By 2025, Gen Y, also known as Millennials*, will make up 75% of the workforce. Most employers have prejudices against Gen Y employees, as observed by Bersin by Deloitte analyst Stacia Garr at SHRM. Those who can identify Gen Y candidates with good attitudes and work ethic, though, will find that Millenials are capable of taking on senior-level responsiblities from the start.
This post begins a series on how to Hire Generation Y. Our first topic addresses groundwork to lay before interviewing Millenials: in order to demonstrate that your company thinks and acts as nimbly as Gen Y does, get a custom-branded video interviewing service.
1) Showcase Your Brand from the Start
Most agree that branding should be on the front lines of the recruiting process. When in search of those Millennials who can add to your company culture, it is important to fly your "brand flag" high and proud. When you use a video interviewing platform like Wowzer instead of general video chat services like Skype for interviews, you have the option to showcase your employment brand throughout the entire interview process.
Stock photos and a company motto just aren't cutting it any longer. Your brand should encompass the real employees, stories and attitudes that your unique culture has to offer. Generation Y is really embracing the importance of company culture and it has proven to be a leading factor in employee retention.
Video interviewing enables personalities on both ends to shine. Start off on the right foot, with the right candidate, by building a brand that is reflected online and offline.
2) Level with the Digital Native
It has been reported that 78% of Generation Y'ers were actually born with an iPhone in hand...okay not really, but pretty darn close. But really, 66% of Millennials own a smart phone, compared to 28% for the Boomers.
According to a PEW study, 24% of millennials feel their tech usage is one of the defining features of their generation. We live in a world where a high schooler's computer costs more than their car, a 12-year old has a cell phone and they can both see Grandpa every day on Skype. Millennials not only embrace technology, it is ingrained in their everyday lives, their every minute lives.
Gen Y are looking for positions with companies that embrace cutting-edge technology as well. It is becoming increasingly important for employers to use new technologies like video interviewing. As Sarah White recently mentioned on our video interviewing webinar with WilsonHCG, video interviewing is well past the early-adopter phase. Video interviewing software not only saves time and money during the screening and interviewing phases, but it demonstrates to younger, tech-savvy recruits that your company is quick to use technology to improve internal processes.
3) Time is Money
Instead of writing a letter, putting it in an envelope, making sure you have stamps in the house, and running out to the mailbox, for decades businesses have simply sent an email. These days, why go to the store when Amazon has next day shipping? From the microwave to the iPad, Generation Y is expecting real time interactions that take a fraction of the time of more traditional business processes!
Video screening eliminates so much wasted time and resources on both ends. Interviewers don't have to sit through interview after interview at rigidly scheduled times and the interviewee doesn't even have to leave home. It's crazy to think you can squeeze your interview in that 30 minutes before spin class, but it's completely possible with these new and exciting technologies. “Fast-paced” is putting it lightly, and recruiters need to keep up!
4) Show Candidates You're Flexible
With job-sharing, working from home and unconventional office spaces and hours popping up more and more, it is important that recruiters bend and flex with the new way of doing things. Video interviewing is a way to show your candidates that flexibility, convenience and efficiency are part of your culture.
The ability to choose the time and date of an interview is not wasted on this group. In addition, we see positive feedback from candidates and hiring managers regarding the ease of a pre-recorded interview versus a phone interview. The ability to research online, gain experience about the interview process, practice before the interview and reduce travel and waiting time, all speak to this younger demographic.
Take the First Step Today
As a Wowzer specialist for a demo of what your company's video interviewing experience could look like. Consider your traditional interview process from the viewpoint of a millennial who is comparing your opportunity to the most cutting-edge startups, then imagine how this interactive recruiting experience could re-position your company in the Gen Y candidate's mind.
*Millenials defined:
"The millennials joining your workforce now are employees born between 1980 and 2000, or 1981 and 1999, depending on the author. Unlike the Gen-Xers and the Baby Boomers, the Millennials have developed work characteristics and tendencies from doting parents, structured lives, and contact with diverse people. Millennials are used to working in teams and want to make friends with people at work. Millennials work well with diverse coworkers."
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