Millennial talent is on the rise in every industry. If your company isn’t actively recruiting Millennial talent, you’ll soon be in the minority.
In fact, recent numbers have estimated Millennials will comprise half of the workforce as early as 2015. And by 2025, Millennials will make up 75 percent of all workers.
However, there’s an even more pressing reason to consider Millennial talent for hospitality industry positions: According to projections, Millennials will account for half of all business flights by 2020. If you want to relate to your new consumer base, what better way than with employees who already speak their language?
With Millennial customers flooding the hospitality industry across sectors, it only makes sense to hire more Millennial employees to cater to their needs and help your organization adapt.
Millennials, however, are a different breed of employee. They want different things, respond to different perks, and hold different dreams about their careers.
Here are four ways to attract and recruit the Millennial talent you need to keep your company moving forward:
Offer Great Perks
Millennials want great perks. This is one reason why startup companies with Millennial-filled workforces like Google offer free lunches, dry cleaning, and even playground equipment like office slides. You can’t always offer your Gen Y employees an office jungle gym, but you can pinpoint the perks your top performers dream about.
Things like flexible work options, the opportunity to advance, and unlimited vacations are the kind of things most Millennials crave. In fact, a recent survey showed 42 percent of employees would be willing to take a pay cut if it meant a more flexible schedule and better work-life balance. Just remember not to fall for the flashy perks and forget to offer top-notch standard benefits, as well.
Be a Mentor
Millennials want a mentor and the ability to provide mentorship will be a big boon to your recruitment efforts. In a recent survey, 53 percent of Millennial employees felt a mentor would make them better employees and more productive workers.
Start a mentorship program within your company and promote this program when you’re hiring. Show Millennial candidates just how much your organization understands the value of professional growth.
Embrace New Technology
It’s no secret the Millennial generation is tech-obsessed. A full 80 percent of Millennial candidates base their impression of a company off job postings and career websites, which probably explains why 94 percent of recruiters are embracing social media to find talent. If you want to find the candidates you need, it’s time to look to new technology.
Social media and video interviews are two tools that can help you brand your company as tech-savvy, while also cutting down the traditional recruiting process. Social media is great for branding, connecting with interested candidates, telling your company story, and getting top-notch people into your talent pipeline.
Meanwhile, video interviewing can help you shorten your recruiting process by focusing on only the best candidates. Using a one-way video interview, where candidates answer your questions on video, can help you dramatically shorten your time-to-hire.
According to research by the Aberdeen Group, you can watch 10 interviews in the time it takes to perform just one single phone screen. Utilizing new tech as early as the hiring process shows your company embraces the future, instead of being stuck in the past.
Foster Professional Development
Millennials want the chance to foster their skills and grow professionally. This might be one reason for the generation’s lack of staying power within organizations.
In fact, 60 percent of Millennials plan to leave their jobs within the first three years of working. This isn’t because Millennials are job hoppers by nature, but rather because they’re always looking for opportunities to better their skills and advance in their career.
If you want to attract and keep Millennial talent, make your organization a place that encourages professional development. Offer financial support for employees who choose to continue their education and make sure your employees are given projects which challenge and develop their skills. Millennials want more than job security — they want to grow as professionals. Give them the chance and they’ll stick around.
It’s time to start focusing on attracting and retaining the best Millennial candidates for your hospitality industry positions. Using these four tips, you can find and hire the best people to keep your organization moving forward.
What do you think? How do you attract Millennial candidates? Share in the comments!
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This post was contributed by Josh Tolan. Josh is the CEO of Spark Hire, a video powered hiring solution that allows staffing professionals to collaborate with their clients around video interviews. Find out more about using video interviewing for hospitality hiring and connect with Spark Hire on Facebook and Twitter.