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Talent Management - Drawing in 20-Something Employees, Lisa Rummler, September 2007

2 years, 12 months ago

Companies need younger employees to replace the baby boomers, who are retiring in droves. Younger employees need jobs so they can start paying back student loans and keep a roof over their heads. The trick is to help these two groups find each other and fulfill their respective needs.

The Web plays an integral role in this employment version of matchmaking, said career coach Nicholas Aretakis. He cited several Web sites, including Nacelink.com, MonsterTrak.com and Experience.com, as especially valuable for companies that aim to hire college students and recent graduates.

Aretakis, author of "No More Ramen: The 20-Something's Real World Survival Guide," also recommended that employers post job openings on collegiate Web sites - most universities and colleges have a career center through which recent and soon-to-be college graduates seek employment.

He advised employers to be as specific as possible in writing job descriptions, which will benefit both the company and prospective hires in that only those college students or graduates who are truly qualified for or interested in the job will apply.

Further, Aretakis said recruiters should not forget the potential of current 20-something employees to draw in new, younger employees.

"Offer a bounty for some of your employees to make recommendations of the other recruits who come in, and you compensate them if those people stay for a certain duration," he said. "What you've got now is people working for free to help you recruit. Or if you have a really good worker - someone who has a good personality, has adapted to the environment (whether they've been there three months or three years) and is connected with other young adults (maybe classmates who went off to do graduate school or to work for different employers) - and you recommend that they help you recruit for certain positions, they're going to pull in good-quality people because it's a reflection on them, and you'll already have a gauge as to whether this is a long-term player in your company and whether you want to bring similar types of talent."

Once new 20-something employees have been hired, Aretakis said it is critical that managers and the HR department set short- and long-term goals for them.

"If you can keep young adults motivated and focused on what their prize is and the big picture, and they start to gain knowledge, you'll have a much better chance of retaining their employment," he said. "You've already spent a lot of money bringing them in, training them, paying their benefits, and it tends to take a little time to get a return on investment for new hires, so it's really important to sit down and develop goals and objectives."

Additionally, Aretakis said companies must be prepared to deal with challenges that might arise from having a multigenerational workforce - although younger employees often are replacing retiring baby boomers, members of the older generations remain on the job, and their opinions on things might not coincide with younger employees'.

"The baby boomer generation typically had 9-to-5 jobs," he said. "For today's generation, you have young adults who get up in the morning, maybe at the same time but maybe later - they like to work at home to avoid rush-hour commutes, get into the office at a more relaxing hour, and they might stay later. They might also want four-day workweeks and take long weekends and telecommute. With the pervasiveness of both the Internet and the communications media, it's really become adaptive to be able to let people work from home with a more flexible schedule. That's a huge challenge for employers and human resource professionals to adapt to that."

Another crucial area in which younger employees tend to differ from their older counterparts is in regard to work-life balance. Aretakis said employers that address this issue likely will derive benefits from the entire workforce.

"You need to create a work environment where people feel a sense of camaraderie, enjoy their job and permitted to have a little more balance," he said. "Maybe you alter the work schedule, still getting productivity when it's required (like when a new product is being launched, a new marketing effort is being done, a new account is being courted), and later on, when the task is over, let people power down.

"You reward employees not just with bonuses and perks, but you give them time off. You tell them, 'Look, we want everyone to take a three-day weekend,' and you plan for that - if the company plans on that, there's not a significant degradation of productivity. Actually, you'll see efficiency and productivity improve, and quality will go up, as well."