Our strength is our diversity. This is true both in the workplace and in our larger community. Recruiting for age diversity in the workplace can be a challenging task for many recruiters. However, the source of these problems is not a scarcity of talent among the various age groups. Rather, a lack of awareness of each generation's distinct recruiting needs is frequently to blame. But, exactly, what can recruiters do to keep a robust, age-diverse workforce?
Why does recruiting from a multi-generational talents pool matter?
If you are a recruiter, you might be asking why establishing a multi-generational workforce is so important. It is challenging enough to recruit suitable staff without adding the issue of age.
However, the truth is that diversity, in whatever form, provides huge benefits to your business. This includes a wide range of ages. Each generation brings its own set of talents and flaws to the table. And if you exclusively hire people from one or two age groups, you will inadvertently introduce flaws into your team.
When your talent pool is depleted, you will invariably place employees in positions for which they are not well-suited. Under-performance and, in many circumstances, other personnel difficulties, such as high employee turnover, will result. This is because no employee can be expected to stay long in a work where they are struggling, or in a job that does not fit their specific talents.
Recruiting from a varied talent pool, on the other hand, alleviates such concerns because you will be able to tap into each generation's strengths.
Understanding the generational differences:
It is hardly unexpected to see five generations represented in the modern workplace, with Millennials topping the list at 35%. However, just because they all work for the same company does not mean they were all hired, trained, or retained in the same way, and the astute HR boss understands this.
Indeed, a closer examination of the various generations now employed reveals major disparities that can have a significant impact on talent acquisition.
The most significant of these distinctions is the gap in expectations and habits among generations when it comes to interacting with potential employers. Baby Boomers and Gen Xers favor the most efficient modes of communication, such as phone conversations and face-to-face meetings, while newer generations prefer digital and mobile interactions due to their status as digital natives.
Older generations, such as the Baby Boomer generation, are more aligned with the traditionalist demographic, preferring to look for work through more tried and tested techniques like classified advertisements, employment agencies, and recommendations.
Younger generations, such as Millennials and Generation Z typically demand higher levels of participation from potential employers. These digital natives want to connect via technology, everything from online job boards to employer websites to social media and text messaging. Indeed, the latter two channels are the best for attracting younger candidates.
Misunderstanding is where all this communication between generations may go wrong. There can be considerable differences across generations in terms of how people communicate. Things like intention, for example, can be lost in translation from one generation to the next, which is uncomfortable with the technology's informality.
Addressing age-bias:
Learning to recognize and correct age prejudice in one's own recruiting techniques is another crucial part of effective recruiting from a multi generational labor pool. This is not always straightforward because unconscious prejudices typically play a role.
Few of us want to believe that we are prejudiced. Even if the prejudice is unintentional, the consequences of our recruiting procedures may result in de facto age discrimination, resulting in a generationally homogeneous workforce.
For example, if you are not actively searching out older workers through the channels in which they are most likely to interact, your job search will bias toward a younger pool of candidates by default.
Therefore, meeting your multi-generational job searchers where they are is critical. Use a more thorough approach, such as one that expressly targets Gen Z and Baby Boomers and older, instead of relying mostly or completely on internet forums for your candidate search.
Understanding generational expectations:
Recruiting effectively from different generations requires an understanding of the employment expectations; those employees of various ages are likely to have.
Younger workers, for example, have far higher expectations of their employers, especially in terms of social and emotional demands. Millennials and Generation Z are more inclined to demand that their company build a socially responsible brand and to expect that their employment aligns with their ideological viewpoints and moral values in some way.
Furthermore, younger employees frequently expect to have deep emotional bonds with their bosses. This frequently involves the expectation that firms will assist employees in improving their mental health and achieving a healthy work-life balance.
Older workers see their connection with their bosses as more formal, professional, and transactional. Considerations like social justice and corporate responsibility, employees' social/emotional needs, and work/life balance issues may be of minimal importance to these workers.
And, because different generations will have different notions about what people need, desire, and expect from an employer, if you want to develop age diversity, you will need to modify your recruiting techniques to accommodate those differences.
While social responsibility may be a key issue when recruiting Millennials and Generation Z prospects, more formal content, such as salary and benefits packages, should be the focus when reaching out to Baby Boomers and older applicants.
The takeaway:
Your organization's age diversity will be a fantastic source of strength. Recruiting from a multigenerational talent pool, however, is not always simple. It necessitates knowledge, strategy, and work. This should entail recognizing and addressing the communication habits, expectations, and needs of each generation. With this information, you will be able to meet your prospective applicants where they are, addressing their interests and requirements in the most engaging way possible. As a result, you will be able to fully utilize each generation's greatest and brightest abilities in your workforce!
Contact us when you want to hire the best from multi-generational pool.