Hiring Gen Y

Kate Rose is an MSU grad who enjoys her job at Google in Ann Arbor

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Kate Rose is 25, and has a degree in Communications from Michigan State University. By her standards, she has a great job. For example, some days her friends will call her at nine in the morning and they’re shocked that she’s not at work.

“Like, ‘Kate, don’t you have to get to work?’ It might be 10 o’clock. Well, I could work 10:00 to 7:00 today if I wanted to,” Rose said.

That’s because Rose works for Google in Ann Arbor. She says at the end of the day at Google, it’s much more about content than the number of hours you’ve worked.

“The reason I’m able to work for a corporation is that Google provides an environment that is flexible, allows me to kind of work the hours that I want to, in the projects that I’m interested in. Maybe more importantly, I’ve got ownership of the projects that I’m involved in,” said Rose.

Google is just one example of a company that’s making a successful effort to attract Generation Y.

Leah Reynolds is a private consultant in Michigan who works directly with employers who want to get it right with Generation Y. She says most organizations in Michigan aren’t effectively targeting recent graduates. She says Gen Y is different from past generations. Y’ers want meaningful jobs and they want to know that their companies are trying to make a difference.

“They want to have a line of sight to, ‘How is what I’m doing, you know, applying to the overall outcome that we’re trying to achieve?’ — and be a part of the strategic aspects of what is being decided,” Reynolds said.

Basically, Gen Y’ers want to be in on the action. They don’t want to be stuck behind a filing cabinet, and they definitely don’t want to have to work their way up the traditional corporate ladder. For baby boomers, spending five or ten years in the lower rungs of an organization wasn’t the end of the world.

But Reynolds says Gen Y’ers don’t want to wait to make an impact. If an organization can’t keep up with them, and they feel like they’re in that cartoon, Dilbert, they’ll leave.

This means in order to attract Generation Y, Reynolds says employers will have to create a completely new kind of work culture.

“One that is more open to new ideas and — wherever those ideas come from. So we’re rethinking, you know, how old the person is or how much experience they have in terms of having a voice,” Reynolds said.

Okay, so making an effort to include young people in management decisions and create a more flexible work environment is a great start. But now how to get the word out to Generation Y.

Back at Google, Rose says the most effective way to do this is to go directly to campuses and recruit.

“Many of us, this is our first real jobs out of college, and we were introduced to the idea that we could work here through these college recruiting events.”

Once a company gets on campus, our Gen Y expert Leah Reynolds says they need a game plan.

“You want to make sure they’re aware of your brand, aware of what you can offer them. You want to demonstrate that you’re serious about hiring their age group. And the best spokespeople you’re going to have are the Gen Y’ers who are already working for you.”

Reynolds says the last, most important thing employers can do is create an online presence and use social media to connect with the Gen Y age group. That means a lot of tweeting, posting, and poking. And if you don’t know how to do that — well, you’ve just created the perfect job description for your first Gen Y hire.

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