Millennials are fast entering the workplace and working their way up the corporate ladder. Securing the best millennial talent now will pay dividends as they grow in your organisation.
Millennials grew up with digital disruption – technology has been a part of their lives since birth. How do you use technology to seem attractive and onboard millennials?
There is one trick you need to keep in mind when onboarding millennials:
Onboarding millennials is the same as onboarding candidates from any age group.
There is one difference with millennials than older generations: Millennials know what technology is capable of. Millennials are less accepting of outdated practices that could be improved.
Millennials aren’t the only ones who want a fluid onboarding process facilitated by technology. Everyone wants a smooth onboarding process facilitated by technology.
Here are some ways to make your onboarding process better for everyone- and spare you from millennial-eyerolls:
Cut out all the red tape from your onboarding process
How many steps of approval does an offer take before it’s sent to the candidate? Are employees treated like adults without managers needing to approve every step?
A fast moving onboarding process resonates with all candidates. Millennials aren’t the only ones who enjoy receiving an offer shortly after hearing of their acceptance.
Get your job offer to millennial candidates fast. Chances are, they applied for six other jobs on LinkedIn the same day as yours. Be first off the line with your offer and beat the competition.
Keep the onboarding process consistent
Do you email forms to a candidate, have them print them out and mail them back to you, just so you can enter them back into the computer?
You know this process is broken and full of holes. Millennials know this process is broken and full of holes too.
Look at ways to keep your onboarding process digital and data entry free. Printing forms is an inconvenience, paperwork gets lost, and re-entering data is redundant.
Everyone knows this type of onboarding process is a waste of time. Millennials are willing to admit it. Millennials will see the holes in your process and are happy to point them out. They know technology exists that can fix the problems you have with onboarding, and will wonder why you haven’t fixed them already.
Use the latest onboarding practices
Using paper, getting bogged down in layers of approval, and waiting for forms to be sent in the mail are outdated practices.
If your onboarding process is second best, your new hires will know about it. The question about your onboarding process will be, ‘what are you doing about it?’
Everyone will think this, but it is millennials that will be willing to say it. They’re less willing to take excuses when better options are available.
Everyone will see this settling behaviour as indicative of company culture. Millennials, being less willing to accept second best, will see this as a red flag against your organisation.
How to onboard millennials? Update the processes you know are broken
There is no magic bullet. There is no need to guide or coddle a millennial new hire any more than older candidates.
Updating your onboarding process will appeal to more than millennials- it will appeal to all new employees. The latest processes, technology, and candidate experiences will improve the onboarding experience for all new employees.
Consider millennials as the new hires that will hold you accountable to best practice hiring. Their feedback will help you improve your onboarding process for all generations.
You can get the jump on millennials with their snarky feedback and eyerolls, by checking out the benefits of electronic onboarding. You know their first response will be, “like, isn’t there an app for this by now?” anyway.