RECRUITING REINVENTION

A new book catching the attention of Generation Y is "Recruit or Die" by Ramit Sethi, Chris Resto and Ian Ybarra. The authors cite Goldman Sachs, McKinsey and Microsoft as the gold-standard for recruiting because they have done considerable research and given deep thought to what is a successful recruit for their firms and how to attract the candidates that fill that bill. This bears attention from professional firm management and partners as well as the recruiters. Most firms are still in the dark ages following an unproven path that has long resulted in wasted time and money and is likely to be more deleterious if continued in the pursuit of Generation Y employees.

Ryan Healy gave a rave review in his blog post on Employee Evolution and points out why he thinks the authors are "spot on." Healy says his favorite quote from the book is "You can take the 'When I was your age' approach, dismiss their expectations as delusions of entitlement, and go about recruiting them as if they should feel lucky to work for you and have a chance to pay their dues for a while. Or, you can embrace this new paradigm and appeal to their aspirations."  This comes from a section called "Young and Confused, but Absolutely Certain."

I think it's becoming clear that in order to not only recruit, but equally important, retain potential Gen Y stars, firms, their professional recruiters and whoever is managing the new entrants to the workplace will need to appeal to their aspirations and tie them to the firm's strategic vision. A clear connection needs to be drawn along with projected milestones to meet expectations.

I would say the same regarding the next generation of partners that firms want to prepare to transition effectively into the responsibilities and roles of the leading edge Baby Boomers. They also see the world differently and will not accept running things as they have always been run. Culture change will happen by design or default. I would choose change by design. How about you?

Phyllis Weiss Haserot    www.pdcounsel.com