I spend much of my time with senior executives from organizations in, shall we say, not the most glamorous fields: community banks, electrical distributors, heartland manufacturers, and, perhaps least glamorous of all, insurance companies. These executives are rightly proud of what their organizations do, and they can get people like me excited about their plans for growth and change. But they have one huge problem that literally keeps them up at night: Young people find their companies dull and don’t have much enthusiasm for a career in their field. I hear it time and again — How can we compete with Facebook or Google for young engineers? How can we attract digitally savvy marketers against Starbucks or Amazon?
The Right and Wrong Way to Attract Young Workers to a “Boring” Company
At organizations like community banks, electrical distributors, heartland manufacturers, and insurance companies, executives are rightly proud of what their organizations do. But their leaders have one huge problem that literally keeps them up at night: Young people find their companies dull and don’t have much enthusiasm for a career in their field. To change this, some firms take drastic measures — one insurance company, for example, used a bacon cook-off, zombie costumes, and even a Ferris wheel to prove to young potential employees that they really know how to have fun. But that’s not what 20-something workers want. These young workers want to feel their work is interesting, challenging, and meaningful. And that’s something that small banks, insurance companies, and manufacturers can emphasize when recruiting them. Instead of wearing a zombie costume.