Much is being made about the fact that there are more millennials in the workforce than any other somewhat arbitrarily arranged group of people. That sounds pretty crazy until you look at who qualifies as a millennial (anyone born after 1980). That’s a pretty sizeable population. While it’s fun, lot’s of fun, to generalize about the habits of millennials, do these generalizations hold true? Well, polls continue to suggest they do. Keep these tips in mind for handling the millennial.

Think Beyond the Resume

Millennials are probably the most self-taught generation. They’ve taught themselves how to code, how to use different platforms and software, etc. So you might not see the certifications and degrees you want to see, but when it comes to skills it’s possible they have them.

Job Hopping

Millennials might not have a track record for long tenures, but consider the economic conditions that have created this. An enormous recession bookended by years of stagnant wages. This has forced millennials to tread through murky economic conditions and be more agile. The job hopping doesn’t necessarily mean lack of loyalty or attention span. It could simply mean they’re survivors, and they’ve had to forge their own path.

Work that Has Meaning

It’s not that a paycheck is unimportant; it’s that it’s not everything. Millennials understand the need to be part of the workforce but will work to carve out a meaningful place. This shouldn’t be mistaken for naivete. They want to be part of the system and they want the system to get better. When you want to incentivize millennials think about pointing out the meaningfulness of the work.

Advice for hiring millennials could be simply thought of as the evolving best practices of providing the right incentives to attract the new wave of talent. If you want your company to keep up with this (you should) then it’s OK to have a chuckle at the term millennial and the obsession our society seems to have with this group. Just don’t wave it off. Pay attention to the trends and be mindful of how your company is reacting to them.

About NextGen

NextGen is the brainchild of longtime telecom professionals with nearly 50 years of experience and millions of dollars in Telecom Recruiting Services. We focus on establishing long term relationships with our clients and candidates so we can recruit the best and the brightest in the telecom industry. This ‘quality over quantity’ approach is at the heart of everything we do and has resulted in successful job placements at Fortune 1000 firms worldwide.