Most companies are faced with managing a multi-generational workforce, and different generations come with a gap in career goals. For young professionals, defined by those under 40 with a college degree and fewer than eight years of professional experience, work-life balance is the number one goal. This can be said for all young professionals, as the data, no matter how look at it, shows that the top two career goals stay the same:  “Work/Life Balance” and “To be secure or stable in my job.”

Lance Haun from the HR website TLNT goes even further to suggest work/life balance is a worldwide Millennial career goal, as proven in a study conducted by technology company Mercer, “One of the interesting results from the Mercer study was that the youngest people in the workforce have more in common with their generation elsewhere in the world than ever before. And when compared to other generations in the present, there is no comparison.”  Not only do young professionals in the U.S. want work/life balance—it’s a worldwide desire.

The biggest gap to note between senior professionals and young professionals is their desire “to be a leader or manager of people.” Forty percent of senior professionals chose this as a career goal, while only 22 percent of young professionals chose it.

In a recent article on Human Resource Executive Online, Beverly Kaye, CEO of Career Systems International says, “Up has never been what 100 percent of the workforce wants.  Millennials, in particular, want to learn; want to grow, want to be challenged. Work/life balance is far more important to them than moving up.”

After “to be secure or stable in my job,” the next top career goals for senior professionals were “to have work-life balance” and “to be competitively or intellectually challenged.” The top three goals for young professionals were “to have work-life balance,” “to be secure or stable in my job” and “to be dedicated to a cause or feel that I am serving a greater good.”

For those managing a multi-generational workforce, it becomes increasingly more important to identify the differences in career goals to ensure professional development among the entire workforce. Being able to understand why your employees come to work every day and what they hope to get out of their career is important for an employer to understand when it comes to their employer brand internally and externally.

Participants were asked to rate their satisfaction with their current employer on a scale of 1-10. This year, the average in the United States was a 6.9, dropping from a 7.2 in 2010. China, a 6.3 in 2010, rose to a 6.5 in 2011 along with Sweden (7.0 to 7.1) and Norway (7.1 to 7.2). The only other country to drop was Poland, falling from a 6.3 in 2010 all the way down to a 5.8 in 2011.

To determine what could lead satisfaction to drop, researchers at Universum analyzed trends in the data and found that those who indicated they were more satisfied with an employer (rating them an “8” or higher), also had stronger image associations with their employer than those who rated lower.

“Employers who have a strong and clear employer image have more satisfied employees,” Melissa Burdette, research analyst says, “Therefore it is important for employers to understand and define who they are as an employer and make sure they demonstrate this internally to keep employees satisfied, as well as externally to attract new talent.”

In the survey, participants were asked, which drivers of employer attractiveness they associate with their current employer and which they associate with their most ideal employer. Overall, researchers at Universum found that if a company has a very strong and clear image, then they also have more satisfied employers.

A similar study conducted by Gallup found that the majority of Americans were not engaged in their jobs. 71 percent of those surveyed by Gallup claimed they were emotionally disconnected from their workplace, further demonstrating that the U.S. workforce is disengaged and unsatisfied with their current employment.

One easy way of discovering if there are unhappy employees is to talk to them.  Dayna Paul, a writer for TLNT, expresses this in a recent article, “Communication is a key to keeping happy employees. And what better way to figure out what will keep your employees happy than hearing it straight from the “horse’s mouth?” If your company culture does not foster an open communication policy and not just an executive memo that states such, but truly open lines, then now is a great time to start.”

*The Professional Survey was conducted between the months of July 2011 and September 2011 – 6,698 Young Professionals completed the survey. A Young Professional has 1 – 8 years of working experience, 4 year bachelor degree with a maximum age of 40. 

“The percentage of young professionals who indicated they are interested in changing employers has actually increased since we last conducted this survey earlier this year,” says research project manager, Melissa Burdette, “As the economy rebounds organizations may see a retention problem as employees seek opportunities at employers with a better offer that matches what they are looking for.”

During the survey, young professionals were asked to rank a list of drivers of employer attractiveness by importance.  “People and Culture” and “Remuneration and Advancement Opportunities” sits at the top followed by, but not ranked nearly as high, “Employer Reputation/Job Image” and “Job Characteristics”.

Complementing these findings, a recent study conducted by Globoforce found similar results – 38 percent of the respondents said they want to leave their current job.  Why? More than half of those respondents are not satisfied with the level of recognition they receive on the job followed by 38 percent noting that they do not feel appreciated at work.

Even in a time of such high job instability, people are willing to leave an employer if they are not happy.  The Bureau of Labor Statistics, recently cited in an article by ABC news, found that more workers are voluntarily leaving their jobs over being laid off (1.849 million compared to 1.657 million).

“When it comes to recruiting and retaining top talent, especially in today’s volatile economy, it is important to talk to your employees, make a radical, yet strategic shift in your thinking and to begin developing a long-term strategy,” Dayna Paul, a writer for TLNT wrote recently in an article titled “What You Ought to Know About Recruiting and Retaining Top Talent”, “When it comes right down to it, it’s no longer good enough to just offer free coffee in the break rooms.”

*The Professional Survey was conducted between the months of July 2011 and September 2011 – 6,698 Young Professionals completed the survey.  A Young Professional has 1 – 8 years of working experience, 4 year bachelor degree with a maximum age of 40.

John and Vicki have led large scale campus recruiting programs as well as serving as career services directors at prestigious universities, and leverage these unique talents and industry best practices with their clients.

“We are extremely excited to join forces with Campus Strategic Partners and add the expertise of Vicki and John. Their significant industry experience will allow Universum to continue its strong growth,” Chris Cordery, director of Americas, said.

Lynn joins Universum as senior vice president, responsible for global business development and expanding global client relationships. As a former principal at Campus Strategic Partners, she has more than twenty years experience in corporate HR and university leadership roles. Lynn also provided consulting to multi-national firms for seven years, most recently as Vice President of Research and Consulting at Vault.com, a career information internet company.

“My clients are leaders in their respective industries and compete globally for the best talent,” said Lynn. “In periods of global volatility and uncertainty, employers who want to attract the best talent must differentiate their employer brand to compete for the best talent. We joined forces with Universum because they are the global leader in differentiating employer brands.”

Flato joins Universum as vice president of consulting. In this role, he will advise clients on the design, implementation and improvement of their campus recruiting and relations efforts. Flato has won a number of awards for his work, is a frequent speaker at conferences and brings subject matter expertise to better serve both employer and university clients

“I am really pleased to be part of the Universum family,” said Flato. “Universum has a great reputation and this consolidation will continue to provide much needed value-added services to current and prospective clients.”

Flato and Lynn will join Universum in its new office in New York City and will provide leadership and new perspectives to Universum, the global leader in employer branding. Their knowledge and experience will help Universum continue to bridge the gap between students, universities and employers through research, consulting and media solutions.

Vicki can be reached at Vicki.Lynn@UniversumUSA.com
John can be reached at John.Flato@UniversumUSA.com

Universum, headquartered in Stockholm, will continue to maintain an office in Philadelphia, but will move some of its new and current staff to New York City. The expansion into New York will bring Universum’s total offices globally to twelve.

”I am very pleased to announce that we are expanding in the U.S. with better service and an even stronger offer to our clients by bringing in new experienced senior management, new colleagues and launching a New York office,” Universum CEO, Petter Nylander, said. “Together with existing colleagues in the Americas and globally we will continue our ambition to build a world leader within employer branding.”

Universum recently introduced Chris Cordery, the new head of U.S. operations who will be leading this initiative into 2012. Cordery will lead the United States, Canadian and South American regions of Universum. In this role, he will direct the U.S. sales team, collaborate with Universum’s global management team, and oversee all client interaction.

Cordery brings 14 years of talent acquisition experience to Universum, most recently serving as managing director for CareerBuilder. He brings with him a unique vision for Universum’s future.

“Universum is poised to continue its tremendous growth, as companies today are focusing more than ever on data to make strategic decisions,” said Cordery. “Universum provides a set of data that is, and should be vital to all employers. Helping companies understand how their brand is perceived by their potential applicant pool positions Universum as a true expert in this space.”

This key personnel addition and expansion to New York City are just the first steps in Universum’s ambitious vision for the Americas. As the global leader in employer branding, Universum is dedicated to bridging the gap between students, universities and employers through research, consulting and media.

“Within talent acquisition Universum will play a key role in providing data to organizations about not only their audience, but themselves as well,” said Cordery. “From that data, we will help shape organizations’ strategies and applications of their overall recruiting plan. Universum has been helping employers with data and strategy for over 20 years and we will continue to be a key resource for our partners on a national and global level.”

Employers looking for the top IT talent often times find themselves competing for a small pool of qualified applicants. If there’s been one consistent trend in Universum’s resarch, it’s that Google is winning this battle. But it may not be that easy.

I recently came across a very telling graphic from the folks at Top Prospect Blog (blog.topprospect.com). The bloggers over at Top Prospect took on the task of visually illustrating the internal recruitment battle that goes on between some of the top employers for IT Talent.

In reviewing this graph you’ll notice that each arrow represents the ratio of employees leaving one company for another. Therefore, you’ll be able to see, which IT employers are winning the head to head.

Pretty cool, huh? It looks like for all the talent Google attracts out of college, they are still losing out to Facebook and LinkedIn. It also confirms what a lot of us have known for awhile – Yahoo! is in trouble.

I really would have liked to see this graph include some newcomers like Zynga or SalesForce, to see how they measure up against these tech giants.

Anyway, as you can plainly see the battle for tech talent is fierce between these tech giants and although Google may be winning the battle of attractiveness for those coming directly out of college, they aren’t always able to hold onto them.

To check out the article from Top Prospect and get a closer look at the graph go here:

http://blog.topprospect.com/2011/06/the-biggest-talent-losers-and-winners/

Career fairs, the second most useful source of information after employer websites according to the results of Universum’s Communicating with Talent 2010 report, are a meeting point for employers and future employees where both sides can get to know each other on a professional level but in a more relaxed setting compared to a formal interview or company presentation.

Tracy Drye, Senior Employer Branding Specialist at Universum, said “In our contacts with students, we see a need to interact with employers and ask them about the soft aspects of work experience – something they will not find on the employer’s website. With the emphasis on work-life balance, we see a growing interest in the working environment and therefore an increased interest in these aspects of the job.”

Over 45% of the youngest respondents, in the age groups 18-21 and 22-25, rely on career fairs for information more than their colleagues over the age of 26, where it falls to 31%. The latter already have an established professional network that becomes increasingly more useful as their career develops. Therefore, unlike their younger counterparts where 15% find information from this source useful, the percentage increases to over 25% for this group.

When interacting with potential employers, the respondents agree that the informal mingling is the most valuable – 60% of career seekers agree.

“I was always intimidated by career fairs–the cold, stiff introduction, followed by the resume hand-off. But I have warmed up to such a scene with more and more exposure to my top-choice firms,” Christopher Sharp from Brigham Young University’s Marriot School said.

Nearly 40% of the respondents predict that not participating in the main career fairs would have a negative impact on the employers’ attractiveness. Ms. Drye commented, “This is only an indication of the predicted short-term effects. Lack of contact with your target audience over an extended period of time, whether they’re consumers or potential employees, will have a devastating influence on both brand recognition and the positive associations with it”.

Moreover, some companies have even found a way to achieve the benefits of a career fair without ever leaving the office. “Virtual” career fairs are a relatively new tool that employers are using to reach top talent. The benefit behind virtual career fairs is twofold—to create a more cost-effective way to reach job candidates, while also attracting more tech-savvy applicants. For example, KPMG saw a tremendous amount of success in its first virtual career fair, attracting over 20,000 registrants in only a 48 hour period according to accountingweb.com.

So whether you’re shaking hands in person or carrying a conversation over the Web, it remains immensely important to job candidates to interact with potential employers at career fairs.

Steven Rothberg of CollegeRecruiter.com was in attendance at the forum and Washington D.C. and summarized some of the key points he took away in an entry on his website.

“At about 2pm, a recruiter for one of the many Fortune 500 employers in the room commented that his takeaway from the day was that employer branding was a lot more about delivering a positive candidate experience than fancy brochures, web sites, pamphlets, or career fair giveaways. Yes! In one sentence, the recruiter absolutely nailed it,” Rothberg writes.

That is to say that it’s more about the employer’s actions than his/her words. If you try to brand yourself as a state of the art tech company than your desktops shouldn’t be running on Windows 95.

Rothberg also mentions the story from a representative from MARS. She discussed how MARS has had difficulty separating its consumer brand from its employer brand and how the company has tacked that issue so far.

Overall, both forums proved to be informative and enlightening for those in attendance in both Chicago and D.C.

You can read more about Rothberg’s takeaways from the Employer Branding Forum on his website here:

http://blog.collegerecruiter.com/blog/2010/11/12/employer-branding-is-more-about-the-candidate-experience-than-fancy-graphics/

According to the study, students from India continue to supply the majority of international students, followed closely by students from China. The number of students from China that choose to study in the US increased by 21% for the 08/09 school year, to a total of 98,510 students.

Business and Management remains the most popular field of study for international students in the United States, increasing by 12% and comprising 21% percent of the total, followed by Engineering with an 11% increase and comprising 18% of the total. Math and Computer Science also increased significantly in 2008/09, up 10% from the prior year. After a 15% increase in 2007/08, Intensive English Language showed a slight decline in popularity, decreasing by 1%.

So what is your brand doing to appeal to these international students? Some key thoughts to consider:

• Is your brand representative of a diverse workforce?
• Does your company offer a career website in more than one language?
• Do you offer assistance and placement in open positions available in their home country?

With international students making up such a large percentage of the talent pool, it’s imperative not to ignore them.

If you’d like to learn more about the IIE’s study you can go here:

http://tinyurl.com/2d9c3rb