Attracting and Recruiting Top Graduates
In an extremely competitive graduate recruitment environment, standing out as a prospective employer is essential. The current cohort of millennial graduates have become increasingly selective when choosing which jobs and companies to apply for and are increasingly influenced by factors such as company culture, benefits, vision and purpose. In this light, understanding precisely what millennials want from prospective employers, and tailoring your recruitment strategy and employee value proposition accordingly, is vital to hiring top talent.
Understanding Millennials
The first step to successfully attracting top millennial graduates and the generations that follow, is to understand what influences them and what they are looking for when applying for a job, allowing you to strategically showcase your strengths in these areas.
What do they want from an employer?
A Clear Path to Progression
87% of millennial professionals rate career development as a top priority when choosing a new job. Think about ways to showcase activities which support personal and professional development. Do you offer training opportunities, secondments, international travel or development programmes?
Culture & Wellbeing in the Workplace
82% of millennials place ‘wellbeing’ in the workplace as a top comparative factor when selecting a workplace. Think about how you are telling your wider cultural story – what are your values? What benefits do you offer employees? How are you supporting your staff develop and grow?
Flexibility and Work/Life Balance
60% of millennials want flexible working options within a clear framework. Think about policies on ‘face-time’ presentism and understand that even policies concerning events far into the future of millennials, such as shared parental leave, can be a deciding factor for graduates when picking an employer.
What are the key influences on millennials today?
Family and peer groups
Family and peer groups often play an important role in shaping graduates’ decisions over where to apply. The attitudes and views of those closest to graduates have a significant impact on the career-related decisions of young people, therefore it is important to ensure the value proposition of the company as a prospective employer is broadly appealing.
Motivations
Graduates are motivated by a wide range of factors including responsibility, competitive salary, being impactful and benefiting a local or global community. Understanding motivations, and showing that you can align with them, can help you better target your recruits, and hire more successfully.
Reaching Graduates
Once you have a good understanding of the preferences of graduate millennials when selecting an employer it is also essential to tailor your content appropriately and ensure you are advertising this content across the right channels to ensure it receives high levels of visibility among your target audience. The below outlines a few opportunities you can leverage.
On Campus
A university campus is full of potential candidates. Having a presence on campus and showcasing your brand directly to university students can be an effective way to leave an impression on graduates, and enhance your brand and reputation amongst your target audience. Think about: events, brand ambassadors, societies, career talks, etc.
Digital
It goes without saying that the digital generation will be trawling your website as well as Facebook and LinkedIn pages, and your Glassdoor reviews when deciding whether to apply. In fact, 55% of millennials say that the company website is their first port of call when applying for a job.4 Make sure the content on these channels stands out and highlight the most attractive aspects of your company. Think about: social media, apps, recruitment websites.
Internships
Internships offer potential graduate recruits the opportunity to participate in your working culture and adopt the role before committing as a full-time employee. Think about: how to cultivate appropriate skills and identify areas for development in the interns, while showcasing your company as a great employer and encouraging interns to spread the word to their high-potential peers.
And remember…
With so many options available, it is not simply about using the most channels to push out your message; rather it is about using the right channels for you. An effective strategy will be tailored to your target recruits, the strengths of your company and the resources you have available.
How We Can Help
By 2025, millennials are predicted to make up threequarters of the global workforce. With this in mind, it is essential to start thinking about the best ways to engage and attract prospective millennial graduates as well as the new generation which is starting to make a name for itself in the workplace, whether through utilising the right channels, or leveraging your understanding of exactly what they are looking for when applying for a job.
FTI Consulting can support you with:
- Designing recruitment strategies
- Developing bespoke employee value propositions
- Organisational culture evaluation and insights on CSR and D&I
- Recruitment channel auditing and development, including digital strategy
- Analytics and social intelligence
- Talent attraction, retention and development strategy
For more information on this topic, please see our graduate development brochure and our Millennials Today research.
