The Millennial Mindset: An In-Depth Interview With Millennial Expert, Lisa Orrell
The following interview was conducted with Lisa Orrell, The Generation
Relations Expert and
author of "Millennials Incorporated". She provides great insights into the Millennial generation as
employees and how employers can best recruit, manage and retain the new members
of our country's workforce.
Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching for entry level jobs and other career opportunities
What challenges will HR have to face now and in the years to come with
recruiting and retaining members of Gen-Y?
For recruiting, any employer who is not saying/offering the following
things to Millennial job
candidates, is missing the boat: We offer a great mentoring program; we respect
and support your desire for work-life balance; we offer a fun environment; and
we have a solid program for fostering your growth and advancement.
Those are just a few but will give your readers something to think about. I
offer a ton of other tips and examples in my seminars and in my book, and could
go on and on about this. But I’ll end this part of my answer by saying that I
have clients who have changed their company cultures pretty drastically to make
these promises a “reality” and they have found it very beneficial with
recruiting and retaining Millennials.
In terms of retaining Millennial talent, this
really maps-back to the hot buttons for recruiting them that I just mentioned.
You can promise the moon in your recruiting and interviewing process but if an
employer doesn’t deliver them, Millennials will leave. And, they’ll go online
and tell all their cyber-buddies that your company is not a very good place to
work.
I had one client who suffered a huge decline in resumes from college grads,
and it’s because a large amount of Millennials had left and talked about “why”
online. They weren’t saying anything slanderous and they didn’t mention
managers’ names, but they simply talked about how this company wasn’t Millennial -friendly. This
client then had to do some serious “damage control” through a PR campaign to
basically let the 20-somethings of the world know they had made changes and
really welcomed Millennials, and “knew how to keep them happy”.
How has HR reacted to the emergence of Gen-Y and what are some case studies
for company's that are successfully capturing their attention?
I can honestly say that in every seminar I conduct I am really blown-away
by how much HR teams are NOT doing to attract Millennial talent. They
think that having a company website with some job postings is cutting-edge. And
I am talking about companies that are big (and some well-known) and you think
would know better.
Some HR/recruiting execs “know” this stuff but haven’t implemented any of
it. Or, they have no idea “what to do” online. But when you have 85% of students
on FaceBook, get on FaceBook! I also have clients who are creative with how to
have a company presence on YouTube and MySpace. This is where Gen Y “hangs
out”…online! If you are simply relying on your company website to “attract” them
you need to get with the program.
One successful case study is how Deloitte created a company presence on
YouTube. The had an internal “film festival” where employees could submit short
videos about how great it is to work there or how working there has changed
their lives. All entries were posted in an intranet site for employees to vote.
The “winning” videos were then posted on YouTube. Brilliant idea! The employees
created them so it didn’t cost Deloitte anything and they basically got
testimonials from employees versus some corporate executive doing a “canned”,
boring recruitment video.
A few other tactics for employers to be aware of is look into SecondLife
and CareerTV.com. I have a ton more ideas and case studies but we don't want
this interview to last
several hours! Where do you see social media playing a role in and out of the
workplace for Gen-Y? In work, it’s a must (for larger companies). I advise
clients to set-up internal sites for employees to communicate, and if the
undertaking for a big company is too big, I tell managers to do it for their
departments.
But research shows that Millennials actually prefer face-time with people
in work environments so maintaining in-person meetings, and providing in-person
training, is important to them. But they like to have a place where they can
communicate with their co-workers online about social activities, and for advice
and brainstorming on projects.
There is a very cool company called MyWorkster (.com), founded by Jeff
Saliture, and they develop community sites for colleges and universities. They
also have a product for the corporate world. They are very busy with new clients
and it’s because companies are starting to understand they need to have a
community site for employees (of all ages).
Out of the workplace, it just “is” and won’t go anywhere. I simply tell
Millennials not to be stupid about what they put “out there” for the world to
see. Many companies are starting to create new policies in their employee
handbooks stating if they find anything “undesirable” that the employee has
written or posted (photos and such), even BEFORE they were hired, it is
immediate grounds for termination.
And I have to side with employers on that
one. Once you accept a job, you are now a representative of that company/brand,
and if you’re doing anything on line that could embarrass your employer, it’s
probably something you shouldn’t be doing. And if you have stuff online from
when you were in college getting trashed at keggers and dancing naked with
monkeys, it’s time to try to get that removed off the Internet.
Think about it…you’re 23 now but in 8 years from now you become a VP for a
well-known company and the media finds that type of video of you. That is NOT
how the company wants to make headlines in the news and you could be
out-of-a-job…not to mention totally humiliated. What tends to be really funny
when you’re 20 is typically really embarrassing when you’re 30.
Man, I thank God everyday that there were not camera phones when I was in
high school and college. And even though I love YouTube now, I’m glad that
wasn’t around when I was in school either!
What do you recommend for a Millennial starting off in
the workplace or entering it?
You don’t know everything; be open to learning anything; realize older
generations have been there a lot longer than you and just because they may not
be into texting or know who the hottest new bands are, doesn’t mean they’re
dumb; don’t burn ANY bridges because that person will show-up somewhere again
later; and life is too short, so enjoy what you do.
What frustrates you about Millennials? What do they need to learn and when
do they need to start paying attention?
Nothing really frustrates me about Millennials. I make a living educating
older generations about how excited they should be that Millennials are entering
the work force. I have yet to meet a Millennial in the work world
that I didn’t like. I simply understand that a person’s maturity at 22 will be
different when they reach 28, so I don’t let that bother me. It bothers some
older generations, but I remind them they were also 22 at one point and probably
bugged the 50 year-olds they worked for, too.
Your second question is BIG. They need to start learning the minute they
get a job and then you never stop learning. The minute you think you know
everything, you’re screwed. I learn new stuff everyday and love it. Life would
be really friggin’ boring if you stopped learning. AND I learn from people of
ALL ages because I’m open to everyone’s opinions and experiences…whether you’re
2 or 100+, I’ll listen to you.
In terms of paying attention, I think Millennials already are. They are
very aware of the world; more so than I was when I was in my early 20’s. Yes,
they are demanding in work environments, and yes they tend to be high
maintenance, but much of what they want can benefit employees of any age at
work. I tell clients all the time to consider what Millennials are asking for
because it could be good for making their entire multigenerational workforce
happier.
The Millennials are here, and require some different things that employers
haven’t dealt with before. But to pretend this isn’t happening is not going to
serve any company well. This generation is shaking up the work world, and
they’re not going away, so the smart companies will pay attention and consider
making adjustments. The ones that don’t could suffer from low recruitment
numbers and a high turnover rate of who could be their future managers and
leaders.
And, as I tell my seminar audiences of Boomers and older Gen Xers,
”Millennials didn’t just hatch from pods…YOU created them! And now you have to
deal with them in the work world.”
Lisa Orrell Bio: Lisa Orrell is The Generation
Relations Expert, and
author of the popular book, “Millennials Incorporated” (on Amazon). She is an
in-demand speaker and consultant hired by well-known companies to educate them
about Millennial employees and improving their internal generation relations.Lisa has been a featured expert on MSNBC, and her
commentary is sought by many publications such as: Human Resource Executive
magazine, Recruitment & Retention magazine, and Employee Benefit News. To
read her blog and get more info about her seminars, visit: www.TheOrrellGroup.com
Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching for entry level jobs and other career opportunities
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Thanks for this. It really helped me out!
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