Ushering In The New Generation: 15 Ways To Attract Quality Millennial Talent

Ask any business owner, and they’ll tell you: one of the biggest headaches is finding good, or rather GREAT employees. Hiring millennials, in particular, is touted to be even more difficult, as members of this generation are rumored to be flimsy and less interested in holding down a job long term.

Whether that’s actually true or not, the fact is that millennials can bring youthful enthusiasm and a fresh perspective to the job, making them a valuable addition to your team. So how can you make sure to attract the best millennial talent to help your business grow?

From giving them a sense of purpose, to investing in their professional development and offering them the job flexibility they crave, here are several ways to attract quality millennial talent, according to these 15 members of Young Entrepreneur Council.

1. Create A Rare Opportunity For Each

We place talent in roles they can quickly grow into, as long as they are self-starters. Millennials want to be challenged and trusted. We are able to attract and recruit top talent by making our company the obvious choice for their careers. Given our business’ size and growth, we are able to provide new hires with a rare opportunity to solve problems, make decisions and facilitate change that can positively impact a lot of people. –Firas Kittaneh,Amerisleep

2. Start With A Well-Defined Job Description

If you hire people with only a very broad idea of what you need from them, it will be hard to find the perfect match. For example, hiring a social media manager is fairly broad. Many applicants, especially millennials, are well versed in social media. But if you want an exceptional employee, you need to pinpoint exactly what kind of tasks the job entails. Then you can ask specific questions when you interview people and get a better idea of who really stands out. –Kalin Kassabov, ProTexting

3. Offer Flexible Schedules

To attract and retain top-quality millennial talent, it is imperative that you think outside of the 9-to-5 box. This is because an increasing number of millennials think having a flexible work schedule is as important as getting a desirable salary. As long as they deliver results according to your liking, there is no reason to get them to fit into the typical 9-to-5 mold. –Derek Robinson, Top Notch Dezigns

4. Ask Them The Failure Question

When I start interviewing, I ask them one question specifically: what their biggest failure was and how they went about resolving it. This allows me to understand the steps they took to resolve a failed issue and if they isolated themselves or it required a team effort to get things back up again. If I see that they claimed all the credit or talked about how they successfully solved a challenge without the help of others, I am hesitant to hire them. –Sweta Patel, Silicon Valley Startup Marketing

5. Look Outside Of College

Millennials are a generation of workers that are confusing and sometimes incredibly frustrating. The unfortunate truth is that many of them have been failed by higher education. I’ve had a great deal of success looking for individuals who have made professional progress outside of college. Since they’ve had to work twice as hard to receive the same opportunities as a college grad, I’ve found that these individuals have more drive and real-world experience. –Bryce Welker, Crush The LSAT

6. Let Your Brand Story Do The Work

Tell your brand story across all channels that reach millennials — social media, blogs, your website, etc. Millennials are great at research and in turn finding options. When they’re researching your company through the channels mentioned what are they finding? How are you differentiating your workplace from everyone else? To attract talented millennials you need to inspire them with your purpose, and a good brand story will do that. Stanley Meytin, True Film Production

7. Make Them Feel Irreplaceable

To attract top millennial talent, you’re going to want to make them feel irreplaceable. Let them understand the “why” behind things to actually make them a valuable asset in the organization. Recognize their achievements with an “employee of the month” program and give them yearly raises so they stay with you. –Syed Balkhi, WPBeginner

8. Use The Latest Tech Tools

Millennials want to work with the latest technology that is intuitive to use and easy to learn. Check out the tools your competitors are using and what’s the latest and greatest in your industry. Attend different tool demos and compare price as well as features. Pick one that’s connected to the cloud so the work can be done on any device. Millennials will appreciate the latest technology and will become pros at these tools in no time. –Jared Atchison, WPForms

9. Focus On Their Professional Development

Professional development opportunities are key to attracting quality millennial talent. Millennials need to be challenged and nurtured, and by showing you are investing in their talents and growth, you’re allowing some of the best and most growth-driven millennials know that you aren’t just looking for a warm body to fill a roll, you’re looking for someone to grow WITH the company. –Jen Brown, The Engaging Educator

10. Make Sure Your Values Align With Their Goals

There’s no one-size-fits-all formula for hiring any talent (no matter the generation). Some people erroneously believe that millennials care about perks instead of actual work, but if you can make your team feel like they’re doing “something” that will make the world better for future generations, it doesn’t matter what your workspace looks like or whether you have “swag.” — the talent will come and stay. –Cody McLain, SupportNinja

11. Offer Interesting Work And Autonomy

Whether your industry is “exciting” or not, you need to be able to provide interesting work, learning opportunities and autonomy to keep your employees engaged and to attract newtalent, especially young talent. Provide a framework for them to learn and grow, and then give them the reins early on to avoid micromanaging once the team member is fully onboarded. – Brandon Pindulic, OpGen Media

12. Make Their Career Progression A Focus Point

A tactic we’ve starting using are 18-month promotions, where the next career jump is chosen one year into the current position. This cycle plays to the impatience of millennials and keeps the work in our office fresh and exciting. My team is happy because they see how seriously we take career progression, and we’re happy because we keep talent in-house longer than the average of 20 months. –Krish Chopra,  Nurse Practitioner Clinical Rotations

13. Offer More Than Just A Salary

If someone is really good at what they do, they know they can make money. One of the best ways to bring top talent to your company or business is to offer more than just a salary. This would include everything from ownership, shares, health benefits, travel compensation or anything else that might apply. Consider what your competition would offer, then do it better. – Zac Johnson, Blogger

14. Set Yourself Apart, Talent Will Follow

To attract top talent, you must set the bar high yourself. Culture, training, and high expectations are three things that all top performers are looking for. Create a team culture that people can feel and want to be a part of. Then, make sure you are providing your people with the resources and training to be the best they can be. Once you have done that, don’t lower the bar. –Camryn Skladany, Innovien Solutions

15. Create Dedicated Intern Programs

By developing an intern program, you invest in millennial talent and have the chance to retain them later. If you’re in the position to mentor and develop millennial talent, you stand out as an employer who cares and has the resources to help them grow with the company. –Alexander Mistakidis, Gamelynx