The market is rapidly changing. From my own personal conversations in my work as a business strategy consultant, I've found that many C-level executives are struggling to grasp what it takes to reach out and keep millennials as paying customers/clients, and more particularly as employees.
Having worked for several companies before breaking off to form my current company, I've seen workplaces that completely embrace the millennial mindset, and others who dismiss it as useless. If the market continues it current trends, however, those who don't see the value in changing their business practices and models to accommodate millennials will soon begin losing market share and find themselves out of business.
Those companies who have younger c-level executives and even mid-level managers understand that in the new way of doing things, skills are just as valuable as degrees (if not more so). Actively seeking those from the Gen-Y selection of candidates will ensure that those skills and modern understanding meet in one place.
1. Millennials understand social media and other modern advertising mediums.
While the general principles of marketing have not changed, the mediums certainly have, and staying up to date and embracing these newer ways of building brand awareness and driving revenue into your company are a must.
Since much of marketing is basic psychology, if no one in your company understands how your new target market's way of thinking, then you will basically just be shooting in the dark. You might get lucky every now and then, but you'll end up spending a lot more money than if you have a millennial who can quickly look at a proposal and know it's out of touch.
For instance, one of the biggest mistakes we see in our consulting efforts is a "shotgun" approach to Facebook and other social advertising. Companies can deplete their Facebook ad allotment or even their entire marketing budget on just a few poorly-tailored and ill-targeted ads, losing hundred, even several thousand dollars in just a single poorly-run campaign.
The Harvard Business Review is smartly predicting that technology, with digital channels as touch points, will remain the dominant medium for marketing, because millennials have grown up in the digital age and look for ease of interaction, in addition to our preferences for getting what we want quickly. Fax machines and direct mail certainly do not fall into that category.
2. Millennials depart from corporate norms and think independently.
I can't tell you how many executives and mid-level managers I've talked to who are frustrated with how my generation burns through jobs and positions, always restless and/or seemingly lazy.
In reality, we understand the disruption that happened to the job market in 2008 at the market crash. We know that if we stay with one company, come in, keep our head down for 20 years, get good at our job that probably doesn't require a college degree receive great performance reviews and receive a little bigger paycheck, earn PTO and build a solid 401(k), we might be lucky to retire when we're 80 and be able to work a side job greeting people at the local department store.
Educated millennials view this as an unacceptable way to live. Those who live like this limit their own potential. Because wages have stagnated or declined all across the job sector, sharp millennials know that if we want to further our skill sets and increase our paychecks, we’ll be required to change jobs at a rate that was formerly considered "job-hopping." (See what the Washington Post has to say on this subject.) I’ve held more jobs in my 20’s than my dad has held in his entire career, and that’s okay, because of the experience and skills I've gained in the process.
If you don't have a millennial-minded hiring managers and HR leaders, this could be a nightmare that you are struggling to wake up from, especially if you don't understand millennials yourself. Involving the up-and-coming business leaders to give you stronger direction and tactics will help you correctly target and hire great candidates who will give their best during their time with your company. Forbes gives some great suggestions on what this process ought to be, including allowing work from home and stronger communication of values.
Business New Daily suggests this is more of a matter of job exploration, in the millennial mind, rather than job hopping.
While millennials are with your company, have their direct managers sit down and set goals with them (I recommend doing this for all your employees, millennial or otherwise). Aggressively help them to reach these goals, through coaching, encouragement, and regular training, both in one-on-one and group settings. If your managers aren't willing to do this, worried that their job, clout and position could be threatened by this, find someone to replace them, because they will cost you more in the long run than not doing this, not only in money, but in reputation as an employer that doesn't care about the needs of their people.
Also, consider streamlining both your hiring and training processes, if at all possible. This will not only reduce costs, but will bring down your frustration when that perfect millennial decides to move on after a year or less. If they do leave you sooner than you would have preferred, don't take it personally. Do you best to maintain a strong relationship, and tap their network of friends and professional peers to find your next candidate.
3. Millennial have entrepreneurial vision and the skills to back it up. Clayton Christensen teaches in his book The Innovator's Dilemma that if a company doesn't create a separate department to deal with a shift in the market, that company will go under, often rather quickly. A prime example of this is MCI/WorldComm, a formerly well-known long distance communications company. MCI/WorldComm failed to create a mobile department, and eventually went bankrupt, ultimately to have all their assets bought by Verizon, the well-known mobile giant.
When you see a disruption coming, the best thing you can do is put a millennial at the head of the development of the new department, preferably one who has worked for a company that has gone under. They will push back, ask why, stay current on business news and market trends, and do it with the mindset of expansion to their own generation. This is exactly what you want in the creation and expansion, and maintenance of your company because it will ensure that when changes in the market are coming, your team will be aware and ready to compensate.
I've started my company using Facebook and iPads. Everyone who we initially approached as we were starting up said, "Hey, that's pretty cool." Millennials are the quickest group to snatch up the latest technology and trends. Even more importantly, the generation behind them, known as "Tweeners" or GenZ, knows nothing but technology, and will expect businesses selling them to understand this.
For me personally, I've seen job security not in corporate America, but in running my own show. Yes, I've tried and failed at a number of ventures, and I still worry from day to day if this current company will stay successful, but I know I can always find a new client. Finding and keeping a corporate job, however, is finicky, at best, these days, so having my own business makes sense to creating stability and finding true fulfillment in my own work. I'm passionate about what I do, because I created it.
Give millennials on your team the opportunity to create, lead, fail, grow, and learn by doing. You'll be astounded at what we can accomplish in a short period of time, and by the solid, measurable results that you'll see us produce.
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