With the end of the academic year looming, many graduates find themselves moving back in with their parents whilst searching for their first ‘proper’ job.
New research from Cohesion shows that when looking for a role to kick start their career, graduates are turning to their parents for advice and guidance, including which job offers to accept. We surveyed the parents of graduates we had placed in roles over the last year and found that almost half (49%) of respondents had advised their child on whether to accept or decline a job offer.
Naturally, this strong parental influence, has a significant impact on recruiters and employers. It’s important to recognise what our new grads, and their parents are looking for within a role – and which benefits to highlight during the recruitment process. So, here are our tips to recruiting today’s millennials;
1. Set-up a ‘parents portal’: embrace the relationship between today’s parents and their millennials. More companies are including ‘parent pages’ as part of their ‘careers portal section’ on their website, where company information is tailored.
2. Make the package clear: it’s important to make it clear at the outset what the job role & package entails such as; terms of salary, benefits, scheme length, progression and future career opportunities, as well as information on the company culture and training benefits.
3. Gain ‘intelligence’: Gather individual feedback prior to making an offer. This could include understanding what the candidate thought of the company at interview stage, is the location right for them, do they believe that they would be supported with adequate training etc. This gives you beneficial intelligence before making an official offer.
4. Who is involved in the decision-making process: During the feedback stage, I would also highly recommend asking the candidate if they are likely to consult anyone else when making a ‘final decision’ – this way you are able to direct and gently remind graduates of the parent portal and other background information which could be relevant to them.
5. Key criteria: Our research revealed that that parents value and rate future progression opportunities, job satisfaction, company reputation/culture and work/life balance over salary. So, highlight these factors within the job spec.
