Attract Millennials With Your Good Cause

Millennials want to make the world a better place. They even eat with a social conscience. A recent poll shows that a majority of people under the age of 30 want to do that by volunteering for charities or organizations.

Millennials want to make the world a better place. They even eat with a social conscience.

A recent poll shows that a majority of people under the age of 30 want to do that by volunteering for charities or organizations.

If your organization is trying to attract Gen Y as members or employees, and you should be, their desire to make a positive difference is something you need to pay attention to and leverage, even if you aren’t looking for volunteers.

I used to work for a nonprofit that collected old ink cartridges from the community and turned them in to save the raptors. It’s the first thing I noticed when I applied for a the job. The good feeling I had about the organization based on the charity they did (which far exceeded ink cartridges for raptors), kept me at that job long after the novelty of working there had worn off. I liked that the work I did was making the community a better place, even when I hated my job. If their charity could keep me around, trust me, it can work for you too.

SELL YOURSELF

You may not be a charitable organization, but that doesn’t mean you can’t incorporate a way to give back to attract Gen Y to your ranks. Millennials genuinely want to make the world a better place, and they are willing to work to do it. Why not have them do it working for you?

Let’s take Starkey Hearing for example. A corporate company that sells hearing aids to doctors’ offices. A quick look at their homepage will give a good idea why Millennials, motivated by a desire to do good, would be attracted to Starkey. They’ve marketed themselves as making a difference in the community by focusing on real people who benefit from their products. They make their employees feel good about what they do.

MAKE IT GENUINE AND MEANINGFUL

When I worked as a cashier for Target in college, I participated in a Meals on Wheels initiative they had. I went in to work and volunteered to deliver meals instead of ring up customers for a couple hours. When I got back from my route, I was informed I wouldn’t be paid for that time. All the good feeling I had about Target doing good in the community was lost. They were putting their name on my goodwill. I was mad. Facilitating a program is not going to be enough. Your organization needs to represent positive change.

Allow Millennials to be actively involved. Giving a percentage of your paycheck each week doesn’t create a sense of connection to a cause. Make it more meaningful by allowing Gen Y to actively engage.

Be creative. If you aren’t sure what will appeal to your employees, ask them. Millennials are reinventing charity. They probably have ideas on how the organization they work for can help them do that.

Millennials want to work for companies making real positive differences. Showing them how their work does that or creating a program to involve them directly in charity will help you attract and retain Gen Y employees while also improving the community.