters should know in order to attract, retain, and motivate millennials:

1. You Be the Leader

"This generation has grown up with structure and supervision, with parents who were role models. Millennials are looking for leaders with honesty and integrity. It’s not that they don’t want to be leaders themselves, they’d just like some great role models first."

2. Challenge Me

"Millennials want learning opportunities. They want to be assigned to projects they can learn from.They’re looking for growth, development, a career path."

3. Let Me Work With Friends

"Millennials say they want to work with people they click with. They like being friends with coworkers. Employers who provide for the social aspects of work will find those efforts well rewarded by this newest cohort. Some companies are even interviewing and hiring groups of friends."

 4. Let’s Have Fun

 "A little humor, a bit of silliness, even a little irreverence will make your work environment more attractive."

5. Respect Me 

“'Treat our ideas respectfully,' they ask, 'even though we haven’t been around a long time.'"

6. Be Flexible

"The busiest generation ever isn’t going to give up its activities just because of jobs. A rigid schedule is a sure-fire way to lose your Millennial employees."

(Raines, 2002)

My advice to managers?

I would recommend that managers and organizations focus on two things when it comes to recruiting millennials.  First, marketing themselves accordingly to their target audience, and second, succession planning in their recruitment processes. Susan Vitale,chief marketing officer of iCIMS* states,

"We're seeing more and more of millennials fitting into a bit of a stereotype that they're obsessed with social media, and this doesn't only apply to how they communicate with their friends and families. Sending them pamphlets or handing out hardcopy brochures at job fairs is not well-received by millennials. They like to communicate by seeing information and flagging it for later" (McGrory-Dixon, 2012). 

If managers and recruiters focus on marketing themselves accordingly to millennials, they will respond. 

Succession planning is another key part of the recruiting process that will attain success. Millennials are bringing key skills to the table and seek to enter in the position that will allow them to capitalize on these qualifications in order to elevate the organization in the best way possible.  What succession planning does is essentially find the right people to fill key positions in an organization.  It ensures that the top talent in an organization is managed for the good of the company. 

As Kris Dowling writes, there are only 3 things to keep in mind that can be applied to succession planning in recruiting millennials: set direction, create alignment, gain commitment. 

Setting Direction

Millennials strive to link their daily work with goals.  They not only strive to achieve the goals of the company, but often aim above and beyond the good of the company. "Leaders should recognize the emphasis Millennials place on con- tributing to the greater good and should seek to link their day-to-day work with a higher cause" (Downing, 2006). 

Creating Alignment

Millennials have grown up in a team-oriented environment.  Many of the projects and activities that they completed in school have been in a multi-person setting. They thrive on feedback, communication, and the saying that "two brains are better than one." In this respect, leaders should aim to recruit millennials into environments that encourage and inspire collaboration. 

Gaining Commitment

"82% [of millennials] cite flexible working arrangements as a factor that influences their commitment and motivation [in the workplace]" (Downing, 2006). There are many different motivators when it comes to millennials in terms of commitment. Two extremely attractive motivators besides stature of the position and pay include flexible scheduling, and integration of technology in the workplace. What these two motivators do is give employees to opportunity to spend time at home, creating a family, developing their work, and/or taking time to avoid stressors. By integrating technologies, organizations give employees the opportunity to complete work faster, and not in the office. 

Organizations and managers that wish attract these progressive millennial workers should aim to incorporate these three aspects of successive planning in to their recruiting process.

All in all, as working environments continue to develop and evolve, so do millennials.  Successful managers and organizations will find a way to accept, embrace, and highlight the talent that millennials bring to the organization to achieve synergy between employees, managers, and organizational mission. 

Want To Find Out How Millennial You Are? 

Follow this link and take the "Quiz!"
How Millennial Are You?

Works Cited:

Taylor, P. (2010). Millennials a portrait of generation next confident. connected. open to change. Pew Research Center, i-140. Retrieved from http://pewsocialtrends.org/files/2010/10/millennials-confident-connected-open-to-change.pdf




Downing, K. (2006). Next generation: What leaders need to know about the millennials. Leadership in action, 26(3), 1-3.




Raines, C. (2002). Managing millennials. Connecting Generations: The Sourcebook , (1), Retrieved from http://www.generationsatwork.com/articles/millenials.htm

McGrory-Dixon, A. (2012). Recruiting millennials takes different approach. Benefits Selling.Breaking News, Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1115361808?accountid=12924

*iCIMS is a provider of talent acquisition software solutions that has had success recruiting and maintaining millennial employees.