How to attract top talent across different age groups

The findings of our latest review show how the motivations and priorities of our candidates have shifted in light of the pandemic. What we found particularly interesting is how this varied across each age group. To help you understand the ever-important priorities of candidates, we’ve analysed and summarised the motivations of each age group in moving into a new role.

16-24 Year Old

According to our survey data, the youngest members of our workforce are looking for job security above all else in their next role, scoring it at 4.47/5. This isn’t surprising when almost a fifth cited redundancy as the reason for leaving their last role, while 74.8% reported they are most worried about finding a new job. As the demographic with the least amount of experience under their belts, understanding your candidates’ fears and allaying these concerns will help you represent them in the best way possible. Instead of focusing on the negatives, reiterate which of their soft/hard skills are most attractive and help them harness those strengths in their CV and/or interview skills.

This age group is also worried about the impact of the pandemic on their long-term career (with over 80% reporting they are very or quite concerned). Therefore, if your clients are looking to attract top graduates or those looking for their first or second job, they must have a solid progression path available for those roles and communicate them in the first instance (either through you or in the job description). Whether they have a graduate scheme in place or a mentorship program available, these types of initiatives will help encourage your candidates to apply.

25-34 Year Old

Many of the candidates in this age group are classified as millennials. As such, your clients may believe they need to invest in what has traditionally appealed to this demographic, like super-sized benefits packages or a cool work environment. While this may have been true pre-pandemic, our survey found that the main motivator for this age group was salary (scoring 4.59 out of five). Despite everything, salaries actually remained steady throughout 2020, so employers who can offer competitive salary packages will be at an advantage when attracting this group.

However, a significant number of these workers (29.5%) report they aren’t happy with their employers’ flexible working options, while a further 6.2% say they are very dissatisfied with their current role. These are the highest metrics for any age group we surveyed. Therefore, when presenting the package to potential candidates, ensure you don’t focus entirely on salary. Instead, look at the holistic picture – from benefits to flexible working options, company culture, to improved communication channels.

35-44 Year Old

As it’s likely that candidates in this age group may have families or other caring responsibilities, it’s not surprising that their main priority is a positive work-life balance (scoring 4.5 out of five). This is a departure from what initially attracted them to their current role: a good work environment. The change may be due to an increase in working remotely, knocking this priority from first to fourth place.

With 34% of respondents in this age bracket reporting they are looking to leave their current role in the next 12 months, you should stay in touch with your top candidates to ensure they come to you when they look to move. When they do, it’s likely they’ll be attracted to a role where they enjoy increased flexibility, the ability to work from home, and a team that respects boundaries between their personal and working life. Your clients should adapt their offering to suit, promote their flexible working policies and ensure they adapt their benefits to be tailored to each employee.

45-54 Year Old

Surprisingly, there are similarities in the priorities of this demographic and the youngest members of our workforce. This age group also values job security when looking for their next role (scoring it 4.38 out of five), which may be due to their fear of both redundancy and potential ageism when job-seeking. While these candidates are often experienced, employers should offer strong training and development opportunities to help attract this segment of the workforce. This will ensure workers feel valued and reassured about their long-term future at their new company.

This priority is closely followed by a desire for a competitive salary, which scored 4.32 out of five on our metric. However, if your clients aren’t in a position to offer more money, this group also valued a positive work-life balance, a benefit your clients can hopefully highlight when attracting this demographic.

55+

The oldest members of our workforce reported positive results in our survey – they are both the most satisfied in their roles (24% are very satisfied) and happiest with their flexible working options (79%).

While this is great news for those who currently employ workers in this age group, if your clients are looking to hire top senior talent, it may be difficult for them to attract new starters to their company. However, it is important to note that over half (52%) of this age group are most concerned about commuting once businesses return to the office. Therefore, your clients should focus on offering a competitive salary (their number one priority is a solid financial package, scoring 4.35 out of five) and remote working options when attracting this demographic.

We expect to see an uplift in hiring activity in 2021, it will mean that, as recruiters, we should be prepared to help our clients attract the most talented individuals available. While we hope this data will help guide conversations with your clients, your candidates’ motivations will depend on their circumstances, so always keep the lines of communication open and stay on top of your candidate care.

It’s a fact: Every organization wants the best talent in the market, but not every organization works towards it. Merely wanting to attract the best talent will not produce results; organisations must make themselves attractive for that to happen regularly. In this article, we’ll take a look at some tips that will help you attract and retain top talent.

1. Build Yourselves Up

No matter which field they work in, employees would want to be associated with the best in industry. If you are not there, you might risk losing on the best talent. So build yourself up, and project a powerful brand that prospects cannot ignore. In today’s age where internet and social media are highly prevalent, it does not take much for a prospect to find information about you, so ensure that your brand has value and recall.

2. Train Your Recruiters

With your recruiters often being the first point of contact with the prospective talent, you want your recruiters to make the best impression possible. Indifferent and inconsistent recruiters might be okay with applicants desperate for the job, but top talent will want to work with someone impressive and responsive. So, make sure that your recruiters are making a favourable first impression on the candidates by training them effectively. They should be able to handle all the questions and doubts raised by the prospects.

3. Communicate

Another thing you must closely watch is your communication with prospects. Maintain communication across the length of the recruitment cycle so that they will not lose interest and move on to another company. Also, be professional and prompt in your communication. If candidates don’t hear from you, they forget you and move on. Placing an emphasis on excellent communication  will benefit your existing as well are your future employees. 

4. Provide Clear, Concise Job Descriptions

Convey what you are looking for clearly and concisely. Gone are the days when people are okay with anything as long as they get a job; today, everyone wants to know exactly what is required from them, and whether they will be able to deliver. So, ensure that the job description is clear and easily understood by everyone. Also, if you have any preferences in terms of prior experience, and so on, make sure to convey this in the job description itself. There is no point wasting time looking at the profiles of candidates who are not suitable for you.

5. Establish Good Workplace Culture

A good workplace culture will act as a big carrot in attracting top talent. Candidates today very well know what they want, and would like to work with organisations that support their expectations. Therefore, make sure that your workplace culture is engaging and lively, and make sure to convey this to your prospects. Social media posts with your employees themselves talking about the culture will increase credibility and retention for prospects.

6. Offer Challenging Roles

Yes, I get it. There are boring and monotonous tasks that are a part of every job description. However, you can make these seem challenging, and show how they are making a real difference to the fortunes of the organization so that top talent is interested in working on them for you. Role satisfaction  is an important element in retaining long-term and dedicated team members. 

7. Ensure a Good Fit

There is no point in hiring candidates just because they have the right qualifications and experience if you feel that they are not a good fit for your workplace. There are many cases where employers compromised on fit just to repent later and lose valuable time.

8. Offer Perks

Perks also play an important role in the decision of talent to join the workplace. So, make sure that you have enough perks thrown in so that the talent will feel happy joining you. Organisations nowadays have gone overboard in offering perks to their employees; if you cannot match them, find the lowest-hanging fruits and try offering them. Also, it is a good idea to invite suggestions from employees on the kind of perks they are looking for; there is no point offering the perks you think are best if employees don’t follow them. An excellent way to gain a better understanding the needs and preferences of your unique workforce is to conduct regular Employee Engagement and Satisfaction Surveys.

9. Be the Compensation Leader

If you want the best to work for you, you are going to have to be the one offering them the best compensation in the industry. So, try to be the compensation leader in the industry, or at least show them how they can get the best compensation by working with you.

10. Offer Career Growth

One of the parameters on which prospective candidates base their decisions is their career growth. If they think that you can offer them good growth in their career, they are likely to join you even if you don’t offer them the best of compensations. Conversely, if they don’t see growth, even a high compensation structure will not be enough to lure them.