The Importance Of Recruiting Millennials In The Workforce

The influx of millennials has created a domino effect in today’s business world. They have a keen desire to better the working environment for themselves and the professionals to come. In 2020, rising millennials will also be superior in numbers, a fact that helps them change the present concept of the workplace since they will be dominating the market soon. So, recruiting millennials will likely change the workplace ethics, rules, and working processes.

The purpose of their manifesto is to bring about innovation to every business facet as well as enrich the work culture of their predecessors.

They strive to build stimulating environments, always aiming for transparency, a higher cause as well as a balance between professional and private life.

This post showcases a variety of points regarding the features that millennials possess and can lead businesses to greener hi-tech pastures. It also answers the questions of “How are you to deal with millennials?” and “What do they want from work?” Startups, companies, and corporations should focus on understanding millennials and find out how to keep them in the workplace.

The infinite benefits of the millennial workforce

Being a generation deeply familiar with anything digital, the incorporation of technological advancements in their working life is a common fact.

Particularly those that join the labor force and become part of a startup and corporate environment leave an impactful footprint on the evolution of these businesses.

Businesses have to reconstruct their working models to jump on the tech wagon with the help of their hi-tech staff.

Generation Y professionals are the ones to pave the way for businesses to approach the age of information.

Find the millennials that match your needs

Needless to say, the Gen Y members do not pose as extraterrestrial beings with infinite powers. They are part of a generation that is technology literate and eager to optimize the current working and living standards.

This does not necessarily mean that the totality of the rising millennial workforce is the best fit for the business world. However, there is an ample percentage of young professionals that put their efforts and expertise into achieving something greater.

So, it is the companies’ responsibility to find the right people who can dedicate themselves to their purposes.

The battle of generations

The baby boomers that run businesses tend to employ members of Generation X in high positions due to their extensive work experience.

According to the Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace by John Perry Barlow, these people coined as “digital immigrants” cannot be compared to the “digital natives” of Gen Y or Gen Z (who were born into the age of technology). This distinction infers that traditionally oriented companies ought to level up technologically by employing tech-savvy professionals with modern perspectives.

Then, the full potential of the present-day era can be further explored, and tech reforms can be implemented in the work processes.

The millennial perspective

Companies are in great technological need, so they have to focus on recruiting millennials. In turn, the Gen Y candidates look for a place where they can unfold their talents and share their know-how to create the ideal professional workplace.

They intend to employ advancements to improve their workflow and save time and money. Generation Y’s use of technology is broad and continuous since they communicate, learn, and amuse themselves through it. The plethora of social media platforms, streaming services, video/photo editing software, and blogging sites are essential parts of their everyday lives.

Therefore, they demand that their working framework offers a variety of technological possibilities as well.

Willingness to experiment

Millennials are not tech experts; they are constant tech learners. Technology is ever-growing, and so are they. Hence, they have to constantly educate themselves to stay on top of their game.

It’s only logical since their personal and professional lives are imbued with technology, and they don’t seem too keen to lose this privilege they were born with. Evidently, when they do not innovate, they are early adopters.

New applications, workflow optimizations, and stimulating innovations are always on the radar for leading millennials. They know what matches best their digital standards and, if they do not, they make it their life’s mission to find out.

Staying behind is not an option for them since they always strive for the newest, the best, and the fastest in every facet of their lives.

The transition from past to future

In contrast to them, big companies are used to having convoluted working systems with many analog characteristics. They also tend to change at a slower pace and stick to what they know for longer than they should. These kinds of business structures are outdated and cannot keep up with the market’s rapid rhythm.

Therefore, companies can benefit from recruiting millennials with a drive for experimentation. They just have to give Gen Y professionals the space to go through a trial and error phase to find the optimal way to streamline business processes. This approach will help businesses avoid human errors, increase productivity, and free valuable time to be allocated to other critical tasks.

Teamwork mentality

Millennials, aside from the ones that join the movement of the digital nomads, value and work towards updating the obsolete concept of teamwork. They trust in the power of collaboration and its influence on creativity and productivity.

Yet, millennials do not adhere to formal ideas that older generations tend to implement when working in a team.

Gen Y members view monotonous conference calls, traditional office meetings, and strict hierarchy as medieval. So, they care about diminishing that impersonal character and replacing it with a friendly, direct attitude that promotes seamless cooperation.

Communication and mobility in the digital era

In the digital era, communication has taken a quantum leap ahead because technology has multiplied the channels that can be used in personal and professional contexts. It’s the millennials’ quest to revamp the present-day communication practices. Simple chatting, serious work planning, file-sharing, and project cost management become much easier to accomplish.

The variety of apps and platforms like Slack and Campfire aims at bringing agility and flexibility to the table. These two words are vital notions for the millennials since they dislike the typical 9 am-5 pm working schedule. They need to be able to work remotely, travel always on the move, and work when they feel the most productive.

Subsequently, more and more companies will have to adjust to their work schedules and respect their preference to work remotely.

Emphasis on performance

Millennials are highly educated, technologically oriented, and confident professionals. They focus on continually progressing, perfecting their multitasking, and delivering excellent results. They require guidance and not wooden reviews on their work.

Companies traditionally follow performance review systems that do not aim at improving their employees’ productivity but just comment on the results after a project has finished or a circle of work has ended. This is not a strategy that encourages the member of staff to become better at what they do.

The importance of feedback

Gen Y demands constant helpful feedback to know where they stand. Annual reviews do not offer enough information on how employees can improve themselves, and they can even negatively impact their performance.

Millennials suggest that recurring discussions with their managers can be constructive for both sides. Ideally, employees can have more freedom to work on their goals, and managers will have an overview of how the individuals in their teams perform and feel about their performance. Therefore, managers should take the role of the mentor and not the censurer. This fulfills the millennials’ need to learn and get guidance constantly.

The same goes for credit and acknowledgment of their achievements. Gen Y descendants crave mentorship in order to succeed and seek recognition when they deserve it. This point may not be purely technological, but assessment and mentorship can immensely help millennials work their digital magic.

Complicated problems…

Corporations are hierarchy-based and sometimes work with outdated ideas that are not dealing with problems once and for all.

In the past, employees had focused on their responsibilities and perfecting their tasks. However, digital professionals of the present have a broader framework in mind. They strive to put together the puzzle of a problem to offer organic solutions.

Millennials should have key positions in order to offer their fresh creative ideas to improve their companies’ workflows and problem-solving tactics.

… creative solutions

Millennials grew up in the age of information, so data is an integral part of their mentality. They are used to solving issues by consulting the world wide web. Most of the time, technology does not fail them.

So, they want to use all this knowledge they have gathered throughout their lives to crack tough nuts. Gen Y aspires to keep evolving and therefore find creative ground-breaking solutions to face complex problems.

In a highly technological world, the millennials’ abilities to adapt and employ their intelligence and inquisitive nature to detect failings and propose enhancements can lead to success. That is also the reason that companies focus on recruiting millennials to modernize their work.

A millennial gets intrigued by a challenge and feels the “childish” need to reach the bottom of it. This “childishness” is what generates creativity and persistence, skills necessary in today’s workspaces.

Recruiting millennials in the workplace

As technology is continuously evolving, the business world should adjust to its pace. Businesses have to step up their game by assembling a workforce that aims to enter the future.

Without a doubt, the older generations are integral parts of any company. They have the expertise, but they must embrace the tech way of life as well. The ones that can facilitate the digital transition are the newest members of the workforce, the millennials. Their promising and vital incorporation to the workforce brings along an original working approach and a polished skillset. They can improve the working conditions and implement new technologies in every aspect of the work.  Of course, everything starts with understanding millennials in order to incorporate them properly into a working environment.

In today’s economy, companies can claim creative and financial prosperity by recruiting millennials to find the right working processes and tools. Ranging from project management and time tracking tools to fully automated processes, millennials can help their teams avoid tiresome, repetitive work, and focus on innovation. This way, generations in the workforce will be able to coexist with the millennials showing the way to the future.