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/

Google has an ambitious plan to extend social media across the entire Internet experience. You may have noticed the +1 sign that now accompanies a number of your favorite web pages, which is used to aid in future searches and the web experience as a whole.

This would be an incredibly ostentatious plan for anyone not named Google. It was only a matter of time before the most powerful brand on the Internet would break into the social media market. But what does this mean for recruiting? How could this affect companies like Linkedin?

In the article from Recruiting Trends, Vitaly Latush says, “If Google’s social overlay covers the entire Internet people may start choosing professional branding tools that better suit their professional/knowledge profile rather than accepting the one-size-fits-all options. ”

Google’s reach extends to nearly every corner of the Internet. Thus, building your recruiting brand through Google would be the most logical move should they develop the medium to deliver it. With Google+ they may have done just that. But only time will tell if Google+ can challenge and overtake Facebook and LinkedIn, or if it’ll wind up an afterthought like Google’s previous failed attempts.

Google Buzz anyone?

You can check out Latush’s article in its entirety by going here:

http://www.recruitingtrends.com/google-social-what-does-it-mean-for-recruiting

It all started in May, when Businessweek published the 2011 Universum Ideal Employer Rankings. These rankings were the result of surveying over 60,000 undergraduate students.

http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/content/may2011/bs20110511_024823.htm

Then, in July, Fortune/CNN Money picked up on Universum’s MBA Rankings. These rankings were the result of surveying over 6,000 MBA students.

http://money.cnn.com/2011/07/18/news/companies/top_MBA_employers/index.htm

All this coverage prompted Joyce Lain Kennedy of the Chicago Tribune to point a reader to the Universum Ideal Employer Rankings because of its extensive amount of data.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/classified/jobs/chi-google-plus-job-search-kennedy-20110724,0,7736688.column

But the best is yet to come. On November 17th, The Universum Top 100 will be printed as a supplement in the New York Times. Over one million copies will be distributed to some of the best and brightest minds around.

With all that being said, be sure to check back often for updates on all of the exciting happenings in the world of Employer Branding.

The featured speakers included Yolanda Mangolini, Global Director of Diversity Talent and Inclusion at Google, Paula Caligiuri, author, professor and frequent CNN analyst as well as New York Times Bestselling Author and Businessman Stedman Graham.

The night saw dozens of awards handed out to employers who were perceived to be the most attractive as voted on by over 65,000 undergraduate and MBA students in the United States.

To see a full list of the winners you can go to Businessweek:

http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/content/may2011/bs20110511_024823.htm

While many were content with just listing the employers as ranked by the 10,000 plus professionals, some decided to delve in more deeply to uncover just what makes an employer seem attractive?

Laura Vanderkam from the CBS Interactive Business Network decided to look at the rankings more closely and question just why a company that very few people are qualified to work for consistently ranks high on desired employer lists.

Vanderkam writes:

“Google’s perks in particular are legendary (free lunches! ball pits!) and nearly 25% of young professionals said they wanted to work there.

“But if you think about it, this doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Google’s a great place to work… if you’re a software engineer. If you’re a writer, chemical engineer, musician, botanist or any of a host of other specialties, the opportunities are a bit more limited.”

And she’s right, there are very few of us out there that would be qualified to write code, but essentially it all comes down to branding and positioning, two of Google’s strong points.

The Universum Survey is incredibly straightforward. Students and professionals alike are asked the simple question “Where would you consider working?”

The result represents the strength of employer brands regardless of industry or the individual’s qualifications. It’s not so much a job application as it is a wish list, and where employers rank on this list depends heavily on its use of employer branding and strategy.

You can read Laura Vanderkam’s article in its entirety here:

http://www.bnet.com/blog/time-management/what-makes-a-company-a-cool-place-to-work/373