the right hireWe’ve all read about (or experienced) some of the challenges associated with Millennials in the workforce. However, certain kinds of businesses would benefit from bringing in less expensive talent and training them for the long term.

In Carol’s recent post on the Nextiva blog, “5 Ways to Hire – and Retain – Millennials in Your Small Business,” she begins:

“You’ve heard the warnings about hiring millennials: they don’t want to work hard, they lack focus, they don’t show up for work regularly and more. Granted, when it comes to employee attitudes, times have changed. But, have you considered that maybe they’re right?

On the surface, millennials seem to sport bad attitudes, but a deeper look indicates that most millennial employees need to be happy and engaged on the job. Isn’t employee engagement the thing that dedicates them to the success of your company? If you use the following five tips to hire the right people and keep them engaged, your employees may stay longer… to your company’s benefit.

#1. Don’t let job hopper resumes scare you away.

Employers generally forgive a prospect resume showing great skills and experience with a job hop in the mix of longer-term jobs. But, what if the chronology shows many jobs that ran for less than two years?

Before throwing those resumes in the trash, look closely into the history. Did the short-term jobs advance the applicant’s knowledge in a specific area that you need? Did the employee develop significant industry insight by working for some of your competitors?

The right answers to questions like these can signal a good hire for you. If you can offer a job that keeps the recruit interested, that person may become a long-term asset.

#2. Make interviews two-way conversations.

In the “olden days”, interviews were basically a painful Q & A session. Currently, interviewers have made it worse with the absurd-question technique. Personally, I’d rather learn more about an applicant’s skills and personality, rather than knowing what applicants would do if they were elephants that encountered a pea in their path.

No Q&A session reveals as much about a person as a real conversation. It’s better to discuss an applicant’s resume rather than firing off questions about it.”

You can read the rest of the post here.