To Attract New Grads, Hire Like a Start-Up

Unless corporations adapt their recruiting practices quickly, we will continue to see a brain drain away from corporations and toward start-ups

To Attract New Grads, Hire Like a Start-Up - Elli Sharef and Nick Sedlet - Harvard Business Review

In order to avoid being left behind, large corporations would do well to listen to the millennial ethos that emphasizes change and personal impact. Some specific steps these corporations should take:

• Weave company values and impact-driven language into recruiting material, and overall company messaging.

• Emphasize the company's vision and mission to employees on an ongoing basis. Involve them in strategy conversations to make candidates feel they are a part of something they can impact.

• Offer ample room to grow, and some leeway for employees to pursue their own ideas — like Google's "20 percent time" policy.

• Get better at identifying and promoting young talent early on. They likely won't wait around for more than a year for that first promotion.

• Consider offering sexy (often low-cost) perks, like start-ups do (e.g., free massages or an Ubercar allowance). If this isn't possible at the corporate level, give managers leeway to bestow these perks on a one-off basis, as rewards for exceptional work.

• Offer equity in addition to salary. Millennials like to feel as though they have skin in the game.