For example, instead of a traditional ‘corporate video’ your online video should be ?day in the life,? real people, real careers, no scripts. Good example can be found at http://www.careercornerdigital.com or http://www.VirtualJobShadow.com .

Bravo! What a timely and important article. The outlook for recruiting in the next ten years paints a difficult picture at best. Recruiting strategies will need to evolve to be sure, but so will hiring practices. While I don?t have much campus recruiting experience, I have had a couple of recent experiences that relate to this article, and they were a bit of an eye opener.

Recently, at a past employer, I was asked to recruit a recent college grad? in the June/July. Being one who is always up for a challenge, I set to work. One candidate I sourced stood out among the slim pickings I had been seeing. He had legitimate reason for being late to the party and I put him in process. Early in our discussions, without being asked, he detailed what was important to him. Being the father of four with a college Senior, this took me a little by surprise. He echoed some of the same things I have heard from my college son. At that moment, I realized that my thought of ?my son is not in touch with reality? was way off base! What is important to Millennials is not what is important to us. (He did turn out to be the successful candidate.)

As time went on, I had another Hiring Manger who had a Jr. Business Analyst position open. 1-2 years experience. I had done some research on this generation and what makes them tick so that I was a little better prepared. In short time, I had a good candidate in process. We had several advantages recruiting this candidate. We were 5 miles from her home, paying market, good benefits, good company and reputation. This candidate echoed the same points the other candidate had made. It was more about work life balance and not being a slave to work.

The hiring manager had a ?If they don?t want to jump through hoops to work here, I don?t want them? attitude. We made a good offer and lost to a company that seems to be a little more ?with it? when recruiting Millenials. They offered an additional week of vacation, had better PTO, paid more, and according to the candidate, ?respected me with a lean hiring process?. That one sentence said it all.

What she was saying was that she did not have to go through our bloated process with a Screen, HM phone interview, first in person interview with 6 interviewers, second interview with 6 more interviewers, repeat the process with 2 or 3 more candidates, schedule a debrief with all parties involved in the interview, pray the 12 people can come to a consensus, after a 4 ? 6 week process, create an offer and start navigations. And then, when the offer was turned down, the hiring manager was surprised. That was 4 months ago. As of 2 weeks ago, the position is still open.

It is amazing to see how these candidates priorities line up with your article. One point of interest that has not been discussed is what is the long term cost of hiring these candidates? I briefly spoke with a friend while writing this and he detailed how Bell Labs has a 1.65% percent employee cost due to all the benefits offered their employees back in the sixties, mainly due to a workforce shortage. I would be interested to know what others think the future holds in that regard.

Thanks for taking the time to bring this subject up. Excellent article.

Your questions are timely! I?ve come to the conclusion that most organizations don?t embrace change until it?s absolutely necessary. As you point out, EVERYONE knows that treating candidates with dignity and respect is more important now than ever before. Yet only the most progressive organizations take proactive steps to ensure this happens.

I remember reading an article once about how the human circulatory system has this remarkable ability to circulate blood even if there is an injury that is resulting in massive blood loss. In some regards, one might never know that that there is a problem . . . UNTIL a certain amount of blood is lost. Then the patient?s condition deteriorates rapidly. Perhaps an analogy could be that the ?blood? in this case is candidates in a slate ? to a hiring manager, it?s less important that there are five backup candidates, or three, or even two. All that matters is that they hire one person.

Over time, though, an organization will lose the ability to attract even one good candidate. THEN this will become an issue, despite the massive and obvious ?bleeding? that took place in the prior years.

A rickety analogy to be sure, but perhaps appropriate!

MK

Also, while I won’t extend any generalizations based on this, I have had the pleasure to work with a dozen or so college interns in the last several years. They were hard working, committed to our team, and I never once heard from any of their parents.

I will point us all to the May issue of HRMagazine (SHRM publication) that offers some more insight and tips on ‘How To Prepare for the Millennials’. Below are bullets on what the experts suggest HR professional plan for this generation of employees:

1. Increase basic skills training.
2. Explain the reasons behind processes.
3. Place clear parameters on communication frequency and methods, particularly IM.
4. Provide more frequent job performance appraisals and other feedback.
5. Focus on outcomes.
6. Keep them engaged.
7. Expand work/life balance programs.
(HRMagazine May 2007)

Inevitably, the attraction of new talent, experienced or otherwise, involves the hiring process. In spite of surveys, studies, focus groups, onboarding enhancements, etc., the interview and selection process continues to be a multi-headed monster. Candidates are left hanging for weeks, as if they had no other possible opportunities. Multiple fly-in interviews are needed because so many people are involved in the decision process. Once on-site, candidates are too often treated like cattle rather than valuable capital. In most cases, strong candidates are certainly not courted, as they should be. If an offer is made, it is likely to be on the low side, rather than a number that would be acceptable. I often wonder if HR is in touch with today’s hiring dynamic. Certainly, the hiring process I deal with daily seems to ignore the difficulty of attracting top talent, and further ignore the fact that it is becoming even more difficult.

What are your thoughts?

In reading about this upcoming generation, and living with a couple of them at home, I’ve come to believe that they’re really not much different than everyone else. They want meaningful work, not to be bored, and a good work-life balance. These are things that we are all coming to expect/desire out of our jobs. I think businesses that focus on making their workplaces friendly to the upcoming generation may see that their current staff from other generations might also appreciate it.

As you have correctly stated and I quote: ‘In a few years, the workplace will be significantly different. People will come and go to suit their schedules (some companies already offer employees unlimited vacation as long as their work is getting done); employees will change jobs much more frequently, so rewards will take the form of training and development; and titles and corner offices will take on less significance as good employees challenge ideas no matter who comes up with them.’ This is the model of the new Virtual Organization and this presents significant challenges for Recruiters and their employers in general.

As you have correctly observed and deduced in the following statement, recruiters have a tough task ahead of them as well as some very strong incentives to take action: ‘Getting your leaders to acknowledge the impending changes will allow your organization to get the edge on your competitors and make you a hero.’

I submit that the Recruiter will have to take the lead on that; understand that his/her role must now be more consultative in nature in order to help all stakeholders navigate through these uncharted waters; as well as be an agent for change in this new Virtual Organization.

Therefore, I also submit that the title of the recruiter willing to take on this challenge should reflect the added dimension of this role and be changed to ‘Virtual Organization Consultant.’

Every single HR department should immediately begin to form a Virtual Organization Management Training department in order to begin the process of addressing these challenges or else they will become irrelevant in no time at all.

I am very pleased to know that some of my colleagues have the foresight and wisdom to see these changes coming with the dawn of the new Virtual Organization.

The Millenials are creating the new Virtual Organization and there is no stopping it.