Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to present to a group of recruiting leaders who were gathered in Chicago for the Realty Alliance conference. Several of the attendees oversee very high-performing recruiting organizations, so there was much to share and learn.
One of the topics we addressed was the recruitment and retention of agents from the “millennial” age group. This group is generally considered those in the workforce who are currently 18 to 32 years old.
We are starting to hear more chatter on this topic as real estate companies strive to hire agents who, from an age perspective, are more reflective of the population at large. I recently read that by 2014, millennials will account for 36% of the American workforce and will make up 75% of the global workplace in 2025.
So, what is the secret to hiring agents in this age group?
It’s not as complicated as some human resources pundits would have you believe. For example, I recently read an article in the Washington Post outlining the “ten things millennials want from the workplace.” Here are my five favorites from the list:
1. Not money (ie. It’s not about the money)
2. Goofy perks (like scooters to get around the halls of the office)
3. A focus on social responsibility (apparently, older generations do not care about social causes…)
4. A focus on social justice and community service (not sure how these are different from social responsibility)
5. A “pass” on doing stupid things in their personal life (and then posting it on Facebook).
Maybe the authors just surveyed the Occupy WallStreet crowd
to get the data for their article, but it seems surreal to me. We have millennials working for our company,
I have two kids who are millennials, Dave has three kids who are millennials,
and none of them focus on these issues.
I believe it’s safe to assume that if you tried to implement such advice, you’d quickly twist your organization into a pretzel of dysfunction. Unfortunately, greater than 90% of the articles I’ve read on millennial hiring over the last couple of years attempt to highlight the surface (and often silly) differences between younger and older generations.
Here’s a better idea. Why not focus on what we know to be true about all human beings and draw out the similarities between generations? Also, it is better to focus on core issues that drive human behavior and engagement.
A good place to start on collecting this information would
be the Gallup Organization’s classic Q12 research. Gallup has been working on measuring employee
engagement in organizations for more than 30 years. While they did not specifically focus on
generational differences in this study, there is a surprising similarity among
outcomes across age groups during this 30-year period. You can download a meta-analysis of this
research if you care to read more.
Some media outlets are finally starting to pick up on these similarities that connect back to more reliable research. For example, FoxBusiness recently published an article citing a recent “What Millennials Want From Their Employers” survey. This survey found that millennials want:
1. To do meaningful work and be part of companies doing meaningful work.
2. A career that has a believable and viable future.
3. A mentor—someone to show them how to be productive and do their best work.
4. Community—they want some of their coworkers to also be their friends.
Do these ideas resonate with what you want from your work environment? I bet they do. Why? Because they are among the basic things most humans want from their work.
As you might suspect, all four of these themes are strongly demonstrated in Gallup’s Q12 research, which was originally collected from mostly baby-boomers and some generation X data sets.
The most important workplace engagement themes ring true across generations.
Focus on these similarities, and you’ll be much further ahead. Ignore the articles that highlight superficial generational differences. They may be fun to read, but they won’t help you hire more successfully or coach more effectively.
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Editor's Note: This article was written by Ben Hess. Ben is the Founding Partner and Managing Director of Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle.
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