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New here? Employee Evolution is a blog written by Ryan Healy. Ryan is a Co-Founder of Brazen Careerist, the webs #1 social network for young professionals. Ryan speaks with organizations on best practices for recruiting and retaining Generation Y and how to effectively use social media to reach your target market. To contact Ryan, please visit our contact page.
Young people don’t vote. It’s been true for generations. Election after election, the winning candidates don’t pay much attention to young voters because when all is said and done, they don’t show up at the polls.
So why is Generation Y turning out to vote in both the Iowa Caucuses and the New Hampshire primary. And why are we overwhelmingly in support of Barack Obama?
If you were to ask Generations authors William Strauss and Neil Howe, they would tell you that because of our place in history, Millennials are next in line to follow in the footsteps of the GI or “The Greatest” generation, and become the next great civic-minded group that will quietly demand and create change for the better. Only time will tell if the ’08 election is where we will begin to leave our mark, but it sure seems like a great place to start.
Barack Obama’s campaign knows exactly how to target the Gen-Y audience. Interestingly enough, the same methods that Obama has used to recruit the Millennial vote can be used to recruit those ever-elusive Millennial employees to your company. It’s all about viral marketing; generating a powerful and entertaining message, spreading that message and properly connecting with your audience.
The Message
Barack Obama has the “it” factor. The “it” factor means that every time I see his speeches on YouTube or on the television, I feel like I’m watching history unfold. He delivers a powerful speech with a clear message, and you can’t take your eyes off of him.
Luckily for the Obama camp, the senator is blessed with an ability to captivate an audience. Your company probably doesn’t have a once-in-a-lifetime speaker or a team of speech writers working around the clock. But what you can do is craft the important message that you want to get across to potential employees and hire someone to help you create an appealing and entertaining video or presentation.
Admittedly, this isn’t cheap or easy. So, at the very least, take a cue from the Obama campaign and train your recruiters to be great speakers. There is nothing worse than a boring information session or an uninteresting recruiter at a career fair. Just like there is nothing worse than a presidential candidate who fails to connect with or engage their audience.
The Spread
After the Iowa win, my brother sent Senator Obama an email requesting an Employee Evolution interview (a huge shot in the dark, I know). He immediately received the following response:
Dan –
We just won Iowa, and I’m about to head down to talk to everyone.
Democrats turned out in record numbers tonight, and independents and even some Republicans joined our party to stand together for change.
Thank you for everything you’ve done to make this possible.
– Barack
This is a great email. It’s short, to the point and personalized to make it very casual. Now my brother is on a permission-based email list with millions of other supporters. He receives constant updates and links to both text-based and YouTube videos of Obama’s speeches.
People receive these emails and watch the entertaining speeches. Because the videos are so engaging they forward the email to friends, post links on their Facebook profiles, write about them on their blogs, and the next thing you know, Barack Obama’s Iowa speech is on YouTube’s most viewed page, being watched by millions of 18 to 25 year olds.
Your company’s message can do the same thing. Or it can completely backfire. Every single preinterview information request or post-interview thank you note must be answered with a personalized response from a recruiter. After that, you need to follow up with consistent updates or the occasional “just checking in” email. You never know which recruit is just waiting to write about their experience with your company on their 10,000 subscriber blog.
Connecting
The first thing Obama did at his huge rally last Saturday in New Hampshire was introduce each of his young volunteers. He also sent these same people to campuses across the country to spread the message.
These were brilliant moves for a couple of reasons. The volunteers felt appreciated, and even more importantly, potential volunteers in South Carolina and Nevada and every other state were able to see that they would play an important role in the campaign. Secondly, young people connect with other young people. If a peer recommends a great band, I go check out a couple of songs. And if a peer recommends a great presidential candidate, I go check out his message. Of course, I make my own decision, but getting there is half the battle.
So put your company’s young people on the front lines. Send your youngest employees to college campuses, ask your entry-level workers to write a weekly post on a corporate blog and pair up Millennials with your potential recruits. For the same reasons that nobody under 25 wants to hear the same boring political jargon from a candidate who is clearly behind the times, nobody under 25 wants to hear about your company’s profits and losses or the huge contract you just landed. They want to hear about what they will do on a day-to-day basis as an entry-level employee at your company and they want to know how their contribution will help the company move forward.
Leave your thoughts here. (13 responses)
- 1 Pingback on Jan 24th, 2008 at 3:58 pm
- 2 Pingback on Feb 7th, 2008 at 9:56 pm
I think the way Obama is campaigning is genuis! As a millennial myself I know that most viral ways of connecting to my generation is by far the most efficient route. The ideas you mentioned for employers would be incredibly beneficial to your company. As a matter of fact I’m working with Cambria Suites who has taken this exact concept to the next level. If you check out the site www.roomforyourimagination.com you can see some hilarious videos featuring their hotels. I especially enjoy Room 224, you should defintley check it out and see what they’ve done for yourself.
Obama definitely seems to get it - or at least someone in his campaign does. The way he signals his generational and ideological solidarity with new voters is pretty sophisticated, and he actually seems comfortable with new modes of communicating and organizing, rather than simply using them in an opportunistic way. I have a post with my own take on Obama’s generational appeal, and how he has been able to differentiate from Hillary Clinton despite substantive agreement in most policy areas.
Young voter turn out has been a constant disappointment for years. As millennials, we are more apt to change than generations before us. Maybe we’ll surprise everyone and vote more this year. Many generations want change… but it’s up to us to execute!
I am going to have to disagree with you on this one Ryan. Generation Y does not want to hold Obama up as a role model. He embodies every negative stereotype Gen Xers and Boomers like to throw at Generation Y. Here are a few examples:
1. He has very little experience (a single term Senator) but expects the country to give him a leadership role.
2. He has a serious entitlement attitude, specifically about entitlements like universal healthcare, social security, etc.
3. He pushes constantly for “change” without regard for practices within this country that work great without meddling (lower taxes, a better business environment).
Brandon - While I am an Obama supporter, this post is really not about him being a role model or anyone agreeing with his stance. It’s about how he has used new media and new technology to his advantage to attract the Gen-Y vote.
To your other points, don’t construe negative stereotypes given to us by the media as the ultimate truth. In a different light, each one can be looked at as a positive.
1. He expects to be taken seriously despite his age. A very reasonable expectation. Why is it a positive for the leader of the free world to be 60+ years old, but employees are supposed to retire at 65, and companies won’t hire a CEO that age because they are considered “past their prime.”
2. He expects everyone to have a fair chance at health care despite their class/race/income etc. Gen-Y expects to have a job that’s fulfilling and at least mildly interesting. Neither are asking for anything extraordinary, and neither sound entitled to me.
3. Change happens. The world/country/corporate America must adapt to the realities they face today, not yesterday.
I always love a good political discussion! Thanks for the comment.
Jenny - agreed, viral is the only way a message can effectively spread. The problem is that its not an easily identifiable marketing tool, but if you can figure it out it works wonders.
Rob - Thanks for the tip on your post. You’re right, he does seem to just get it.
Jenson - I hope you’re right. There is no reason we shouldn’t vote, we have the numbers and ability to make any change happen that we want.
Ryan- I definitely agree that Obama has done a great job of utilizing New Media methods and technology to attract the Gen Y vote. However, my point was, to what end? The method may be flashy and well polished but if the end goal is the same old big government nanny state (Obama supports more entitlements, universal healthcare and higher taxes) we have a prime example of what Gen X and the Boomers fear (I would argue wrongly) about us. They think we use new media and technology well but don’t know the basics and expect to lead with little experience. Here are my responses to each point:
“1. He expects to be taken seriously despite his age. A very reasonable expectation. Why is it a positive for the leader of the free world to be 60+ years old, but employees are supposed to retire at 65, and companies won’t hire a CEO that age because they are considered “past their prime.””
I see where you are coming from, and I would agree with you whole heartedly if it was just about age but, I never mentioned age. I mentioned experience, something Obama has little of as a one term senator. If he had experience as a governor, CEO of a big company or had more than a single term in the Senate, I could see voting from him. This isn’t about age, it’s about experience and he doesn’t have it.
“2. He expects everyone to have a fair chance at health care despite their class/race/income etc. Gen-Y expects to have a job that’s fulfilling and at least mildly interesting. Neither are asking for anything extraordinary, and neither sound entitled to me.”
I agree, a job that is interesting and engaging is not something extraordinary, nor is it an entitlement. Expecting someone else to pay for your healthcare and retirement is. Obama wants to raise taxes to pay for huge entitlement programs like socialized healthcare and the failing Social Security system. A fair chance at a good job means keeping the taxes low so you can start your own company (Like Brazen Careerist, Inc) and pay for your own healthcare and social security.
“3. Change happens. The world/country/corporate America must adapt to the realities they face today, not yesterday.”
Yes, I am right there with you on driving change. I work hard to drive change everyday where I work but, we need to make sure it is positive change. We cannot pursue change just for the sake of changing something, we need to prove that the new system is better than the old. Politicians have used the change argument since the beginning of democracy, it only works when you can prove your change will be positive.
I am not too big on politics in the workplace (or on a business blog) but it definitely has it’s place, see this post newlycorporate.com/2007/11/11/politics-at-work/ . I appreciate your willingness to exchange ideas and look forward to more discussions in the future.
Obama is not a good candidate for the President of the United States for some of the reasons Brandon has mentioned and many more. But that is precisely why I think Ryan hit the nail on the head in his article. You have to get out an market your company because perception is reality. In this information age, companies can’t just take for granted that because they have fortune 500 status, that they can continue the status quo in recruiting young talent. I am an Xer, but I have been arguing for his “Obama” style recruiting for years at our company. HR and the recruiting departments of most companies just don’t get it. Some are even using technology to their detriment by implementing complicated, impersonal, and user-unfriendly web portals for job job searches, completely removing the human interaction factor out of the recruiting equation.
Companies that succeed in the future better go back to the basics (which is what Obama is doing), using a powerful message with a personal touch.
Um… I think that young people are turning out to vote in Iowa and New Hampshire because it’s easy to vote in these primary elections. Check out this new story:
Easy to qualify to vote in Iowa’s caucuses
Relatively low bar for would-be voters in the crucial Jan. 3 caucuses
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21989223/
Older people have more experience with planning ahead, while younger people are more impulsive. Yes this is a generalization, but it’s true when dealing with large populations. I think this is why young votes usually dissipate at election time.
Voting in real elections requires a lot of planning. First, you have to register; MONTHS in advance. Then you have to determine where your polling place is out of the dozens of local schools, rec centers and government offices. Then you have to get there before it closes, which is usually early evening. Then you have to wait in line a long time (I’ve never waited less than an hour).
When we see the ability to cast your vote at any local supermarket, at any hour, for about a week prior to the final election, is when we’ll see the young voters start to make a difference.
I’ve just watched and listened (on youtube) to Barack Obama’s victory speech after winning at Iowa. I love watching politicians speak - you can learn so much.
Here are my favourite 3 quotes, which I have related to the workforce:
* “… come together around a common purpose” - all generations of workers have to work together to reach the project/company goals
* “Our time for change has come” - there’s a new way of doing things. Gen Y will generate ideas and work with other generations to bring it about
* “We are not a collection of red states and blue states. We are the united states of America” - people/generations are not that different. We’re all part of the same project, department, company etc. so we should learn to understand each other and aim to work together.
Here are my favourite 3 qualities that Obama (and every Gen Y) shows:
* Gratitude - thank others for their time/effort and show it through your actions
* Supporting others and accepting support - you can’t do it all yourself
* Meaning Purpose - reason/motivation to do something
On a non-political note, I believe that this is a very well written piece drawing the correlation possible between Obama’s ‘recruitment’ for voting and that which companies could use for their recruiting needs.
I feel compelled to include that while I agree with Brandon to an extent, I am a firm believer that one does not need to be a member of the good old boys club to succeed. I am not endorsing any candidates here, but I believe experience isn’t the most important quality to a good leader. Many young professionals who, in their older coworkers minds, lack experience and haven’t ‘paid their dues’ lead their respective companies to experience great profits and growth because they provide a new ideas and opinions, and tend to be better at uniting groups who previously may have not worked well together.
Just something to consider.
It’s a big deal that Obama is young and that a great percentage of the population is now Gen-Y. The issue I see is that he is still of the minority (race and age wise), which can both help and hurt him.