Are You Prepared To Recruit The “Next” Generation?



- Do you remember when the only body part that was pierced was women’s ears?



- How do you develop, maintain or use a “blog” and can you tweet with the best of them?



- Did you participate in Vietnam War protests, or learn about them on the History Channel?



- A candidate says, “Working here would be really fly”; is that good or bad?



- Did you buy your first new car for under $20,000.00?



- What is your tolerance for tats and bling; including grills? In other words, how much ink will you tolerate?



- Where will you find Nine Inch Nails?



- Finish this statement: System of the...



- Would you allow your male employees to wear “longs” on casual Fridays?



- You saw an employee’s email describing a project ending in “just KMN!. What’s their intent?



How you answer these questions determines your readiness to be able to recruit the “Next” Generation. This concept is ever changing since the “Next Generation” is fluid. Previous focus was generation X, then Y with the Millenials and now the Linksters. The emerging workforce was born as recently as 1999, currently entering high school and obtaining summer jobs. The recent college graduate (Associate degree or 4 year) was born as recently as 1992.



Your experience (not including your own children) or exposure to this group will be a factor in your recruiting and hiring of the population. Educational and life experiences from middle to high school and then college influence behaviors, attitudes and work styles of each generation.



Where does it begin?


Start becoming active in the area schools (middle to high school). Find out about the student population, the school’s focus and target some of those “diamonds in the rough”. These are the ones that you can mentor and assist through graduation. All it takes is a handful to go through the job shadowing, part time employment and internship (at the college level) experience to full employment for you to develop a good system. You will be assisting your local schools, community and be able to “try before you buy” a future worker. Volunteer at High Schools that have Career Academies as these schools have a proven track record. Talk with teachers and principals to see how they could use your expertise and assistance.



Attend High School events and sit in the audience with the students. Watch and listen as they interact with each other. This could be a real eye opener!



Learn about and benefit from this future workforce before your baby boomers retire. Many Gen X and Gen Y employees have been getting restless, so are apt to make a move on their time line; not yours.



Keeping the pipeline full of potential sources for recruitment and affect your business’s financial success.