Millennials – Do you speak their language?


By: Adam Keable - Director, Colt Mackenzie McNair March 28, 2017


Following the insights reported by Global Golf Advisor’s in the ‘2016 National Club Trend Survey’, it was observed that the ability to attract and retain talent was a key concern to many golf clubs.

For the leaders in of golf organizations, the challenge is to think about not only what is important today, but having one eye on the trends that will come. A discussion we regularly hold with clients is around the millennial generation and the challenges they face engaging with them.

The millennials, those born after the mid-1980s, think and act differently to previous generations and make up around 21% of the employee market. Attracting them is essential for a successful business future, especially if your organization needs to communicate with, and sell to, other millennial customers.

Millennials Orlando show 2016

Understanding them is the first step.

Millennials have often had a bad reputation being characterized as entitled and high maintenance. However, if you identify the right ones, they can bring a refreshing and innovative approach to your organization.

To successfully engage with millennials it is important to understand their mindset when approaching employment. Millennials want to work for organizations that display innovative thinking, develop their teams and demonstrate their values.

So what does this mean for employers? Here are some simple ways in which you can engage and attract millennial talent so that your

Here are some simple ways in which you can engage and attract millennial talent so that your organization benefits:

Be transparent and open

As millennials look for enrichment, they look far wider than the role, looking at the organization and its leaders. Millennials love to consume information and will seek this out through mainly digital and social channels.

Consider pushing out messages that will appeal to this audience such as highlighting the company culture, behind-the-scenes videos, employee spotlights etc. Also, highlight the organization’s values as they will be looking for alignment. Dubai Golf do this very well in the following video – httpss://youtu.be/QPpN2AccUEc

Offer structured career development

Most of the time career development is a by-product of working within an organization. It’s largely down to the individual to take initiative and take accountability for their own development.

By creating a structured development program not only will you develop each of your employees having a direct impact on performance, you will also become very attractive to millennial job seekers.

Pay a fair wage

Although cash may not be stated as a main priority, millennials face higher monthly costs than previous generations. Millennials can be very resourceful but you must ensure you offer a fair compensation package or risk losing talents to competitors or at a macro level, to other industries. By paying a competitive wage you will ensure that you attract the top talents.

Recruiting can be tough at any level but by refining your millennial recruitment strategy, you can gain a competitive advantage. If leveraged in the right way, they can be your highest performing employees and will add a different dimension to your organization.

For further insights on building a millennial recruitment strategy, contact Adam Keable at akeable@coltmm.com