3 New Marketing Rules for Recruiting Millennials

Published by Ryan Healy on February 1st, 2008 in Recruiting | 9 Comments

The rules have changed. No longer can companies relax and rely on their name brand to attract and retain top young talent. Gen-Y workers want engaging work and a relaxed environment. And we want to be treated like we are (dare I say it?) special.

Seth Godin's Meatball Sundae contains 14 marketing trends that no marketing professional can afford to miss. More importantly, it claims that the rules for marketing have changed drastically. Godin describes the difference between old marketing, disrupting an audience with a product they aren't looking for, and new marketing, bringing a product to the exact community or niche that is looking for it.

But here's the best part: the new rules for marketers capture perfectly the new rules for recruiting and retaining Gen-Y. Employers can't afford to ignore these new rules if they want to recruit and retain top employees.

Here are how the first three trends from the book relate to recruiting.

Direct communication and commerce between producers and consumers

The recruiter's company is the producer. Your potential employees are the consumers. Your potential employees want to know when they will hear from you after the interview, and they expect you to meet that deadline. I can't tell you how many people I talk to who interviewed for a job where they were supposed to hear back within three days. Often, weeks later they still haven't heard back. And it's not just the ones who were turned down; many of these people end up receiving an offer a week or two later than promised.

This is unacceptable. If your company can not hold itself accountable to your potential superstar employees, your employees will see little reason to be accountable to the company, and they are less likely to take the job.

Set up a shared calendar that each interviewer will use to record the mandatory response deadline. Make sure one person is in charge of reminding each interviewer to respond to the candidate they interviewed.

Also, it's essential that the person who interviewed the recruit sends a follow-up email (this should be easy because any smart candidate will immediately send a thank you). This is direct commerce between you (the producer) and me (the consumer). If there are extenuating circumstances, it's fine to send an email explaining why you don't have an answer.

Amplification of the voice of the consumer and independent authorities

In Meatball Sundae, Godin tells the reader to do a Google search on "Dell Hell." Do this and you'll see Jeff Jarvis' name all over the place, and you'll quickly see the power a consumer can have on a brand. Well, guess what? There are quite a few potential employees that can have that same power.

You never know who, but some interviewee is bound to have a big-time blog or a few deep online connections. Therefore, your company needs to treat every single employee and recruit with an extremely high level of respect. It doesn't matter if they're a VP or an intern, everyone should be treated with equal respect.

And you must make sure to answer every email. Make sure someone is in charge of personally replying to every inquiry from a potential recruit or disgruntled employee. It's basic customer service, but it's also marketing and brand management. And we all know how important that is.

If you do happen to piss off the wrong "independent authority," take a hint from Dell and own up to your mistake in a public forum. Go straight to the source. Join the blog conversation. Apologize for whatever you did, and don't make excuses.

Need for an authentic story as the number of sources increases

You cannot tell a recruit that they will be on the fast track to making partner after two years if 99 percent of employees never make it!

One of those people who didn't make it is bound to know someone who knows someone who told your recruit (on their blog) that the company works you to the bone for two years. And the only way to make partner is to give up your personal life for those years.

After you make your story authentic, you need to actually tell some stories! Stories are sticky, while job responsibilities, salaries, and bonuses are not. Tell your recruits a few first-hand accounts of what people have done and where they have gone since joining the firm.

If it's true that a new employee gives up two years of a social life to get on the track to partner, tell a story about how someone did it, and why it's worth it. Some people actually want that type of job. Besides, you should only want to hire someone who knows exactly what they're getting into.

These are the first three trends that no marketer (and no employer) can afford to ignore in today's work environment. Stay tuned for the next 11 trends in the coming weeks.