Did you hear? Millennials are taking over the world. Expected to make up 75% of the workforce by 2025, these workers are single-handedly changing the HR landscape. Their needs and preferences, especially when entering the workforce as recent college graduates, puts companies in a vulnerable position.
While most HR pros have their sights focused on how they recruit Millennials, it’s the new hire onboarding process that’s going to make an impact on retaining them.
It takes less than six months for 86% of new hires to decide whether or not to quit a new job. For recent college graduates, most of whom have had little to no work experience in a professional environment, have a unique set of needs and expectations as they jump into their chosen career path. This puts pressure on companies to take certain precautions as they onboard these newbie professionals.
Based on some of the biggest Millennial trends driving changes in HR, we’re here to give you three tips for successfully onboarding your recent college graduates.
Start cultivating leadership skills STAT
According to the 2016 Deloitte Millennial Survey, 63% of working Millennials feel their leadership skills are not being fully developed. Many companies might put off developing those skills until these fresh employees have proved themselves with the company, but, unfortunately, doing so means disloyal employees are ready to jump ship.
The same survey found 71% of working Millennials planning to leave their job in the next two years believe their leadership skills are not being fully developed.
How does this impact new hire onboarding? Recent college graduates have just made it through years of being the student, not the teacher. These Millennials find it hard to be loyal because their employers aren’t giving them their trust through early leadership development.
Get the attention of your new grads by taking an interest in their strengths from day one. Give them the chance to share their knowledge with members of the team on projects and make it a point to ask them questions so they feel empowered by their strengths. Hook them during the onboarding process.
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Embrace open and frequent communication
Students are usually (hopefully) encouraged to ask questions and seek out the help of their teacher to better understand what it is they are learning. They’re used to being entitled to that because, well, they should be. 80% of surveyed Millennials prefer real-time feedback over traditional performance reviews. These young workers want you their superior to communicate with them on their job performance more frequently. This is no more true than during the onboarding process when new employees are learning the ropes of their new role.
How does this impact new hire onboarding? Show these employees you’re committed to their development during new hire onboarding through open and frequent communication. Ask them questions that probe for their level of understanding with the current work and when issues arise, work with them to find the root cause.
Check out 5 Onboarding #Fails and How to Avoid Them
Assign them mentors
Recent college grads have just exited an atmosphere where they had the resources of their school and help of their peers to learn about their course material. Why wouldn’t they expect the same in their work environment? 88% of surveyed Millennials want a culture of collaboration rather than one of competition and 79% want a boss that serves as a mentor.
How does this impact onboarding? Not all companies have the time and resources for managers to mentor every new hire that walks through the door. What’s more is even if new hires have one mentor, that person could leave the company at any time. Approach this trend by assigning one or two point people for new hires to bond with and learn from during the onboarding process. Encourage your team to work together on projects and share their knowledge with each other. This will strengthen them as a team and will create a more collaborative atmosphere for other new hires that join you.
Read How to be Paperless and Compliant in Onboarding
As the workforce continues to fill with recent college graduates, how companies manage them during the onboarding process plays an integral part in developing and retaining them. It’s time to update the new hire onboarding process to reflect the needs of an increasingly Millennials workforce.
Let Click Boarding’s simple, online paperless onboarding system help get you one step closer to engaged, happy new hires! Try a free demo today.
