" alt="">03.03.2016
Is it (Generation) Me you’re looking for?
If you want to recruit the best people for your business in the future, it’s critical that you have a great company culture.
Research by CV-Library, the UK’s largest independent job website, suggests that people looking for new opportunities are becoming far more selective and applying to fewer roles.
If you’re a job seeker at the top of your game this is great news. You’re now in even more demand and can potentially be pickier than ever when choosing your next move. From an employer’s point of view a reduction in online advertising response rates presents a significant problem.
Many UK industries already suffer from skills shortages and find it difficult to attract talent. The challenge for organisations is to come up with a plan that flips the balance back in their favour, helping to attract the kind of people who will support ongoing growth aspirations.
The simple answer is to work with a good recruitment partner, but even that won’t stop the best people having a myriad of options available when they decide to move. In truth, the answer lies in being able to make your company the destination of choice and that comes from having a strong corporate culture that matches the motivations of those you wish to recruit.
Recently I saw an interview with Richard Reed, co-founder of Innocent Drinks. Throughout the conversation Innocent was praised for its amazing company culture; something the original founders and current owners, Coca-Cola, believe is at the heart of their success.
When asked about how they’d been able to create and maintain this in such a fast growing business, Richard said: “You don’t create a culture, it’s the people you recruit that make it … my personal belief is the single most important business decision one ever makes is who you get to come join your business.”
Of course I whole-heartedly agree, but as well as highlighting the need to take recruitment seriously, this shows how a global success story focussed from the beginning on exactly what they wanted from their employees and what their employees wanted from them.
Today’s workplace is diverse and complicated. For the first time you could be employing three generations of people, all motivated by very different beliefs. It’s therefore up to business leaders to ensure they understand these distinct groups, the value each brings and how they influence the working environment.
For the last two decades, Baby Boomers have been at the core of many successful organisations. Born within twenty years of World War II, they’ve been brought up valuing employment, meaning they’re often fiercely loyal and faithful to their employer.
As this generation retires, the natural choice is to focus on Generation X. With a strong work ethic and willingness to change job for a better salary, it could be argued as the safer option, but if you have a long-term vision to innovate and grow your business, perhaps it’s the Millennials, or Generation Me, that provides you with the best opportunities.
Born in the 80s and 90s, Millennials represent the next three decades of employment. Energetic and enthusiastic, they’ve grown up in an ever changing technological world, meaning they can communicate in different ways and have the tools at their fingertips to make things happen fast.
With business leaders and entrepreneurs as role models, they bring a more risk-friendly outlook, which alongside a strong sense of community, empowers them to want to make a genuine difference.
They care less about money than previous generations, instead seeing this as part of a range of important factors; including an inspirational place to work, personal growth and development, trust, flexible working, defined company mission and values and the opportunity to do good through their employment.
Of course people are all individuals and need to be judged on their own merits, but if you want highly educated employees with the ability to generate new ideas in return for feeling part of a great company, then maybe Generation Me is what you’re looking for.
