Putting a Focus on Good Deeds Could be Your Ticket to Landing the Ideal Candidate

October 2, 2017

By Rachel Makoski, Executive Recruiter, Food Service Equipment

Opening the Food Service Equipment Reports website the other day, the first three headlines I read were “NAFEM Pitches In Big For Hurricane Relief,” “Antunes Hits Hole-In-One At Golf Fundraiser” and “A Record-Setting Jerry Maahs Memorial Golf Outing.” Corporate focus on charitable efforts isn’t a new concept, yet in recent years it seems to have gotten more of a spotlight. The cause? Perhaps it’s getting repetitive, but the likely force seems to be the Millennial push toward Corporate Social Responsibility. The expectations of Millennials coming into the industry seems to be an all-too-common conversation over the last couple of years, but since they surpassed Baby Boomers as the largest population by generation in 2016, it bears repeating.

Millennials have been called the “Non-Compensation Generation,” which is interesting as they are also the most debt-ridden generation our country has seen with student-loan debt at an all-time high, but I suppose that’s a separate topic. It’s no secret by now that Millennials tend to flock toward employers whose packages offer perks like better work-life balance, fast-tracked career advancement, wellness programs or options to work remotely. But to what extent are Millennials allowing a company’s efforts toward community social programs shape their career path?

According to the 2016 Cone Communications Millennial Employee Engagement Study, 76% of Millennials take a company's social and environmental commitments into consideration when deciding where to work and 64% will not take a job if a potential employer doesn't have strong corporate social responsibility practices. Furthermore, 88% say their job is more fulfilling when employers provide opportunities to make a positive impact. While obvious reasons for this push toward philanthropy could be a sense of social responsibility, a desire to be a part of an organization that is contributing to the greater good, job-fulfillment as a result of making a positive impact, or working for a company whose charity efforts have awarded them respect in the industry, or perhaps it’s more self-serving than that. With the average Millennial switching jobs every couple of years in an effort to climb the corporate ladder more quickly, Philanthropic events are a great opportunity to network! And as most of us have learned, it is more who you know than what you know that gets you your next opportunity (unless of course you’re working with a recruiter, but I suppose that’s a “who you know” as well << shameless plug).

With Millennials’ focus in their careers to bring value to society and truly see a purpose in their work, it is worthwhile for companies to understand their thinking, which will in turn, help attract more Millennials to the company. It is beneficial to clearly exemplify your corporate responsibility program and how it ties to your core values, in addition to allowing your employees to get involved and share ideas with how they would like to participate in corporate responsibility and giving.

How much does your organization focus on philanthropic efforts? And to what extent are you advertising that to potential candidates?

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