4 Mistakes made by HR leaders while hiring and managing Millennials

A 2016 Gallup poll found that 21% of Millennials changed jobs within the past year, which is more than three times that number for non-Millennials. Most of the Millennials are jumping jobs every 2 years and many of them are simply joining force with the rising Gig Economy. Companies that learn to embrace change will be the ones who win in the talent capitalisation game.

Before we go on to find solutions to hire and work with Millennials, one must understand that unlike past generations, Millennials are not necessarily looking for stability in life. They are perfectly fine with renting an apartment, some even rent their furnitures and most of them are even fine with replacing the idea of buying cars for Uber rides.

The top 10% of the Millennials are the biggest risk takers. The Idea of accepting failure has been carved into their minds, by the success stories of companies like Facebook, Tesla and Apple.

With more Millennials entering the workplace and job-hopping every couple of years, companies should learn to hire and manage them effectively. While I acknowledge that there cannot be a formula to identify and hire the top 10% of Millennials, in this article I have listed down the top 4 mistakes made by many HR leaders while hiring Millennials.

1) Failure to set the right expectations

Most of the Millennials are hired without their strengths and weaknesses being examined properly. Most of the HR Managers do a good job in explaining the candidate what is expected out of them in the job but, they fail to explain the potential growth for the candidate in their company.

Many a times this leaves the young workforce with over-optimistic expectations about how quickly they’ll be able to climb the corporate ladder. All of them want to be the Directors of the company they join, Immediately.

HR Leaders need to make it clear that unrealistic career advancement isn’t possibleon the millennial’s idealized schedule, but that if they make a commitment to their current position (a little shorter than the previous norm in your company), they may be rewarded with additional opportunities that they can depend on.

2) Flexible Work Ethics

Millennials are looking for flexibility and autonomy when pursuing job opportunities. They like to feel like they have control over their own schedules, rather than fitting into traditional 9–5 norms.

Work from Home / Work from Anywhere culture is growing rapidly. The Aspirational millennial may prefer to work out remotely, out of a Starbucks sipping some good coffee and the management should start being open minded about it.

A different work ethic doesn’t mean a bad work ethic, HR Leaders should learn to be open minded about it.

3) Adopting wrong assessment practices

Many a times Millennials are not thoroughly examined before they are given a job offer. Most of them are given a take-home assessment which they can take up from the comfort of their home. Though some assessment platforms claim to proctor the candidates, job applicants try to work their way around to cheat the test.

Here is one such example of when a candidate cheated a test given through an assessment platform => https://thehftguy.com/2016/07/13/cracking-the-hackerrank-test-google-to-the-rescue/

HR Leaders need to think strategically and ensure that they invest in the right platforms to assess the candidates.

4) Failing to put them on a mission

With Gen Y, it’s not acceptable to simply demand they do a task as they’re instructed by the management.

Millennials want to understand their career paths, the reason they are being asked to do a certain task, and how it contributes to the vision of the company.

For instance, if you hire an employee to do testing of your product, it is important to explain the importance of the task and how it will help your customers get a seamless experience. These explanations are not only needed for tasks, but also for any changes or restructuring decisions that you make for the betterment of your organisation.

What do you think should change while hiring and managing Millennials?