FSB Media Book Excerpt: Y-Size Your Business: How Gen Y Employees Can Save You Money and Grow Your Business

Excerpt from Y-Size Your Business: How Gen Y Employees Can Save You Money and Grow Your Business

by Jason Ryan Dorsey

Ten Hot Buttons That Instantly Connect With Gen Y Job Seekers

To get Gen Y's attention faster than an IM at 4 am, start thinking of ways to make the following 10 Gen Y hot buttons part of your recruiting strategy. (These hot buttons are relevant whether you have an entire recruiting department or you are the entire recruiting department.) I will share what I've seen work to bring these hot buttons to life in the next chapter.

1. Fun
Gen Y wants a fun work environment. Show us what makes your company a fun place to be. This doesn't mean it has to be all high fives or low stress; we just want to know that working at your company can be enjoyable even at the craziest time of day.

2. Challenge
Show us the types of challenges we will face in our first month and year that will test our abilities, resilience, and develop our skills. We want to conquer problems (and then get the trophy).

3. Creativity
Let us know how you give us the space and trust to be creative at work. This doesn't mean we need permission to dye our hair colors to match our shoelaces. It just means that we are allowed to color outside the lines -- ideally on the outside of the policies and procedures manual.

4. Opportunity
We have big expectations for our future. Where is our path to the top with your company? Connect the dots for us and show us alternative paths to where we want to go, even if our priorities shift. Help us to see that your organizational chart is not Tetris (or, if it is, that we at least get to play with both hands and unlimited life).

5. Ethics
Your leaders stand for some level of ethics; tell us what they believe. List your company values and principles, and give specific examples of how you stuck to them in trying times. In an ideal situation, attach a media clip or firsthand testimonial for reinforcement.

6. Entrepreneurship
Let us know how you give us a sense of ownership on the job. Maybe this is achieved by allowing us to lead our own project, create a separate P&L for our position, or participate in a company-wide competition to develop a new product or service.

7. Lifestyle
This is the big enchilada of the Gen Y job search! Detail all the ways you support a Gen Y friendly lifestyle, especially if you can't compete on pay. This is where you emphasize flexible scheduling, nearby live music venues, outdoor activities, dodgeball teams, and free passes to cool events like Flugtag. (More on this in Chapter 14.)

8. Diversity
Gen Y is the most diverse generation in recent U.S. history. Show us how you embrace all types of diversity so that we can bring our whole self to work. The more inclusive the culture of your company, the more we feel we can be ourselves (within the dress code).

9. Technology
We love gadgets and trying out new technology. Highlight our chances to be an early adopter in your workplace by detailing how you let employees test new technology or make company information and people available to us via technology.

10. Mission
Describe the "why" behind your business and how you measure your progress toward that mission. The more tangible the progress, the better (think: candid customer testimonials). When you bring your mission to life, you offer Gen Y a chance to be part of the difference and play a role in the joyous results.

You then apply these 10 hot buttons to each of Gen Y's three primary job search channels: online, in person, and on paper. Having spent a lot of time researching these channels and knowing firsthand Gen Y's short attention span (try speaking to 500 of us in a room with no windows when the power goes out, including the microphone and lights), I've found specific phrases and positioning that grab our attention. I call these Gen Y's "Take Action" Job Search Cues. These are the text, sound, and imaging that get us to stop scrolling, bookmark a page as "must-visit-again," and then forward it to our parents and friends to find out what they think about the job.

The above is an excerpt from the book Y-Size Your Business: How Gen Y Employees Can Save You Money and Grow Your Business by Jason Ryan Dorsey. The above excerpt is a digitally scanned reproduction of text from print. Although this excerpt has been proofread, occasional errors may appear due to the scanning process. Please refer to the finished book for accuracy.