Over the next few weeks, we will be sharing key insights from the survey along with best practices from companies and experts on attracting and retaining the Class of 2010 and beyond. We’re calling this series Class of 2010 Speaks…So Listen Up! Our first edition of this series is all about campus recruiting…

Lesson 1: Connect on-campus  

One of the most significant findings from the Class of 2010 Survey was the importance of employer branding and building relationships with students on-campus. 48.9% of respondents said they will be applying directly to a company without seeing an advertised position. This means many students learn about their future employer and their reputation while at school. As one respondent put it,

“Most students do not apply to various companies because they do not know if the company is hiring. Students mostly apply to companies that they hear about the most.”

- Class of 2010 survey respondent

We invited Isabelle Morin, Talent Attraction Leader, Employer Branding at KPMG, on board to share KPMG’s on-campus recruiting best practices and programs. Isabelle is responsible for the overall development, implementation, and coordination of KPMG’s campus recruitment strategy, programs, and initiatives.

“For an employer to win on campus, you have to get to know the students and then give them a great experience. Campus recruiting today is smarter, more strategic, and involves starting a relationship with students during high school or in their first year of post-secondary education,” says Isabelle.  

KPMG helps students press Fast Forward

KPMG’s educational programs are amongst the company’s most successful campus recruiting efforts. The main goal of these educational programs is to teach students skills that will help them excel in school and at work. “Show students early on that you are invested in their present and their future, and you will be their first stop after graduation,” says Isabelle.

One of KPMG’s educational programs is called Fast Forward, a 3-day leadership training program that allows 160 participants from across the US and Canada to learn leadership-specific and business skills, such as listening skills, goal-setting capabilities, problem solving and negotiating skills. The sessions are taught by leadership professionals, including Ken Blanchard, co-author of the very popular One Minute Manager, and KPMG’s National Managing Partners. The Partners give participants—and potential future employees—the chance to learn more about KPMG’s various practices and  provide them with an in-depth look at what it’s like to work for the firm.

Educational programs like KPMG’s Fast Forward are an effective way to attract potential candidates and get them interested and engaged in your organization early on, while teaching the skills that will help them succeed in the future roles they take within your company.

Next week we continue our focus on recruitment, looking at ways to create a strong online employer brand.

On Tuesday March 2^nd best-selling author and corporate coach Frances Cole Jones paid a visit to the I Love Rewards office to speak to a group of business leaders, sales and HR professionals.  Frances provided valuable advice (and amusing anecdotes!) on how to present your best self to anyone, anytime, anywhere. Amongst the takeaways was Frances’ unique and powerful “What’s their Egg” theory.

THE EGG THEORY

Not just a good source of protein! The egg is all about what’s in it for your audience.  

The Egg Theory resulted from the Duncan Hines marketing department and their rationale behind having the home “cook” add an egg to the packaged cake mixture.  The reason behind this decision was not because Duncan Hines couldn’t add an egg substitute to the cake mixture, but because making the customer add the egg in on their own allows them  to take ownership of the cake and feel like they actually baked –“Hey, I made a cake!”   This in turn makes customers feel good about purchasing the Duncan Hines product,  leading to repeat purchases.

We all want to feel like we are contributing and ultimately making a difference in some way. Finding someone’s egg will enable you to do just that.  So whether you’re walking into a boardroom full of venture capitalists to ask for money or meeting one on one with an employee, next time ask yourself “what’s their egg?”

Other valuable tips from Frances included:

Email: Do not use email to solve a problem and do not utilize words like “Urgent” and “Crisis”. It’s urgent and a crisis to you, but may not be to them.

Tonal Quality on voicemail: If you would like to leave an impression, focus on your tonal quality. If you say “I’m sorry I missed your call”, sound sorry!

Apologize Once: If you make a mistake, acknowledge the mistake, apologize once and move on.

Frances has also just released her Top 10 List of Qualities of a Successful Candidate. Below is a brief snapshot of the Top 10 but feel free to visit her blog to read about them in further detail:

1. Presence
2. Connect The Dots
3. Confident Enthusiasm
4. Strong Vision
5. Ethics
6. Evolution Verses Revolution
7. Power of Sharing
8. Be in the Moment
9. Sense of Urgency
10. Consistency

To find out more about Frances, her new book “The WOW Factor” and her newest list “Top 10 Qualities of a Successful Candidate” you can visit her website or her blog.

Webisode 3: Evolve Years of Service Awards

Stop doing traditional years of service programs! In this webisode of Recognition Resolution TV, Razor Suleman explains how companies can evolve their years of service award programs to meet today’s business needs and engage today’s knowledge-based workforce.

Looking for more? Watch our online series!

Webisode 1: Employee recognition in today’s workplace

Webisode 2: Results-based recognition.

Webisode 3: Recruit top talent

Webisode 4: Evolve years of service awards

About Recognition Revolution TV

Your source for the latest research, trends and news in employee motivation, recognition and rewards, and sales incentives. Learn from the experiences (the good, the bad, and the ugly!), stories and best practices of experts on how to engage today’s knowledge-based workforce. Recognition Revolution TV chronicles the evolution of the workplace and the revolutionary practices that are changing the way we engage, recognize and motivate.

I Love Rewards, the leader in online employee rewards and recognition, partnered with Studentawards Inc., youth marketing and  market research firm, to understand future employees coming out of the “Class of 2010.”

As Millennials leave the classroom and enter the workplace, do you know what it takes to attract and retain the top young talent of the future? A new survey conducted by I Love Rewards and Studentawards, a youth marketing and market research firm, reveals what graduating students are really looking for in an employer and how they perceive the workplace.

Class of 2010 Survey Facts:

1 According to survey,WHEN ASKED HOW LONG MILLENNIALS EXPECT TO STAY WITH THEIR EMPLOYER, THE AVERAGE RESPONSE WAS 8.9 YEARS. This is perhaps one of the most surprising results of the survey and demonstrates the desire Millennials have to grow their career with their next employer. Career development was a prominent theme in the survey results. It ranked third as the most important factor Millennials consider when making a decision on where to work, behind salary and interesting, challenging work.

2 To recruit top young talent, HR needs to think like a marketer. 48.9% OF RESPONDENTS SAID THEY WILL APPLY DIRECTLY TO A COMPANY they are interested in without seeing an advertised position. 43% will go to on-campus career services. These results illustrate the importance of online and on-campus employer branding.

3 Millennials speak out against traditional years of service programs! When asked what type of rewards would be most meaningful to them, the traditional gold watches and grandfather clocks ranked last. 17% ranked years of service awards as one of their top three choices, compared to 84% OF RESPONDENTS WHO RANKED TRAVEL REWARDS and 67% of respondents who ranked experiential rewards in their top three.

4 How does the Class of 2010 want to be recognized? According to the survey, 67% of Millennials want to be RECOGNIZED BY THEIR MANAGER OR SUPERVISOR for the quality of their work and 65% want to be recognized for individual accomplishments.

5 The CLASS OF 2010 IS OPTIMISTIC ABOUT THEIR JOB PROSPECTS UPON GRADUATION. 45% of respondents said they are “somewhat optimistic” and 34.5% said they are “very optimistic”. When asked to comment, one respondent said, “I know the field that I am going to be graduating from is in high demand even in these economic times.”

6 How much does the Class of 2010 expect to make upon graduation? THE MAJORITY OF RESPONDENTS EXPECT TO MAKE BETWEEN $25,000 – $49,999 for the first position they secure after graduation – quite realistic for the generation who has been labeled as entitled and unwilling to start at the bottom of the corporate ladder. Another myth debunked!

Survey Methodology The Class of 2010 study was conducted in February 2010 through an online survey amongst a sample of 1033 students across English Canada. The sample included a balance of college and university students with a majority focus on those who would be graduating in the next 1-2 years. The source of the sample was randomly drawn after targeting for age, gender, and region from the Studentawards’ database of 600,000+ members.

For more information and results on the Class of 2010 survey contact Sarah-Beth Anders, I Love Rewards at 416-531-1531 or Suzanne Tyson, Studentawards at 416-.322.3210 ext 227.

Webisode 3: Recruit Top Talent

Find out what top employers are doing to recruit top talent. In this webisode of Recognition Revolution TV, Razor discusses the different ways companies recruit A Player candidates, including employee referrals and using social networking tools.

Webisode 1: Employee recognition in today’s workplace

Webisode 2: Results-based recognition.

Webisode 3: Recruit top talent

Webisode 4: Evolve years of service awards

About Recognition Revolution TV

Your source for the latest research, trends and news in employee motivation, recognition and rewards, and sales incentives. Learn from the experiences (the good, the bad, and the ugly!), stories and best practices of experts on how to engage today’s knowledge-based workforce. Recognition Revolution TV chronicles the evolution of the workplace and the revolutionary practices that are changing the way we engage, recognize and motivate.

I Love Rewards partnered with Studentawards Inc. to understand future employees coming out of the “Class of 2010″ and what they are seeking in their future employer.

What Canada.com said about I Love Rewards:

“McJobs and the trend of short-term contracts contribute to the job-hopping. But some millenials leave their jobs because companies fail to carry through on the promises they felt were made at the same time of hiring.”

“Offer them career development and show them how they’re going to move from the mailroom to the corner suite,” says Suleman. “That’s what (recruiters) can deliver. Because they’re obviously expecting one thing and they’re getting something else.”

“Recognition was one of the areas that the survey focused on- it is, after all, the company’s business. More than two thirds of survey respondents-part of what Suleman calls the “instant gratification generation”-say they want to be recognized early and often for their individual efforts.”

Click the link to read the full article, “Class of 2010 demands new attitude from companies”